LoveItKeepIt

IONOS domains: moving them or pointing them elsewhere

A wooden signpost at a crossroads points toward a new small shop while an old mailbox stays at the corner.

LoveItKeepIt · · 5 min read

To transfer a domain away from IONOS, turn off the domain's transfer lock on the Renewal & Transfer page, click Show Authorization Code, and give that code to your new registrar. Two things catch owners out. First, the transfer does not end your IONOS contract, so the billing can carry on until you cancel it. Second, websites, mailboxes and custom DNS settings at IONOS do not travel with the domain. If you only want the domain to open a new website, you can skip the transfer and point it from inside IONOS instead.

Where your domain sits at IONOS

IONOS, which many owners still know as 1&1, organizes everything by contract. One contract might be a hosting or website builder package that came with one or more "included" domains; another might be a domain on its own. That matters for two reasons:

  • An included domain belongs to a package. If you move it out, or cancel the package, the domain's status and price change with it.
  • Cancelling happens per contract, at the end of its term, and some contracts have a minimum term.

Sign in, open Domains & SSL (or the Domains section), and find your domain. Then look in your account's contract or billing area to see which contract it belongs to and when that contract's term ends. Write both down.

Transfer or point: which do you need?

  • Pointing keeps the domain at IONOS. You change a couple of DNS settings so the domain opens your new website, and the IONOS email can stay exactly as it is. It takes minutes to set up.
  • Transferring moves the registration to another company. It takes about a week, and you then cancel the IONOS contract so you are not paying twice.

If your IONOS email works and the domain bill is reasonable, pointing is usually the calmer choice. Keep your domain where it is and point it at a new site explains why many owners stop there.

Pointing an IONOS domain at a new website

Your new website provider will give you the records to enter, usually an A record with an IP address for the bare domain and a CNAME for the "www" version. In IONOS:

  1. Open Domains & SSL and click the domain.
  2. Open its DNS settings.
  3. Edit the existing A record for the bare domain (often shown as "@") to the new address, and the "www" record to the value you were given. Remove any old record that points the same name elsewhere.
  4. Leave every MX record and the mail-related TXT records alone. Those keep your email working.
  5. Save, then check the site on your phone with Wi-Fi turned off after an hour or so.

IONOS may warn that a record conflicts with its own website or parking page; replacing that one is expected. Connecting your domain to a new website covers the general idea if the records are new to you.

Before you transfer: what to save

IONOS says plainly that websites, mailboxes, databases, subdomains and changed DNS settings are not transferred with the domain, and that subdomains are deleted. So before you start:

  • Screenshot the DNS page for the domain, every record.
  • Back up the website if it is hosted at IONOS and you want to keep anything on it.
  • Decide what happens to email. IONOS mailboxes belong to your contract, not to the domain. If you keep the contract and copy the mail records to your new DNS, the mailboxes can carry on working. If you cancel the contract, the mailboxes go with it, so move them first.
  • Check the domain's age. A domain registered or transferred in the last 60 days, or whose owner details changed recently, cannot move yet. IONOS notes this rule for endings such as .com, .net and .org.

The transfer steps inside IONOS

Labels shift from time to time, so the wording may differ slightly.

  1. Turn off private registration if it is on. IONOS notes that the transfer lock cannot be switched off while it is active.
  2. Go to Domains & SSL, open the Renewal & Transfer page and select the domain.
  3. Switch off the transfer lock. It can take a few minutes to update.
  4. Click Show Authorization Code. IONOS asks the registry for it, so allow a few minutes if it does not appear at once.
  5. At your new registrar, choose to transfer a domain, enter the domain and the code, and pay. Use the code promptly; a stale code is the usual reason the new registrar rejects it.
  6. Watch your email for a message asking you to confirm the transfer, and approve it.

What is an EPP or authorization code? explains what the code does, and how to transfer a domain to another registrar covers the new registrar's side.

After the transfer lands

  • Confirm the domain is in your new account, with the right expiry date and auto-renew on.
  • Recreate the DNS records from your screenshots, if the new registrar did not copy them, and test the website and email.
  • Turn the transfer lock back on at the new registrar.
  • Back at IONOS, cancel the contract the domain came from, if nothing else in it is needed. The cancellation takes effect at the end of its current term, so note the date.

Keeping IONOS email running

If you want to keep your IONOS mailboxes, the setup is simple in principle: keep the contract that holds them, and make sure the domain's MX and mail TXT records point to IONOS wherever your DNS now lives. Copy them from your screenshots, send a test message both ways, and keep the contract's billing details current. If you would rather leave IONOS completely, moving your business email to a new provider shows the safe order: new mailboxes first, then the records, then the cancellation.

What to do this week

  • Find which IONOS contract holds the domain and when its term ends.
  • Decide: point the domain, or transfer it.
  • Screenshot the DNS records and save any website files you want to keep.
  • If transferring: private registration off, lock off, code, new registrar, approve.
  • Cancel the old contract only after the domain and email are working in their new place.

If what you really want is a better website than the one in your IONOS package, you can see your site rebuilt first and decide about the domain once the new site is in front of you.

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