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Assign an owner to an orphaned organization

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Azure DevOps Services

When the organization owner and all project collection administrators are inactive, the organization is considered orphaned. An orphaned organization doesn't have an administrator, so there's no way of transferring administrator rights to another user.

But, organizations that are connected to Microsoft Entra ID can transfer ownership to an active user.

Note

If your organization isn't considered orphaned and you want to change the owner, then see Change organization owner.

Prerequisites

  • You must be an Azure DevOps Administrator in Microsoft Entra ID. If you're using Privileged Identity Management, then the Azure DevOps Administrator must be of type Active. It isn't a requirement to be a Project Collection Administrator.
  • The Azure DevOps Administrator role can only claim ownership of organizations when the current owner and all members of the Project Collection Administrators group are inactive in the backing Microsoft Entra ID. Azure DevOps and Microsoft Entra ID define inactive user accounts the same. For more information, see What are inactive user accounts?

Find your Azure DevOps Administrator

If you don't know who the Azure DevOps Administrator is for your organization, follow these steps to find out.

  1. To find your Azure DevOps Administrator, go to the Azure portal, as described in View and assign administrator roles in Microsoft Entra ID. For more information about Microsoft Entra roles, see Administrator role permissions in Microsoft Entra ID.
  2. The Azure DevOps Administrator can now complete the steps in Change Azure DevOps owner to claim ownership of the target Azure DevOps organization.

When you don't have an Azure DevOps Administrator

When your Microsoft Entra tenant hasn't assigned an Azure DevOps Administrator, complete the following steps.

  1. Find your Microsoft Entra Global Administrator or Privileged Role Administrator. These administrators can be found in the Azure portal, as described in View and assign administrator roles in Microsoft Entra ID. To learn more about Microsoft Entra roles, see Administrator role permissions in Microsoft Entra ID.

  2. Ask the Microsoft Entra Global Administrator or Privileged Role Administrator to assign the Azure DevOps Administrator role to the appropriate user(s).

    Note

    Any changes to role membership may take up to an hour to propagate to Azure DevOps.

  3. The Azure DevOps Administrator can now complete the steps in Change Azure DevOps owner to claim ownership of the target Azure DevOps organization.

When your Azure DevOps Administrator is a member of the target organization

Complete the following steps when your Azure DevOps Administrator in Microsoft Entra ID is a member of the target Azure DevOps organization.

  1. As the Azure DevOps Administrator, sign in to your organization (https://dev.azure.com/{yourorganization}).

  2. Select Organization settings, and then Overview.

  3. Within the warning message, select Change owner.

    Screenshot of warning, PCA and Owner inactive in Microsoft Entra ID.

  4. Select a user from the dropdown menu, or search for a user by entering the user's name, provide a short justification, and then select Change.

    Screenshot of button highlighted by red box, Change owner.

A notification of the ownership transfer with your provided justification gets sent to all Azure DevOps Administrators in your Microsoft Entra ID.

When your Azure DevOps Administrator isn't a member of the target organization

Complete the following steps when your Azure DevOps Administrator in Microsoft Entra ID isn't a member of the target Azure DevOps organization.

  1. Sign in to your organization (https://dev.azure.com/{yourorganization}) using the credentials granted to the Azure DevOps Administrator role in Microsoft Entra ID. An error page appears where you can Claim Ownership.

    Screenshot of 401 message: Microsoft Entra Administrator not member of organization.

  2. Select Claim Ownership. Provide a short justification, and then select Claim Ownership once again. All Azure DevOps Administrators in your Microsoft Entra ID receive a notification of the ownership transfer, which includes your provided justification.

    Screenshot showing empty box, where you enter justification and claim ownership of the organization.

    A notification of the ownership transfer with your provided justification is sent to all Azure DevOps Administrators in your Microsoft Entra ID.

    You're redirected to the organization overview page. If you want to transfer ownership to another user, see Change organization owner.