Moving Active Directory to a Different Drive
You can sometimes improve the performance of Active Directory (AD) by moving the database file (ntds.dit) to a different physical drive. This can also be useful if you are running out of hard drive space. You can use the following steps to move the ntds.dit database file to a different location.
Step |
Command |
1. |
Launch a command prompt. Back up system state data with the following command. This command uses the D: drive as the backup target, but you can choose a different target based on your system. wbadmin start systemstatebackup -backuptarget:d: -quiet |
2. |
At the command, type net stop ntds and press Enter. When prompted to stop additional services, press Y to confirm. This stops AD and related services. |
3. |
Type ntdsutil and press Enter. |
4. |
Type activate instance ntds and press Enter. |
5. |
Type files and press Enter. |
6. |
Type move db to e:\ntds and press Enter. |
7. |
Type quit, and then press Enter twice to return to the command prompt. |
8. |
Type net start ntds and press Enter to restart AD. After it starts, you can launch ADUC to verify that everything still works. |