Domain Functional Level Downgrade
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Domain functional level downgrade. When attempting to downgrade lower the dfl of a domain you would first need to downgrade the ffl to the same level as the required dfl to be configured. 1 current domain functional level should be windows server 2008 r2. But sometime it s save life with difficulties admins face with ad upgrades. 2 just can demote domain functional level to windows server 2008.
Well it s not a problem if you properly plan you active directory upgrades. Rather than starting from scratch with this lab i decided to test lowering the functional levels from server 2016 to server 2012r2. Ffl forest functional level dfl domain functional level here in my scenario i have server 2012 with forest functional level and domain functional level. In this lab i had the domain and forest functional level set to server 2016.
In our example we have a single. Downgrade the domain functional level using the get addomain powershell command or right click on the active directory users and computers to check the domain functional level. It is there that revert to the lower ffl or dfl is not possible but in server 2008 and 2012 it is possible. This is in.
3 should be forest functional level on a windows 2000 or 2003 or 2008. 4 we use powershell command set addomainmode. Do this in certain circumstances that are explained below we can do. However this has changed since windows server 2012r2 using powershell you can now downgrade the domain and forest functional level.
Execute the following command replace the identity with your domain name and the forestmode with the level you want to downgrade to. Till windows server 2008 r2 forest and domain functional level are not possible to downgrade once it s upgraded. Revert back or downgrade domain functional level. With older versions of windows server it was not possible to downgrade the domain and forest functional level once upgraded.
To do so follow these steps. The domain functional level dfl for all the domains in a forest has to be raised first before you can raise the forest functional level ffl. We will use set adforestmode to lower the forest functional level ffl and set addomainmode to lower the domain functional level. Open powershell with elevated privileges.
This was fine until a few days later when i needed to test an application that was not supported for functional domains and forest levels greater than server 2012r2. Downgrade the forest functional level. The lowest domain functional level you can roll back to is windows server 2008. You must be using an account with enterprise administrator or equivalent privileges to perform these actions lowering the domain functional level once you ve verified that you have met the conditions described above you can begin the process to lower the domain functional level.