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Requirements for Active Directory Recycle Bin

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2

By default, Active Directory Recycle Bin in Windows Server 2008 R2 is disabled. To enable Active Directory Recycle Bin, your environment must meet the requirements in the following sections.

Active Directory Domain Services environment

Do the following before you enable Active Directory Recycle Bin in an Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) environment:

  • Run Adprep to update your Active Directory schema with the necessary Active Directory Recycle Bin attributes. Membership in the Schema Admins group is the minimum required to complete the following Adprep tasks:

Important

If you are performing a clean installation of a Windows Server 2008 R2 Active Directory forest, you do not have to run Adprep and your Active Directory schema will automatically contain all the necessary attributes for the Active Directory Recycle Bin to function properly. If, however, you are introducing a Windows Server 2008 R2 domain controller into your existing Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 forest and, subsequently, upgrading the rest of the domain controllers to Windows Server 2008 R2, you must run Adprep to update your Active Directory schema with the attributes that are necessary for Active Directory Recycle Bin to function correctly. 

  - Prepare the forest by running the **adprep /forestprep** command on the server that holds the schema master operations master (also known as flexible single master operations or FSMO) role to update the schema.  
      
  - Prepare the domain by running the **adprep /domainprep /gpprep** command on the server that holds the infrastructure operations master role.  
      
  - If a read-only domain controller (RODC) is present in your AD DS environment, you must also run the **adprep /rodcprep** command.

  • Make sure that all domain controllers in your Active Directory forest are running Windows Server 2008 R2.

  • Raise the functional level of your Active Directory forest to Windows Server 2008 R2.

Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services environment

Do the following before you enable Active Directory Recycle Bin in an Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) environment:

  • Upgrade the schema of your AD LDS configuration set with the necessary Active Directory Recycle Bin attributes by running the following command:

    Ldifde.exe –i –f MS-ADAM-Upgrade-2.ldf –s server:port –b username domain password –j . -$ adamschema.cat

Note

If you are upgrading your environment to Windows Server 2008 R2, you can upgrade the schema first and then upgrade the operating system. If you select this approach, you will have to first locate and download the necessary MS-ADAM-Upgrade-2.ldf and adamschema.cat files. Or you can do the reverse: upgrade the operating system first and then upgrade the schema. This is the recommended approach, because both MS-ADAM-Upgrade-2.ldf and adamschema.cat are available in Windows Server 2008 R2 in the C:\Windows\ADAM directory.

  • Make sure that all servers hosting the instances of your AD LDS configuration set are running Windows Server 2008 R2.

  • Raise the functional level of your AD LDS configuration set to Windows Server 2008 R2 or higher. To do this using ADSIEdit:

    1. Open ADSIEdit, click Action and click Connect to .

    2. In Connection Point , click Select a well known Naming Context: and choose Configuration and in Computer , click Select or type a domain or server: and then type Localhost:50000 or an alternative server name and port that you chose during the AD LDS installation, and then click OK .

    3. Double-click Configuration [Localhost:50000] , double-click CN=Configuration,CN={GUID} , right-click CN=Partitions , and click Properties .

    4. Select msDS-Behavior-Version and click Edit .

    5. Type a value of 4 to raise the functional level to Windows Server 2008 R2 or 5 to raise it to Windows Server 2012, and click OK twice.