Alright, My domain is at all 2008 functional level, all my replications are fine. DNS settings are fine. I've promoted, demoted, migrated several domain controllers on this domain before all with no problems. All of a sudden when I try to promote this Server core server to be a domain controller I'm getting the network path cannot be found.

Here's what I've done.

my current main DC is 172.16.10.13

my current temporary DC is 172.16.10.99 and is holding all FSMO roles as I will be migrating both of these to x64 servers.

Install server core

rename

set IP settings

DNS are as follows

Index1 = 172.16.10.13

Index2 = 172.16.10.99

Index3 = 172.16.10.12 (it's own IP Address)

the other two domain controllers are holding the same DNS config in the TCP/IPv4 properties.

Join Server Core to domain, holding in a temporary OU where it can contact WSUS for updates.

Install DNS Server using:

start /w ocsetup DNS-Server (not 100% sure on that syntax, but I got it out of my MCITP 70-642 book)

ipconfig /flushdns

ipconfig /registerdns

check that an A record has been created in the domain (it's there)

I have the following answer file copied to the root of C: so I can promote it using: dcpromo.exe /answer:c:\answer.txt

[DCInstall]
; Replica DC promotion
ReplicaOrNewDomain=Replica
ReplicaDomainDNSName=domain.com
SiteName=Default-First-Site-Name
InstallDNS=Yes
ConfirmGc=Yes
CreateDNSDelegation=No
UserDomain=domain.com
UserName=domadmin
Password=P@$$w0rd
ReplicationSourceDC=LM-DC3.domain.com
DatabasePath="C:\Windows\NTDS"
LogPath="C:\Windows\NTDS"
SYSVOLPath="C:\Windows\SYSVOL"
; Set SafeModeAdminPassword to the correct value prior to using the unattend file
SafeModeAdminPassword=P@$$w0rd
; Run-time flags (optional)
; CriticalReplicationOnly=Yes
; RebootOnCompletion=Yes

as I said I'm getting the network path cannot be found error. This occurs after the binaries have been installed, and the environment is being checked.

Don't know what I'm missing, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

TIA

bump. Really want to get this going, my eval licenses are going to run out soon! Cluberti?

Honestly at first glance I'm not sure - what happens if you run nslookup on the DC against the domain name itself, or try to ping it? I'm guessing it'll fail to resolve, but if it doesn't this may get interesting. The path error is most likely failing to find the domain sysvol and netlogon share (again, usually at \\domain.tld) and thus the error, so it's good to check that you have access to that befpre you run dcpromo.

Also, consider using CoreConfigurator to run dcpromo to make sure it isn't the script that's failing (it looks ok, but it's also close to 1AM here so I may be missing something too).

Just remember to run slmgr -rearm to give yourself more time - you should have a few months' time to eval before you need to install licenses, although if this is going to be something you do often (run a test environment) you might want to consider a Technet plus subscription.

Thanks for looking. DNS resolution is fine. I have mapped drives to the sysvol of the domain just fine. (that's where I have the dcpromo answer file stored).

The machine is also joined to the domain with no problems and as said before DNS is installed.

Thanks

Have you tried a manual dcpromo, without using the answer file?

I would also take out the local IP address from the DNS server list until it's up as a DC - I have seen quirks with the server selection order in the past which fouled up my domain joins for member servers.

Thanks, I'll give it a try, and assuming I also remove it from the other DC's DNS list?

Also, you cannot do a manual dcpromo in server core. What I did was put up another server, do a dc promo, export the answer file and cancel before the install started. This is what's typically done afaik.

Thanks

Thanks, I'll give it a try, and assuming I also remove it from the other DC's DNS list?

Yup, while it's not a valid DNS server, don't point anything to it.

Also, you cannot do a manual dcpromo in server core.

Heh, shows how many DCs I have set up on Server Core eh?

Hey no problem, thanks for the suggestions, haven't had a chance to give them a try yet.

Sorry for the delay in getting back.

I removed the server core DNS ip from all server's DNS settings, found a couple old dns records from older DCs that hadn't been cleaned up. Still getting this error.

The wizard cannot access the list of domains in the forest. The error is:

The network path was not found.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks

I also installed server core, and the DCPromo button is greyed out and unavailable.