Question : What should I do when I want to decommission a Windwos 2000 server with Certificate Services  installed?

My windows 2000 server is a root domain controller. I have transferred all the FSMO and other roles to a new Windows 2003 server and I now want to decommission the old Windows 2000 server. When I run dcpromo it tells me that Certificate Services is installed and I should remove this first. However I don't know what the best thing to do here would be. Do I uninstall for 2000 it then install it from scratch on 2003 or do I need to move it somehow to preserve certificates for some reason?

Thanks in advance.

Answer : What should I do when I want to decommission a Windwos 2000 server with Certificate Services  installed?

If you follow the above directions it would behave as if certificate services was never installed.  The question is if you use the certificates for anything besides workstation enrollment, e.g. internal web site certificates, smartcard logon, email signing/encryption, EFS, IPSec, etc.  If you do, then you will want to migrate it, if not and you have no real plans to, then you can just uninstall as described to get rid of cert svcs and remove it properly from AD.

If you plan to continue using your own certs, then you will need to open up the Certification Authority MMC and do a full backup of the CA - bear with me its been awhile since I've driven a w2k CA, but it should be similar to 2k3 if memory serves:
right click the CAName - All Tasks - Backup CA
In the wizard make sure to select to backup the Private key and CA Certificate, the Certificate database and certificate database log.  Do not do an incremental backup.  Browse to the save location (note: must be an empty folder).  Assign a password for the private key - make this strong and do not lose it.

Build up a new virtual server at the same OS and service pack level, restore the CA there and then upgrade to 2003.

The guide is here:
How to move a CA to another server:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/298138
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