Transferring AD FSMO Roles Using NTDS utility

To transfer the FSMO roles from the Ntdsutil command follow the following steps:

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

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

 

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

• 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.

• Type connections, and then press ENTER.

- -	fsmo maintenance: connections server connections:

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

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

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

- -	server connections: q fsmo maintenance:

• 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:

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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.

Reference