Move Domain Between Office 365 Tenants Without Downtime

When to Migrate Office 365 Domain to Another Tenant?

The need for a domain transfer during Office 365 Tenant to Tenant Migration usually arises in the following scenarios:

• Companies consolidating M365 environments require managing all domains under a single tenant. 
• Business units divestiture its own separate tenant, and the associated domains must move along. 
• Rebranding the organization to a new domain for all Microsoft 365 tenants as one. 
• Switch from a partner-managed tenant like GoDaddy to the native Microsoft plan. 
• Attaching the domain to a single tenant with all email accounts, user mailboxes, and OneDrive data. 
• Necessity to move the domain to a specific geographic tenant for data and compliance management. 
• Restructuring Microsoft licences and switching to different subscriptions to demand this migration. 

Free Move Domain Between Office 365 Tenants 

The entire process is divided into three major phases for an easy and simplified understanding. The mail routing part is covered in the same phase 2 of this native method. Steps are:

Phase 1: Pre-Migration Preparations and Validations

Before routing your emails to move the domain between two tenant accounts, you must set up the environment and take a few more checks. These are:

1. First, get started with auditing your source environment. 
2. Check all groups, users, mailboxes, lists, and teams associated with the domain you plan to move. 
3. Create a CSV for all email aliases, proxy addresses, and UPNs of your domain. 
4. Further, prepare a new Microsoft 365 tenant account if it doesn’t already exist. 
5. Then, prepare temporary user accounts in the target tenant through onmicrosoft.com domain. 
6. Also, assign appropriate licences to each user and go to the Domain Registrar. 
7. Reduce the TTL (Time to Live) for your MX records to a minimal value there, i.e., 5 minutes (300 seconds). 
8. It is essential for the propagation of DNS changes during the domain migration between tenants. 
9. Then, use the SysInfo Microsoft 365 Tenant to Tenant Migration Tool or Microsoft’s built-in cross-tenant migration solution to take a backup. 
10. In the end, do not forget to communicate with the users about this domain migration. 

Phase 2: Move Office 365 Domain Emails to New Tenant

Here, you can set up the mail routes and detach and reattach the Office 365 domains for migration between two tenant accounts. Use these steps:

#Mail Routing and Domain Detachment 

1. Configure a mail routing relay between the source and destination tenant.
2. Then, forward all the inbound emails to all temporary onmicrosoft.com addresses. 
3. Next, update your MX records so that they point to the mail routing email service provider IP address. 
4. Verify the delta synchronization to move if any data creation or modification exists beyond the initial migration. 
5. Further, change every domain user’s primary SMTP address and UPN from @yourdomainname.com. 
6. Replace it with a temporary @source.onmicrosoft.com address using the given PowerShell script: 

Get-MsolUser -DomainName “yourdomainname.com” | Set-MsolUserPrincipalName -NewUserPrincipalName {$_.UserPrincipalName -replace “yourdomainname.com”,”source.onmicrosoft.com”}

7. Verify that your original domain is no longer set as the default and remove it from everywhere. 
8. Sign in to the source Microsoft 365 Admin Center and go to Settings and then Domains. 
9. After that, pick your domain and click the Remove button to exclude it. 
10. System validates that no object references remain for the domain and waits until the Microsoft backend releases it. 
11. It usually takes 15-60 minutes or upto 72 hours in complex situations. 

#Transfer Microsoft 365 Domain to Another Tenant

1. Now, sign in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center for the target Tenant Account. 
2. Again, go to Settings and click Domain >> Add. Enter the name and follow the instructions. 
3. Further, verify the domain ownership by adding TXT/MX records that Microsoft provided to your DNS. 
4. Next, change the primary SMTP address of each user from @target.onmicrosoft.com to @yourdomainname1.com. 
5. Assign the licences and recreate shared mailboxes, groups, and teams as required. 
6. Furthermore, update the MX records and redirect to the target M365 infrastructure (yourdomainname1.mail.protection.outlook.com)
7. Disable the mail routing and test the email communication flow. 
8. Also, add the old domain’s email addresses as aliases to the new users, if required to continue accessing the emails. (optional) 

Phase 3: Post-Migration Checks 

Once your entire process to move domain between Office 365 Tenants manually is marked completed, take the following validations:

1. All users can sign in with new domain credentials and test inbound emails. 
2. Verify that outbound emails represent the correct domain in the “To” field.
3. Ensure that calendar invites and shared calendars function properly. 
4. Monitor mail flow logs, SharePoint, and OneDrive links work properly. 
5. Reconfigure Microsoft applications and devices using Modern Authentication. 

Why This Method Isn’t Enterprise Friendly?

The method has several unavoidable cons which makes it a less preferable choice for IT professionals and individuals:

• Very lengthy, time-consuming, complex, and hectic procedure. 
• Needs a high level of technical proficiency or expert assistance. 
• Admin credentials with proper licences and good internet are needed. 
• Unused mailboxes and resources must be removed before migration. 
• You need to use a third-party trusted software for data backup in between. 
• High risk of configuration issues and data loss or corruption. 

Migrate Office 365 Domain to Another Tenant: Issues & Fix

While you perform the manual method, several common challenges and errors may arise. Here’s a comprehensive table explaining the issues and their fix in complete detail. 

Heuristically Move Domain Between Office 365 Tenants

While the manual method is available, it is quite complex and inefficient for large and bulky mailboxes with critical data. Therefore, we have another expert, trusted, and reliable solution, i.e., SysInfo Microsoft 365 Migration Tool. It allows you to migrate OneDrive to Another Tenant along with mailboxes and SharePoint data. Additionally, enterprises can ensure that their data is secure and managed with 100% accuracy and zero loss. This is beneficial to resume business continuity during the migrations. 

Working to Move Office 365 Domain Emails to New Tenant

Follow the simple step-by-step procedure below to perform the tenant-to-tenant migration and move domains with ease:

1. Launch the SysInfo O365 Tenant Migration Software and click Copy Mailboxes. 
   
2. Then, choose your authentication type and Add Connection to sign in to the source domain. 
   
3. Further, choose the mailboxes to transfer, verify in Selected Mailboxes, and click Continue to select the destination. 
   
   
4. Afterward, select destination mailboxes and map the source and destination domain tenants. 
   
5. At last, apply the filters and click on Start Migration to move the domains.
   

Isn’t it a simpler and more scalable solution as compared to the troublesome freeway to transfer Microsoft 365 domain to another tenant? Streamline your operations with this tool easily using the Demo Version right away! It allows you to migrate 50 emails per folder, OneDrive and SharePoint files < 20MB, and upto 5 list items per list.

Why Enterprises Prefer Migration Tool?

• Always migrates your entire data without any scope for loss. 
• Use it to migrate SharePoint Site to Another Tenant in an instance. 
• Manages mailboxes, OneDrive, and SharePoint data with precision. 
• Keeps the original folder structure and metadata intact as the original. 
• Supports incremental migration and deduplication during and pre-migration. 
• Uses modern authentication and Graph API for secure login and transfer. 
• Migrate emails selectively and filter them on multiple bases for clarity. 
• Allows pilot test migrations and works across all Mac and Windows versions. 
• Suited for both techie and non-techie users with or without technicalities. 

Ending Remarks 

The decision to move domain between Office 365 tenants is statistically meaningful for organizations and businesses. However, ensuring that it is completed without downtime and zero loss requires a strategic solution and proper planning. This is only possible if you stage your data, protect the mail flow, transfer domains correctly, and validate everything with manual transfers. Or, best use the SysInfo Office 365 Tenant to Tenant Migration Tool for moving domains disruption-free in a smooth, clean, and secure manner without extra effort. For concerns, connect with the technical experts 24*7 and have a hassle-free domain transfer.

Frequently Asked Questions

About The Author:

Simran Bhatia

Simran Bhatia is a technical content writer engaged in writing clear, concise, and SEO-optimized content. With a background in computer science and a passion for writing, I thrive to deliver complex technical content in simple layman terms.