Convert an existing Unmanaged solution in a Dynamics 365 CRM production environment into a Managed solution without affecting existing Data

Key Principles

1. Solutions only contain metadata, not data
• Managed or unmanaged solutions only deal with customizations (entities, forms, views, fields, workflows, plugins, etc.).
• Data in your tables (accounts, contacts, orders, etc.) is not affected by exporting/importing a solution as long as you don’t delete entities.
2. You cannot directly “convert” an unmanaged solution into managed in the same environment.
• D365 doesn’t allow turning an existing unmanaged solution into managed in-place.
• Instead, the approach is: export the unmanaged solution as managed and import it where needed (even back to the same org if required).

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Step-by-Step Approach

Option 1: Export Unmanaged Solution as Managed

1. Go to Settings → Solutions in Production (or Dev environment if that’s safer first).
2. Open your unmanaged solution.
3. Click Export.
4. Choose Managed instead of Unmanaged.
5. Follow the wizard and export the .zip file.
6. This creates a managed version of your solution.
• ⚠️ Important: Any unmanaged customizations outside this solution will remain unmanaged. The managed solution only contains components included in the exported solution.

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Option 2: Import Managed Solution Without Affecting Data

1. Navigate to the environment where you want to import.
2. Go to Settings → Solutions → Import.
3. Select the exported managed solution zip file.
4. D365 will check dependencies.
5. Finish the import.

✅ Your existing production data will remain intact, because solutions do not contain data unless you explicitly include a data migration step (like using Configuration Migration Tool or data entities).

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Option 3: Safe Strategy for Production

• Best practice is not to export from Production directly. Instead:
1. Maintain all unmanaged customizations in a Dev or Sandbox environment.
2. Export managed solution from Sandbox.
3. Import into Production.
• This avoids potential errors or locking issues in Production.

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Important Notes

• Managed solutions are read-only in target environment: you cannot edit components directly.
• If there are unmanaged changes already in Production outside the solution, exporting as managed won’t capture them.
• Do not delete unmanaged components in Production when importing a managed solution — it can cause data loss for entities if the managed solution enforces deletion of components.

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💡 Tip:
If your goal is to “lock” production customizations into a managed package while keeping data safe:

1. Always export from a sandbox.
2. Include all entities, fields, forms, views, processes.
3. Mark the solution managed during export.
4. Import to Production — all live data stays untouched.

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✅ Key Points 

1. Data Safety
• Importing a managed solution does not delete or modify existing records in entities unless you delete the entity itself (which we avoid).
2. Solution Read-Only
• Once imported, the managed solution components cannot be edited in Production directly.
• Only unmanaged components outside the solution can be modified.
3. Dependencies
• If your solution uses other entities or solutions, Dynamics 365 will prompt for dependencies before import.
4. Best Practice
• Always export as managed from Dev/Sandbox, never directly from Production unless necessary.
• Keep a backup of both unmanaged solution and production data just in case.