Manages the primary and alternate names for a computer. This command can safely rename Active Directory domain controllers as well as member servers.
Netdom is a command-line tool that is built into Windows Server 2008. It is available if you have the Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) server role installed. To use netdom, you must run the netdom command from an elevated command prompt. To open an elevated command prompt, click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
For examples of how to use this command, see Examples.
Syntax
netdom computername <Computer> [usero:<User> [/passwordo:[<Password>|*]] [userd:<User> [/passwordd:[<Password>|*]] {/add:<NewAltDNSName> | /remove:<AltDNSName> | /makeprimary:<ComputerDNSName> | /enumerate[:{ALTERNATENAMES | PRIMARYNAME | ALLNAMES}] | /verify | {/help | /?}}
Parameters
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<Computer> |
Specifies the name of the computer that you want to add. |
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/usero:[<domain>\]<UserName> |
Specifies the user account that you want to use for the originating domain. |
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/passwordo:[<Password> | *] |
Specifies the password that you want to use for the originating domain. If you specify the value of this parameter as a wildcard character (*), this parameter prompts you for the password. |
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/userd:[<Domain\]<UserName> |
Specifies the user account that you want to use for the destination domain. |
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/passwordd:[<Password> | *] |
Specifies the password that you want to use for the destination domain. If you specify the value of this parameter as a wildcard character (*), this parameter prompts you for the password.. |
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/add:<NewAltDNSName> |
Specifies to create a new alternate name. You must specify a fully qualified domain name, which is the computer name followed by the primary Domain Name System (DNS) suffix, such as comp1.example.com. |
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/remove:<AltDNSName> |
Specifies to delete an existing alternate name. You must specify fully qualified domain name, which is the computer name followed by the primary DNS suffix, such as comp1.example.com. |
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/makeprimary:<ComputerDNSName> |
Specifies to make an existing alternate name into the primary name. You must specify a fully qualified domain name, which is the computer name followed by the primary DNS suffix, such as comp1.example.com. |
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/enumerate[:{ALTERNATENAMES | PRIMARYNAME | ALLNAMES}] |
Lists the primary name or any alternate names. You can specify any of the following values:
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/verify |
Checks if there is a DNS record and a service principal name (SPN) for each computer name. |
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{/help | /?} |
Displays help at the command prompt. |
Examples
To give an alternate name for the domain controller DC in the example.com domain, use the following syntax:
netdom computername dc /add:altDC.example.com
Before you can make a name the primary name of a computer, that name must exist as an alternate.
To rename the domain controller DC to altDC in the example.com domain, type the following command at the command prompt:
netdom computername dc /makeprimary:altdc.example.com
To rename a member server, you must use one of the existing alternate names for the computer as the new primary name.