Import the DHCP database using exec

While exporting the configuration on the Windows 2003 Server, using netsh, you may see an error message similar to one of the following:

·         Access is denied
·         An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format.

In this case following steps can be followed to export the DHCP database.

1. On the Windows 2003 DHCP server which had the original database, at a cmd prompt type the following command: netsh DHCP server dump >c:\DHCPdump.txt
2. Copy the DHCPdump.txt to another Windows 2003 box
3. Open up the text file and edited the text file with a find and replace changing the IP address from the old to the new Windows 2008 server, and then save the file.
4. Stop the DHCP server service and delete the contents of the DHCP folder and subfolders.
5. Start the DHCP server.
6. Right-click on the Command Prompt (cmd) and select run as administrator, to open the cmd prompt using elevated privileges.

Note You must have local administrator permissions to import the data.

7. At the command prompt type: netsh exec DHCPdump.txt
8. At the command prompt type: netsh DHCP server initiate reconcile
9. Open up the console and check that all of the options are intact and the Reservations are present.
10. At the command prompt type: netsh DHCP server export c:\DHCP.txt all

In some scenarios you may receive the following error while importing the database on a 2008 server.

"The Requested operation requires Elevation."

Make sure that the command prompt is opened with elevated privilege on windows server 2008.

To do so right click on the command prompt menu option and select run as administrator and then try and import the database.