I can never seem to remember the exact syntax on how to transfer the Active Directory FSMO roles and I seem to spend quite a bit of time looking up the commands. So I thought I would write up a quick article on how to transfer those ‘pesky’ FSMO roles.

It is worth noting that you *can* transfer all the FSMO roles using MMC snap-ins. Yes that’s plural snap-ins. You will use a total of no less than three snap-ins to transfer the five roles. I however prefer the use of the command line utility ntdsutil.

1. Open a command prompt and start ntdsutil
2. Type roles, then press ENTER
3. Type connections, then press ENTER
4. Type connect to server CORPDC01, press ENTER (where CORPDC01 is the target domain controller)
5. Type q, then press ENTER
6. Finally you can transfer the roles individually by entering the following commands:
   • transfer domain naming master
   • transfer infrastructure master
   • transfer pdc
   • transfer rid master
   • transfer schema master
7. When you have finished transferring the roles, type q, then press ENTER until you have exited ntdsutil