Moving a domain from Office Live

Problem

We have a new client with an existing website hosted via Microsoft Office Live. Without any DNS changes possible we need to extract the domain to a preferred ISP.

The client registered the domain with Office Live when setting it up so the domain is registered with Melbourne IT. They use a system called delegation to give control of the domain to Office Live.

Solution

The instructions for removing a domain and passing control back to Melbourne IT are described here: Remove a custom domain name registered with Office Live Small Business.

In practice, removing the domain from Office Live may mean that the website will be down within an hour or so and can’t be recovered until the domain has been passed to a registrar with the facility to amend the DNS records.

If your domain was registered with a registrar BEFORE signing up to Office Live, control returns to that ISP and where you go from there will depend on the facilities you have in your control panel. If you have the facility to make DNS changes (and you know how to do this) you should be OK, otherwise ask your ISP to assist.

However, if you registered the domain as part of the Office Live setup, the domain will be registered with Melbourne IT, an ISP based in Australia. Their control panel has no facilities for amending DNS entries. If the domain is a .com, .org or .net you should be able to unlock the domain and transfer in from another ISP. We’ve not tried this, but a .co.uk was unlocked when it came back to Melbourne IT’s control.

If it’s a .co.uk or .org.uk domain, you can request a TAG transfer via Nominet. This should enable you to get control of your domain within a few hours.

See how it went for us in this office live transfer blog.