To manually decommission a root server that hosts a domain-based DFS root in Windows Server 2003:
01. Open the Distributed File System snap-in from the Administrative Tools folder.
02. Select the DFS root that you wish to remove in the left-hand pane.
03. In the right-hand pane, right-click the root target that you want to remove and press Remove Target.
04. Press Yes to confirm.
05. Close the DFS snap-in.
06. If you haven't installed the Support Tools from the Support \ Tools folder of the Windows Server 2003 CD-ROM, right-click the Suptools.msi file and press Install.
07. Open a CMD.EXE window.
08. Type:
Dfsutil /UnmapFtRoot /Root:<DFS root> /Server:<RootTargetServer> /Share:<DFS share name>
Where:
DFS root uses the \\DomainOrServer\RootName fomat. RootTargetServer is the root server to be decommissioned. DFS share name is the DFS share name.09. On the RootTargetServer, open a CMD.EXE window and type the following command, pressing Enter:
Dfsutil /Clean /Server:<RootTargetServer> /Share:<DFS share name>.
10. Type net stop dfs and press Enter.
11. Type net start dfs and press Enter.
NOTE: DFS will stop giving referrals to the decommissioned server within 15 minutes after the local domain controller receives an update to the DFS object in the Active Directory from the PDC emulator.
