How do I move an organization that has been orphaned if I can't log in using the same account it was created under?

Question

How do I move an organization that has been orphaned if I can't log in using the same account it was created under?

Nathan Gerrard 0

I created an organization more than 5 years ago and I would like to move it to a new microsoft account. The problem is when I use my old microsoft account to attempt to get to the old organization, it can't find it and shows a blue screen. How do I move the organization if I can't log in to change the owner permissions?

Sridevi Machavarapu 33,820 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-08T09:06:51.4+00:00

Hello Nathan Gerrard,

We need few details to proceed further. Please check your Private messages tab and provide those details.

1 answer

Your answer

Sridevi Machavarapu 33,820 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-08T09:06:51.4+00:00

Hello Nathan Gerrard,

We need few details to proceed further. Please check your Private messages tab and provide those details.

Answer 1

Because the original Microsoft Entra tenant that backed the organization has been deactivated, the organization is effectively orphaned from its original owner identity. The owner account can no longer sign in through that tenant, so ownership must be reassigned using the Azure DevOps orphaned‑organization process rather than by logging in as the old owner.

For Azure DevOps organizations, when the current owner and all members of the Project Collection Administrators group are inactive in the connected Microsoft Entra tenant, Azure DevOps Administrators can claim ownership and transfer it to an active account.

The supported path is:

Use an active Microsoft Entra tenant/account that should own the organization going forward.
Follow the guidance in Resolve inactive organization owner to have Azure DevOps Administrators reclaim the organization and assign a new owner in the active tenant.
After ownership is reassigned, the new owner (who is automatically a Project Collection Administrator) can manage the organization and, if needed, later change the owner again using Change the organization owner.

Directly “moving” the organization by signing in with the original, now‑blocked tenant is not possible; ownership must be transferred via the orphaned‑organization recovery process.

References: