Modifying the tombstone lifetime period

When an object is deleted from Active Directory, it is not actually removed from the database, as this would hinder replication of the deletion. Instead, the object is tombstoned. This tombstone prevents the object from being usable (for sign-ins, for example) and being visible in all common Active Directory tools. It also instructs the garbage collection process on each domain controller to remove the object from the database once the tombstone lifetime period has expired.

Getting ready

To modify the tombstone lifetime period, you'll need to be signed in with an account that is a member of the Domain Admins group.

How to do it...

You can modify the tombstone lifetime period using ADSI Edit and Windows PowerShell.

Using ADSI Edit

Perform these steps to modify the tombstone lifetime period for an Active Directory domain using ADSI Edit:

1. Press Start.
2. Search for ADSI Edit and select it from the search results or...