Recovering a domain controller (no other DCs are available)

If all domain controllers are lost, nonauthoritative restore in fact becomes authoritative: the objects restored from the backup are the newest available. Replication of Active Directory data cannot take place because there are no live domain controllers. This means that:

• Changes to Active Directory that occurred after the backup had been made will be lost.
• Recreation of the domain controller is not an option.
• Even a backup with an expired tombstone lifetime can be used.

You need to recover the volumes that store Active Directory database files. If these volumes store other valuable data except Active Directory, copy this data to a different location before the recovery.

To recover a domain controller when no other domain controllers are available

1. Make sure that the newest available backup is used for recovery. This is important because all changes made to Active Directory objects after the backup will be lost.
2. Recover the domain controller from the backup by using a bootable media.
3. Restart the domain controller. Make sure that the Active Directory service has started successfully.