When you want to restore some deleted computer objects, user object or even Organizational Units back to to your production Active Directory, there’s a nice tool called ADRESTORE. It’s a tool you can download from SysInternals and it’s easy to use!
For this example I’ve deleted the OU (Organizational Unit) where my computer objects are placed. The consequenses….Yes, the computers are not longer trusted to this domain, OOPS!! 😉
By default the Active Directory markes all the deleted objects as IsDeleted True. The objects are not vissible any more in your Active Directory, but they still there. This calls tombstoned objects. By default tombstoned objects will be available for 60 days in a Windows 2000/2003 Active Directory and 180 days in a Windows 2003 SP1 of 2008 Active Directory.
As you can see, I’ve deleted the OU Omgeving with the sub OU’s Laptop and PC and all the computers objects in this OU’s. Now we’re going to restore everything back! Note: make sure you first restore the highest OU, than the sub OU’s and finally the computer objects.
1.) Start the command prompt (Start, Run, CMD)
2.) Locate ADRESTORE.EXE
3.) Type in ADRESTORE -R Omge* (this will find all deleted object starting with Omge)
4.) Restore the OU Omgeving by pressing Y
5.) Type in ADRESTORE -R Lap* (this will find all deleted object starting with Lap)
6.) Restore the OU Laptop by pressing Y
7.) Type in ADRESTORE -R PC
8.) Restore the OU PC by pressing Y
9.) Type in ADRESTORE -R PC* (this will find all deleted objects starting with PC)
10.) Restore the computer objects PC01 till PC10 by pressing Y
11.) 9.) Type in ADRESTORE -R LT* (this will find all deleted objects starting with LT)
10.) Restore the computer objects LT01 till LT10 by pressing Y
When you’ve restored all the objects, these are disabled by default, so you’ve to enabled them manually!