Migrate DNS from Windows 2003 to Windows 2008
I needed to move 50+ domains from a Windows 2003 DNS server to a newly requisitioned Windows 2008 Server. The following are instructions for moving all the domains at once.
Note: these steps would also work for migrating domains from 2003 to 2003 or 2008 to 2008.
Stop the DNS Server service on the destination server:
Use the Administrative Tools -> Services MMC snap-in, or run the following at the command prompt:
net stop "DNS SERVER"
Copy the DNS registry entries
On the source machine, use the registry editor (regedit) to browse to the following node:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DNS Server\Zones
Right click on the “Zones” node and choose “Export“. Save the export as a .reg file (e.g. DNS.reg).
Copy the DNS.reg file to the destination server and “Merge“.
Copy the DNS files
Copy the contents of the %SystemRoot%\System32\DNS folder from the source machine to the same folder on the destination machine. I received an permissions error while trying to transfer the “Samples” folder. It is not necessary to transfer the samples.
Set the DNS Load method
Using the Administrative Tools -> DNS MMC snap-in, on the “Advanced” tab, set the “Load zone data on startup:” to “From registry“. This tells the DNS server to load all zone data from the registry.
Start the “DNS Server” service on the destination server
Use the Administrative Tools -> Services MMC snap-in, or run the following at the command prompt:
net start "DNS SERVER"
Using the DNS MMC snap-in, you will now see all the domains listed on the destination server.
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