What is Lost and Found Container in Active Directory

What is Lost and Found Container in Active Directory

In this post, we’ll learn more about Lost and Found container in Active Directory. What is Lost and Found container and what is it’s use? This is favorite question of some interviewers. I’ve observed that many System Administrators don’t have any clue about Lost and found container in Active Directory. Matter of fact is that many Administrators have never heard about this container. L&F container is where objects that are orphaned during Active Directory database replication are stored.

You need to enable Advanced Featured to view Lost and Found container in Active Directory. To enable Advanced features, click on View and then check the option of Advanced Features.

Let’s take a scenario to explain Lost and Found in detail. Assume one Domain named as itingredients.com is extended to two geographical sites i.e. US and UK. Assuming that we have one Domain Controller named DC01 in US and another Domain Controller named DC02 in UK site.

Steps to promote Domain Controller

If we create new OU named as OU01 in DC01 then it would replicate to DC02. Now create a Domain User named TU01 in OU01 but before it replicates to DC02, delete the OU01 from DC02. After replication is completed, it would also delete OU01 from DC01.

Steps to create Organizational Unit

Now take a pause and answer the question, what would happen to user TU01. Do you think that user TU01 would also be deleted along with OU ? But please remember that when we deleted an OU at that point of time, it was an empty Organizational Unit and it doesn’t contain any user in it.

Steps to create Users in Active Directory

In this scenario, user TU01 would automatically move to Lost and Found container because now user TU01 is orphaned and it doesn’t have any Organizational Unit as it’s home.

Hope you understood about Lost and Found container in Active Directory. Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions in the comment section.