Change Operations Masters in Active Directory

Each FSMO Role has a different procedure to change the owner:

RID, PDC, and Infrastructure Roles:

From the computer that you want to make the new FSMO Role holder:

• Open Active Directory Users and Computers MMC
• Right-Click on the Domain Name
• Select ‘Operations Masters…’
• Select the tab that you would like to change
• Click the ‘Change’ button
• Verify that you want to change the FSMO Holder by clicking ‘Yes’Domain Naming Role:From the computer that you want to make the new FSMO Role holder:
  • Open Active Directory Domains and Trusts MMC
  • Right-Click on the Domain Name
  • Select ‘Operations Master…’
  • Click the ‘Change’ button
  • Verify that you want to change the FSMO Holder by clicking ‘Yes’Schema Master Role:From the computer that you want to make the new FSMO Role holder:
    • Open the start menu and click ‘Run’
    • Type ‘mmc’ and click ‘OK’
    • Click File -> Add/Remove Snap-in
    • Click ‘Add’, select ‘Active Directory Schema’*, and click ‘Add’
    • Click ‘Close’, then ‘OK’
    • Left-Click, then Right-Click on ‘Active Directory Schema’
    • Select ‘Operations Master…’
    • Click the ‘Change’ button
    • Verify that you want to change the FSMO Holder by clicking ‘Yes’

    * if you do not see ‘Active Directory Schema’ in the list, you need to register schmmgmt.dll. To do this, run regsvr32 schmmgmt.dll at a command line, then re-open the ‘Add/Remove Snap-in’ menu.

    To view what Domain Controller holds which FSMO Roles, see this post.