Orphan Organization Owner

Question

We have an Azure DevOps organization where the Organization Owner account is no longer accessible (email/account inactive).

We do not have the ability to change ownership or manage user access levels.

We need assistance with ownership transfer or assignment of a new Project Collection Administrator.

how do we switch the Org owner?

Answer 1

Hi @Carter, Richard,

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

When organization is “orphaned”, you can’t self-service an owner change via the portal so you’ll need to use the “claim ownership” flow in Azure DevOps, which only works if your org is backed by Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD). Here’s what you can do:

1. Confirm your org is connected to the right Entra ID tenant
   • In the Azure portal, switch to the tenant that originally backed your Azure DevOps org (use the “Directory + subscription” filter).
   • Make sure your DevOps org shows up under that directory.
2. Ensure you have an Azure DevOps Administrator role in Entra ID
   • A Global Administrator in Azure AD must assign themselves (or someone you designate) the Azure DevOps Administrator directory role.
   • Wait up to an hour for role assignments to propagate.
3. Claim ownership of the orphaned org
   • Browse to https://dev.azure.com/ {YourOrgName} and sign in with the AAD account that has the Azure DevOps Administrator role.
   • You’ll either land on a 401/“Orphaned organization” page or see a banner in Organization settings ► Overview that lets you Claim ownership.
   • Click Claim ownership, enter a short justification, and confirm. This action makes you the new organization owner.
4. Add new Project Collection Administrators
   • As the newly claimed owner, go to Organization settings ► Permissions ► Project Collection Administrators.
   • Add at least two people (and ideally a break-glass group) to avoid getting locked out again.

If your org isn’t connected to Entra ID (i.e., it’s MSA-backed), or if you run into any errors claiming ownership, you’ll need to open a support ticket with Azure DevOps Support.

References:

• Assign a new owner to an orphaned organization
• Change the organization owner
• Look up project collection admins

Answer 2

Because the current Azure DevOps organization owner is inactive and you cannot change ownership or manage access, treat the organization as potentially orphaned and use the Azure DevOps Administrator role in Microsoft Entra ID to reclaim and reassign ownership.

Use the appropriate path based on your situation:

1. If the organization is NOT orphaned (there is still an active Project Collection Administrator)
   1. Have any active member of the Project Collection Administrators (PCA) group sign in to https://dev.azure.com/{yourorganization}.
   2. Go to Organization settings (gear icon) → Overview.
   3. Select Change owner.
   4. In the dialog, select the new owner from the dropdown/search, then select Change.
   Prerequisites:
   • The person performing the change must be a Project Collection Administrator.
   • The new owner must:
     • Be able to sign in to the organization.
     • Have created a profile and agreed to the Terms of Service.
     • Have accessed the organization at least once.
2. If the organization IS orphaned (owner and all PCAs are inactive) In this case, an Azure DevOps Administrator in Microsoft Entra ID must claim ownership. Step 1 – Confirm the role:
   • Ensure someone in your tenant has the Azure DevOps Administrator role in Microsoft Entra ID (and is Active if using Privileged Identity Management).
   Step 2 – If the Azure DevOps Administrator is already a member of the Azure DevOps organization:
   1. As the Azure DevOps Administrator, sign in to https://dev.azure.com/{yourorganization}.
   2. Go to Organization settings → Overview.
   3. In the warning banner about inactive owner/PCA, select Change owner.
   4. Choose the new owner from the dropdown/search, provide a short justification, and select Change.
   5. A notification of the ownership transfer is sent to all Azure DevOps Administrators in your Microsoft Entra ID.
   Step 3 – If the Azure DevOps Administrator is NOT a member of the Azure DevOps organization:
   1. Sign in to https://dev.azure.com/{yourorganization} using the account that has the Azure DevOps Administrator role in Microsoft Entra ID.
   2. A 401-style error page appears stating the administrator is not a member of the organization, with an option to claim ownership.
   3. Select Claim Ownership, enter a short justification, then select Claim Ownership again.
   4. A notification of the ownership transfer is sent to all Azure DevOps Administrators in your Microsoft Entra ID.
   5. You are redirected to the organization overview page as the new owner.
   6. If desired, then transfer ownership to another user via Organization settings → Overview → Change owner.
3. If the owner is inactive but the org is not technically orphaned
   • Azure DevOps Administrators can still claim ownership when the current owner and all PCAs are inactive in the connected Microsoft Entra tenant. Follow the same “orphaned organization” steps above.
4. Common reasons you cannot select the intended new owner If the user you want as the new owner does not appear in the Change owner list:
   • They may not be added to the organization yet → first add the user to your organization.
   • They may not have created a Visual Studio/Azure DevOps profile or accepted the Terms of Service.
   • There may be propagation delay after adding them.
   • In Microsoft Entra–connected organizations, directory members only appear once they meet these requirements.

Once ownership is reassigned, the new owner can:

• Manage billing and paid access.
• Change the organization URL.
• Change the organization owner again if needed.
• Recover a deleted organization.

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References:

• Change the organization owner
• Assign an owner to an orphaned organization
• Organization FAQs
• Look up the organization owner
• General - Sprint 166 Update