Domain Modes

What is Domain Modes?

A mode of operation for domain controllers in Microsoft Windows 2000–based networks. Windows 2000 domain controllers are computers that contain a writable copy of Active Directory. You can convert a Windows 2000–based server to a domain controller by running the Active Directory Installation Wizard on that machine.

You can run Windows 2000 domain controllers in either of two modes:

• Mixed mode, which provides backward compatibility with Windows NT domain controllers (downlevel domain controllers). This mode supports networks with a mixture of Windows 2000 and Windows NT domain controllers and allows them to interoperate. Multimaster replication cannot be used in mixed mode environments.
• Native mode, which interoperates only with other Windows 2000 domain controllers. Native mode should be used when there are no downlevel domain controllers on the network and the entire network has been upgraded to Windows 2000.