Do not rename the only domain controller… And how to fix it if you have already done so..

Even though MS provide the document about how to rename domain controller, the thing is, if you only have one domain controller, the “rename” will break the AD service and you are not able to roll back.

The issue you will get is that after you rename domain controller, the AD DS services are still using the old hostname because you didn’t transfer the FSMO roles from the old name to the new name. And if you want to start any domain management tools you’ll get error said that domain is unavailable. And if you want to change domain controller name back you will get the same error because dc is not available and your renaming will failed too. And this issue won’t happen if your domain get two or more domain controllers.

Ok, how to fix this issue if you have already done so? What we can do now is to update registry and change the computer name back to the old one. Below are the four registry keys you need to update:

HKLM\System\CCS\Control\Computername "Computername"
HKLM\System\CCS\Control\Computername "ActiveComputername"
HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\Parameters "Hostname"
HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\Parameters "NVHostname"

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