How to: Transfer management of an Active Directory Domain to another Domain Controller

Step 1: Using the command line (as administrator) to move PDC to another Domain Controller

1. Open Command Prompt (elevated) and Type: ntdsutil
2. At the ntdsutil command prompt, type: roles
3. At the fsmo maintenance command prompt, type: connection
4. At the server connections command prompt, type: connect to server NewDomainControllerName
5. At the server connections command prompt, type: quit
6. At the fsmo maintenance command prompt, type:
   transfer RID master
   transfer PDC
   transfer infrastructure master
   transfer naming master
   transfer schema master
7. Type quit to exit fsmo maintenance
8. Then, type quit again to exit ntdsutil
9. To check: Type netdom query fsmo command line to verify fsmo roles.
10. Finally, exit, then to update group policy: Open a Run prompt and type: gpupdate /force
    

Step 2: Demote the old Domain Controller

1. (Optional if using SBS11 for example) Remove Active Directory Certificate Services
   Server manager > Manage > Remove roles > Next > Active Directory Certificate Services > Next > Confirm Removal option > Remove
   (This is marginally different between Server 2008r2 and Server 2012 onwards)
2. Windows 2003 to 2008r2: Open a Run prompt and type: dcpromo
   (Don’t tick the box saying this is the last server on the domain)
   or
   Windows 2012 onwards: Open PowerShell and type: Uninstall ADDSDomainController
   After a reboot, then reopen PowerShell and type: Uninstall WindowsFeature AD Domain Services
   

Step 3: Cleaning up AD (Only if removing the old server from the Domain)

1. If the old Domain Controller computer name still exists in the Users and Computers or Sites and Services console, delete it manually.
2. Delete entries pointing to old Domain Controller in DNS. Look in forwarders, name servers in forwarding lookup zone and reverse lookup zone.