Coexisting with Previous Versions

Understanding Active Directory Account Cleanup Wizard

Active Directory Account Cleanup Wizard is a utility designed to merge duplicate Windows NT accounts that are created when multiple directories are migrated or upgraded to Active Directory. These scenarios can include upgrading to Windows 2000, upgrading to Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, using third-party mail connectors, and migrating from third-party mail systems. Removing duplicate accounts in Windows 2000 Active Directory can help improve performance of your servers running Exchange.

Active Directory Account Cleanup Wizard searches Active Directory for duplicate Windows NT accounts that represent the same user. The wizard then suggests merge operations that eliminate the duplicates. You can also verify the individual merge operations. Finally, the wizard merges various account types, their attributes, and their properties into a single user account.

Note   You can also manually select the objects and the exact merge operations that you want the wizard to perform.

Key Features of the Active Directory Account Cleanup Wizard

Active Directory Account Cleanup Wizard allows you to:

Domain Upgrades and Active Directory Cleanup

Exchange 2000 relies heavily on Active Directory for configuration and Address Book information. When possible, you should upgrade the primary Domain Controller to Windows 2000 and Active Directory before deploying Exchange 2000. This reduces the creation of duplicate accounts in Active Directory. In large organizations this may not be possible, and the Exchange 2000 deployments and upgrades can occur even though user account domains are still running on Windows NT version 4.0. In this situation, you need to use Active Directory Account Cleanup Wizard to remove duplicate accounts after the Windows NT 4.0 accounts domain has been upgraded to Windows 2000.

This section contains the following topics:

Related Topics

Understanding Merge Operations