How to recover from Event ID 1168 and Event ID 1003 error messages (280364)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter x64 Edition
This article was previously published under Q280364 SYMPTOMSWhen you boot an Active Directory domain controller into normal mode following the restoration of its Active Directory database, the following error message is displayed:
Directory Services could not start because of the following error: The system cannot find the file specified. Error status: 0xc000000f. Please click Ok to shutdown this system and reboot into Directory Services Restore Mode, check the event log for more detail information.
When a domain controller that is affected by the scenario described in this article is booted into Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM), the Directory Services event log contains the following events:
Event ID: 1168
Source: NTDS General
Category: Internal Processing
Description: Error -1811(fffff8ed) has occurred (Internal ID 404ab). Please contact Microsoft Product Support Services for assistance.
Event ID: 1003
Source: NTDS General
Category: Internal Processing
Description: The Windows Directory Services database cannot be initialized and returned error -1811. Unrecoverable error, the directory can't continue.
CAUSEThe "-1811" strings in Events 1168 and 1003 map to the symbolic Jet error "JET_errFileNotFound." This indicates that the Active Directory database file, Ntds.dit, does not exist in the folder referred to by the DSA Database File setting in the registry.
Note The DSA Database File setting in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CCS\Services\NTDS\Parameters section of the Windows registry points to the drive and directory from which a domain controller loads its Ntds.dit database.RESOLUTIONTo resolve this issue, you must investigate what operations took place prior to this error condition being reported. To do this, follow these steps: - Verify that the drive and path that are configured to host the Active Directory database exist. To do this, boot into Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM) and type Ntdstil files info at a command prompt.
- If the physical drive that hosts Ntds.dit has been removed from the local machine, do one of the following things:
- Reinstall the drive, assign the appropriate drive letters, and then restore the system state.
- Change the database path to an existing volume by using the
NTDSUTIL FILES SET PATH DATABASE location command to define a new database path. Restore the Active Directory database to that drive and path by using an Active Directory-aware database utility. Also, change the path for the Active Directory database log files.
For additional information on using Ntdsutil, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
315131
HOW TO: Use Ntdsutil to Manage Active Directory Files from the Command Line in Windows 2000
816120 How To Use Ntdsutil to Manage Active Directory Files from the Command Line in Windows Server 2003
- The logical drive letters assigned to drives and partitions on the computer may be reordered due to SCSI termination changes, updated SCSI drivers, or administrators assigning new logical drive letters to logical or physical drives.
- If the logical drive letter assigned to Ntds.dit has been reordered and is assigned a different logical drive letter than the path displayed by NTDSUTIL FILES INFO, do one of the following things:
- Reassign the original drive letter to the volume that hosts the Ntds.dit file.
- Change the database path to an existing NTDS volume, and use the
NTDSUTIL FILES SET PATH DATABASE location command to assign the matching database path. Also, change the path for the Active Directory database log files. Finally, restore the Active Directory database to that drive and path.
- If an administrator attempted to restore system state by using an Active Directory-aware backup/restore utility that failed to place the Active Directory database or log files in the correct drive and path, contact the vendor of that utility.
- If jet database operations such as offline defrags, integrity checks, or semantic database analysis were performed against an Active Directory database that was moved to another drive and path, ensure that the processed Ntds.dit file resides in the drive and path indicated by the DSA Database File setting in the registry. You can also discover the current database path by booting into Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM) and typing the NTDSUTIL command NTDSUTIL FILES INFO. For example, type Ntdsutil files info.
Any manual or automated attempt to restore the system state by using a non-Active Directory-aware backup/restore utility or by copying an Active Directory database to a domain controller's local volume is not supported and may result in forest corruption. Such improperly restored domain controllers should be restored by using a system state backup, or they should be reinstalled and promoted back into the domain prior to booting into online Active Directory mode. STATUS
This behavior is expected.
Modification Type: | Minor | Last Reviewed: | 1/26/2006 |
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Keywords: | kbenv kberrmsg kbprb KB280364 |
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