Office Communications Server or Live Communications Server 2005 does not work correctly after you upgrade a domain controller to Windows Server 2008

Consider the following scenario:

• You have an existing Windows Server 2003 forest.
• Microsoft Office Communications Server or Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is installed on a Windows Server 2003-based computer.
• The Windows Server 2003-based computer is a member of a domain in the Windows Server 2003 forest.
• You upgrade a domain controller in the forest to Windows Server 2008.

In this scenario, a Windows Server 2003-based computer that is running Office Communications Server or Live Communications Server 2005 SP1 may not work correctly. For example, some parts of the Office Communications Server 2007 or Live Communications Server 2005 SP1 user interface may not be visible.

Additionally, you may be unable to add new Office Communications Server servers or Live Communications Server 2005 SP1 servers to the forest. You may also be unable to add new Office Communications Server or Live Communications Server 2005 SP1 pools.

These problems occur if the Active Directory directory service is upgraded from Windows Server 2003 to Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) in Windows Server 2008. In this situation, you must perform the forest preparation operation again to create Live Communications Server-specific display specifiers for Windows Server 2003.

To resolve this problem, use the Prep Forest option in the Communications Server deployment tool or in the Live Communications Server 2005 deployment tool. The Prep Forest option prepares the Windows Server 2008 forest for the installation of Communications Server or Live Communications Server 2005.

You can also use the Lcscmd.exe command-line tool to prepare the Windows Server 2008 forest for the installation of Communications Server or Live Communications Server 2005. To prepare the forest by using the Lcscmd.exe command-line tool, open a command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER: To check that the forest is prepared correctly, open a command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

Communications Server and Live Communications Server 2005 update the display specifiers in an Active Directory forest. When you upgrade to a Windows Server 2008 Active Directory forest, two new locales are added to the forest. Therefore, two new display specifiers are also added.

When you run the Prep Forest option in the Live Communications Server Deployment Tool, the CheckForestPrepState action checks that the Communications Server tab or the Live Communications Server 2005 tab exists on each display specifier. If the display specifier does not exist on each tab, the CheckForestPrepState action reports that the forest must be re-mapped.

For more information about configurations that are supported in Office Communications Server 2007 environments, visit the following Microsoft Web site:For more information about how to prepare Active Directory for Live Communications Server 2005, visit the following Microsoft Web site: