Hey, fellow admins! I'm overseeing a mass UPN change for about 300 users in our company, switching from an old domain to a new one. Both domains are verified in the Microsoft Admin Center. I'm really concerned about OneDrive and SharePoint because while I plan to keep the old domain as an alias, I'm worried about all the shared file links breaking after the change. Since we have around 5TB of data, manually resharing everything isn't feasible right now. I know I can change the URL of the links, but that's not an option for all users. How have you managed similar situations? Are there any good third-party tools you recommend? Also, what other services might run into issues during this migration? Thanks a lot!
5 Answers
That sounds rough! In my experience, making sure your critical data is governed through RBAC setups in SharePoint can save some headaches. When we did a similar UPN change, some of our folks figured out a way to rewrite shared links, but it was hit or miss. You might find out some surprising habits among users regarding file storage—like, how did they even manage that?! I suggest scripting the UPN change to make it more manageable, and prepare to deal with potential MFA issues afterward. One major incident for us was that links in group chat tabs broke, but personal OneDrive links were okay. Just keep an eye out the day you switch—it can get a bit chaotic!
If I remember correctly, the shared links should update dynamically across your organization unless someone created them manually. I haven't found any tool that can handle that effectively yet. In my case, getting users to manually update their links was a bit of a pain, but it had to be done for those outliers. Just be cautious if you have lots of custom links in your SharePoint!
Yeah, I get that. Just trying to figure out how to avoid a massive link break at rollout!
What's the reasoning behind needing to change all the UPNs? I assume you want users under a single domain for uniformity, but I’m curious about that decision.
Exactly! We’re trying to streamline operations by having everyone under the same domain—right now, we’re just a mix!
I doubt you’ll face too many issues since the shares are likely linked to SIDs rather than UPNs. As a best practice, maybe create a couple of test accounts to trial the change before going all-in—better safe than sorry!
That’s interesting! But in my checks, the URLs seem linked with UPNs. When I set the new domain as the primary email, the links didn’t auto-update. Just want to make sure I’m proceeding correctly!
Has anyone else had problems with OneNote disappearing after a UPN change? I've hit this snag myself and can't seem to sort it out. Just curious if there's a fix or if I need to take a different approach.
I had similar issues! Users had to access OneNote via the web and sign out of the desktop app before signing back in to restore their notes. It was a hassle, but it worked for most.
Thanks for the tips! Did you back anything up beforehand just in case?