Windows – ‘The directory service has exhausted the pool of relative identifiers’

KB ID 0000797 

Problem

I got this error when attempting to bulk create users with CSVDE (see below). But you may simply see it when trying to create a user, or other AD object.

Unwilling To Perform
The server side error is “The directory service has exhausted the pool of relative identifiers.”

Solution

Well that is a scary looking error! Firstly make sure you can see all your FSMO role servers.

Locate your FSMO Role Servers

In my case, I tracked this down to an old DC that has been removed from the domain but was still referenced in DNS. Open your domain forward lookup zone, look in the _tcp container, for any SRV references to old/removed domain controllers and simply delete them.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

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