Domain Controller and WINS Server Powered Down and Removed without Proper Demotion
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So I've never really needed to play with WINS because by the time I was playing with servers, Windows Server 2008 was already out. My understanding of it is that it designates the DNS servers on old (pre-2008/vista) servers/workstations. I peformed an
nslookupyesterday on a workstation on one of my subdomains and it returned an odd DNS entry (PC2). I checked the DNS server that returned it and the DNS was correct (PC1). So eventually I open up WINS and see entries from 2013/2014 and sure enough that entry is there from a server that hasn't existed since then. If you've followed any of my other posts you'll know that the previous company just powered down and removed domain controllers. I didn't consider WINS because frankly I've never used it. From what I understand you can just uninstall that role and it's gone, never to be referenced again. My question is, if the server doesn't exist anymore do I have to demote it in a similar way to a domain controller or can I just delete the entries on all of the other WINS servers and I'm done? WINS is supposed to be simple from what I've read.Note: As a side note I just want to say this is only thread tagged that is related to WINS on ML because this website wasn't created at the time WINS was relevant. I'm now going to return to chiseling on stone. Don't mind me.
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@wirestyle22 If you inherited a domain that was running like that, you'll want to check your DHCP options. Look for option 44 to see if a WINS server was specified. Option 46 may also be present. That one told the computer which order to try to look up addresses. With those out of the way, you can just shut the WINS servers down.
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@Mike-Davis said in Domain Controller and WINS Server Powered Down and Removed without Proper Demotion:
@wirestyle22 If you inherited a domain that was running like that, you'll want to check your DHCP options. Look for option 44 to see if a WINS server was specified. Option 46 may also be present. That one told the computer which order to try to look up addresses. With those out of the way, you can just shut the WINS servers down.
We don't use DHCP at all
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@wirestyle22 said in Domain Controller and WINS Server Powered Down and Removed without Proper Demotion:
We don't use DHCP at all
I would go the other direction then and check for WINS queries and then visit all the NICs that are still using WINS and remove the entry. This article explains it:
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/craigf/2010/07/09/decommissioning-wins/ -
@Mike-Davis said in Domain Controller and WINS Server Powered Down and Removed without Proper Demotion:
@wirestyle22 said in Domain Controller and WINS Server Powered Down and Removed without Proper Demotion:
We don't use DHCP at all
I would go the other direction then and check for WINS queries and then visit all the NICs that are still using WINS and remove the entry. This article explains it:
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/craigf/2010/07/09/decommissioning-wins/Thanks! This actually answered a few of my other questions too.
