July 22nd, 2008 by shiraj

Transferring the FSMO Roles via Ntdsutil

To transfer the FSMO roles from the Ntdsutil command:

Caution: Using the Ntdsutil utility incorrectly may result in partial or complete loss of Active Directory functionality.

1. On any domain controller, click Start, click Run, type Ntdsutil in the Open box, and then click OK.

Microsoft Windows [Version 5.2.3790] (C) Copyright 1985-2003 Microsoft Corp. C:\WINDOWS>ntdsutil ntdsutil:

1. Type roles, and then press ENTER.

ntdsutil: roles fsmo maintenance:

Note: To see a list of available commands at any of the prompts in the Ntdsutil tool, type ?, and then press ENTER.

1. Type connections, and then press ENTER.

fsmo maintenance: connections server connections:

1. Type connect to server <servername>, where <servername> is the name of the server you want to use, and then press ENTER.

server connections: connect to server server100 Binding to server100 … Connected to server100 using credentials of locally logged on user. server connections:

1. At the server connections: prompt, type q, and then press ENTER again.

server connections: q fsmo maintenance:

1. Type transfer <role>. where <role> is the role you want to transfer.

For example, to transfer the RID Master role, you would type transfer rid master:

Options are:

Transfer domain naming master Transfer infrastructure master Transfer PDC Transfer RID master Transfer schema master

1. You will receive a warning window asking if you want to perform the transfer. Click on Yes.

2. After you transfer the roles, type q and press ENTER until you quit Ntdsutil.exe.

3. Restart the server and make sure you update your backup