Use Esentutl when Ntdsutil tool fails to repair the Active Directory database

The Ntdsutil tool may fail to repair the Active Directory database (the Ntds.dit file) and generates one or more of the following errors:

Operation failed because the database was inconsistent.

Initialize jet database failed; cannot access file.
Error while performing soft recovery.

All is not lost. You can use the Esentutl.exe tool to resolve the problem.

• To perform an integrity check
  

  
  

  
  
  • Start a command prompt
    
  • Type the following command (including the quotation marks), and then press ENTER: esentutl /g “path\ntds.dit”/!10240 /8 /v /x /o
    

    where path is the path to the folder that contains the Ntds.dit db file. By default, this folder is %systemRoot%\NTDS folder.

  
  
• To repair the database:
  
  
  
  • Type the following command (including the quotation marks), and then press ENTER: esentutl /p “path\ntds.dit” /!10240 /8 /v /x /o
    

Important: Delete the database log files from the Ntds folder. Do not delete or move the Ntds.dit file.

Related Tips:

• Event ID: 1008 After Upgrading Windows NT 4.0 DHCP or WINS Server to Windows 2000
  
• ESE Hangs Following Rollback After JetPrepareUpdate
  
• How to Recover from Event ID 1168 and Event ID 1003
  
• Extensible Storage Engine Database Becomes Corrupted During Consistency Check
  
• Cannot Repair the Active Directory Database by Using the Ntdsutil Tool