Change the Boot Method Used by the DNS Server

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2

You can use this procedure to control whether the Domain Name System (DNS) server obtains its startup information from the registry, from a boot file, or from Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS).

By default, DNS servers use information that is stored in the registry to initialize the service and load any zone data for use at the server. As added options, you can configure the DNS server to boot from a file or, in AD DS environments you can supplement local registry data with zone data that is retrieved for directory-integrated zones that are stored in the Active Directory database. If you use the boot file method, the file that is used must be a text file named Boot, which is located on this computer in the %systemroot%\Windows\System32\Dns folder.

Membership in the Administrators group, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477.

To change the boot method used by the DNS server

  1. Open DNS Manager.

  2. In the console tree, right-click the applicable DNS server, and then click Properties.

  3. Click the Advanced tab.

  4. In the Load zone data on startup list, select From registry, From file, or From Active Directory and registry.

Additional considerations

  • To open DNS Manager, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click DNS.