Recent Discussions
Introducing the Entra Helpdesk Portal: A Zero-Trust, Dockerized ITSM Interface for Tier 1 Support
Hello everyone, If you manage identity in Microsoft Entra ID at an enterprise scale, you know the struggle: delegating day-to-day operational tasks (like password resets, session revocations, and MFA management) to Tier 1 and Tier 2 support staff is inherently risky. The native Azure/Entra portal is incredibly powerful, but it’s complex and lacks mandatory ITSM enforcement. Giving a helpdesk technician the "Helpdesk Administrator" role grants them access to a portal where a single misclick can cause a major headache. To solve this, I’ve developed the Entra Helpdesk Portal (Community Edition)—an open-source, containerized application designed to act as an isolated "airlock" between your support team and your Entra ID tenant. Why This Adds Value to Your Tenant Instead of having technicians log into the Azure portal, they log into this clean, Material Design web interface. It leverages a backend Service Principal (using MSAL and the Graph API) to execute commands on their behalf. Strict Zero Trust: Logging in via Microsoft SSO isn’t enough. The app intercepts the token and checks the user’s UPN against a hardcoded ALLOWED_ADMINS whitelist in your Docker environment file. Mandatory ITSM Ticketing: You cannot enforce ticketing in the native Azure Portal. In this app, every write action prompts a modal requiring a valid ticket number (e.g., INC-123456). Local Audit Logging: All actions, along with the actor, timestamp, and ticket number, are written to an immutable local SQLite database (audit.db) inside the container volume. Performance: Heavy Graph API reads are cached in-memory with a Time-To-Live (TTL) and smart invalidation. Searching for users or loading Enterprise Apps takes milliseconds. What Can It Do? Identity Lifecycle: Create users, auto-generate secure 16-character passwords, revoke sign-in sessions, reset passwords, and delete specific MFA methods to force re-registration. Diagnostics: View a user's last 5 sign-in logs, translating Microsoft error codes into plain English. Group Management: Add/remove members to Security and M365 groups. App/SPN Management: Lazy-load raw requiredResourceAccess Graph API payloads to audit app permissions, and instantly rotate client secrets. Universal Restore: Paste the Object ID of any soft-deleted item into the Recycle Bin tab to instantly resurrect it. How Easy Is It to Setup? I wanted this to be universally deployable, so I compiled it as a multi-architecture Docker image (linux/amd64 and linux/arm64). It will run on a massive Windows Server or a simple Raspberry Pi. Setup takes less than 5 minutes: Create an App Registration in Entra ID and grant it the necessary Graph API Application Permissions (e.g., User.ReadWrite.All, AuditLog.Read.All). Create a docker-compose.yml file. Define your feature toggles. You can literally turn off features (like User Deletion) by setting an environment variable to false. version: '3.8' services: helpdesk-portal: image: jahmed22/entra-helpdesk:latest container_name: entra_helpdesk restart: unless-stopped ports: - "8000:8000" environment: # CORE IDENTITY - TENANT_ID=your_tenant_id_here - CLIENT_ID=your_client_id_here - CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret_here - BASE_URL=https://entradesk.jahmed.cloud - ALLOWED_ADMINS=email address removed for privacy reasons # CUSTOMIZATION & FEATURE FLAGS - APP_NAME=Entra Help Desk - ENABLE_PASSWORD_RESET=true - ENABLE_MFA_MANAGEMENT=true - ENABLE_USER_DELETION=false - ENABLE_GROUP_MANAGEMENT=true - ENABLE_APP_MANAGEMENT=true volumes: - entra_helpdesk_data:/app/static/uploads - entra_helpdesk_db:/app volumes: entra_helpdesk_data: entra_helpdesk_db: 4.Run docker compose up -d and you are done! I built this to give back to the community and help secure our Tier 1 operations. If you are interested in testing it out in your dev tenants or want to see the full architecture breakdown, you can read the complete documentation on my website here I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or any feature requests you might have!
'Microsoft App Access Panel' and Conditional Access with SSPR combined registration bug
Currently, enabling self-service password reset (SSPR) registration enforcement causes the app 'Microsoft App Access Panel' to be added to the login flow of users who have SSPR enabled. This app is not able to be excluded from Conditional Access (CA) polices and is caught by 'All cloud apps', which breaks secure zero-trust scenarios and CA policy configurations. Best way to demonstrate this is through examples... ----Example 1---- Environment: CA Policy 1 - 'All cloud apps' requiring hybrid/compliant device, but excluding [App] (for all non-guest accounts) CA Policy 2 - [App] requiring MFA only (for contractor accounts, etc) CA Policy 3 - [App] requiring hybrid/compliant device (for internal accounts, etc) SSPR registration enforcement (Password reset > Registration) - set to 'Yes' MFA registration enforcement (Security > Authentication Methods > Registration campaign) - set to 'Enabled' Scenario: A new user requires access to web [App] on an unenrolled device and is assigned an account that falls under CA Policy 1 and 2, however [App] is excluded from 1 and shouldn't apply to this login. When accessing [App] for the first time, users must register SSPR/MFA. They see the below message, click 'Next' and are directed to https://accounts.activedirectory.windowsazure.com/passwordreset/register.aspx: Then they see this screen, which will block the login and try to get the user to download the Company Portal app: While behind the scenes, the login to [App] is being blocked by 'Microsoft App Access Panel' because it is seemingly added to the login flow and caught in CA Policy 1 in Req 2/3: CA Policy 1 shows as not applied on Req 1, CA Policy 2 shows as successful for Req 1/2/3 and CA Policy 3 shows as not applied for Req 1/2/3. Creating a CA policy for the 'Register security information' user action has no effect on this scenario and also shows as not applied on all the related sign-in logs. ----Example 2---- Environment: Same as above, but SSPR registration enforcement - set to 'No' Scenario: Same as above, but when accessing the [App] for the first time, they see the below message instead, click 'Next' and are directed to https://accounts.activedirectory.windowsazure.com/proofup.aspx: Then they are directed to the combined SSPR/MFA registration experience successfully: The 'Microsoft App Access Panel' doesn't show in the sign-in logs and the sign-in is successful after registration. From the two examples, it seems to be a bug with the SSPR registration enforcement and the combined registration experience. ----Workarounds---- 1 - Prevent using 'All cloud apps' with device based CA policies (difficult, requires redesigning/thinking/testing policies, could introduce new gaps, etc) 2 - Turn off SSPR registration enforcement and turn on MFA registration enforcement like in example 2 (easy, but only enforces MS MFA App registration, doesn't seem to re-trigger registration if the MS MFA App is removed, no other methods are supported for registration, and doesn't remind users to update) 3 - Disable SSPR entirely for affected users (medium depending on available security groups, and doesn't allow for affected users to use SSPR) ----Related links---- https://feedback.azure.com/d365community/idea/d5253b08-d076-ed11-a81b-000d3adb7ffd https://feedback.azure.com/d365community/idea/1365df89-c625-ec11-b6e6-000d3a4f0789 Conditional Access Policies, Guest Access and the "Microsoft Invitation Acceptance Portal" - Microsoft Community Hub MS, please either: 1 - Allow 'Microsoft App Access Panel' to be added to CA policies so it can be excluded 2 - Prevent 'Microsoft App Access Panel' from showing up in the CA login flow when SSPR registration enforcement is enabled
Entra ID Private Access - data flow
Hello, I am successfully testing Entra Private Access. From outside, I can easily access my shared permissions. However, I have one more question. What happens if I my device on the internal network? If I access the shares directly, I get about 1GB/s. What happens if the "Global Secure Access" client is active? Do all the data go through the Entra portal, or just the authentication? If all the data go through the Entra portal, there could be challenges with the internet connection (all data in and out). Thank you for your support Stefan
PIM
Hello, everyone. I need some help. We already use PIM for Just-in-Time activation of administrative functions in Entra ID, but we would like something more granular. For example, we want certain administrative actions in Microsoft 365, such as accessing sensitive data or performing critical tasks, to only be possible upon specific request and approval, even if the user has already activated the function in PIM. Is this only possible with PIM, or is there another feature in Microsoft 365 for this type of control?
Challenges with custom data provided resource reviews
I was thrilled to see the ability to review disconnected applications in Entra, and even more thrilled to see that the permission and its description are available to the reviewer, which addresses a significant gap present in group-based reviews. However, the current decision-tracking approach does not adequately replicate the closed-loop remediation model typically found in traditional IGA access reviews for integrated applications. Requiring reviewers to upload confirmation that revocations have been completed is problematic. This approach does not mitigate the core risk: access may remain in place due to fulfillment errors or be incorrectly retained, and the reviewer may unknowingly validate an inaccurate state. This can lead to a compliance incident or audit finding. A more effective solution would allow reviewers to upload a current export of access data, enabling the review system to reconcile intended revocations against the actual state. Any discrepancies could then be flagged for remediation where revocations were missed or have failed, or for validation where access was revoked and immediately reinstated (e.g., due to reviewer misjudgement), ideally supported by corresponding ticketing or justification. There are currently a lot of gaps in Entra ID access reviews, and while this new feature arguably resolved the worst one, I think it's headed down the wrong path. I am curious about other people's thoughts.Entra ID Object Drift – Are We Measuring Tenant Health Correctly?
In many enterprise environments: Secure Score is green. Compliance dashboards look healthy. Yet directory object inconsistency silently accumulates. Stale devices. Hybrid join remnants. Intune orphan records. Over time, this becomes governance debt. In large tenants this often leads to inaccurate compliance reporting and Conditional Access targeting issues. I recently wrote a breakdown of: • Entra ID drift patterns • Hybrid join inconsistencies • Intune orphan objects • Lifecycle-based cleanup architecture Curious how others approach object hygiene at scale. Full article: https://www.modernendpoint.tech/entra-id-cleanup-patterns/?utm_source=techcommunity&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=entra_cleanup_launch&utm_content=discussion One pattern I keep seeing is duplicate device identities after re-enrollment or Autopilot reset. Curious how others handle lifecycle cleanup in large Entra ID environments.
Disabling PIN-based login on Entra-joined PCs
Hi guys. Yesterday I took two machines off the domain and Entra joined them. The goal was 1) remove their access to domain resources 2) have tenant users login to the machine and get enriched tokens every time. this works as desired. The problem is every user gets prompted to set a pin. these are both shared secondary/tertiary PC's - there is no point to having a 6 digit PIN on them. I thought the new Authentication Methods tools had controls for this, but apparently not. A script was run to change certain related Reg Keys (by my onsite tech) but this had no change on reboot. textreg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\PassportForWork" /v Enabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /freg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\PassportForWork" /v DisablePostLogonProvisioning /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\PassportForWork Enabled key was set to 0, and DisablePostLogonProvisioning was set to 1. These are from various help threads I found here and other resources. Unfortunately, they do not work. Not sure what to do here. I've read there are InTune controls for this - but I don't really have the time to work out WindowsPC ennrollment profiles for 2 machines. The site has InTune, but only for iOS mobile management. Thoughts?Convert Hybrid Azure AD Join Device to Azure AD Join Only
Hi , We are in Hybrid state ( SCCM+ Intune =CoManaged ) and Hybrid Azure AD Join . Now as next step moving to cloud only , We are moving device from Hybrid to Azure only State . While testing Manually remove a device from AD domain post reboot noticed that not able to even login with Azure that means loose the complete state ( AD as well as Azure ) , Login with Local account found with DSREGCMD that device is not attached to any . If I just removed the AD domain why this has removed from Azure AD Join as well .What is best way to Remove domain join but keep Azure AD join , Loose Users settings as well. Thanks MSBFederating Two Domains to Single Google Workspace Org — IssuerUri Conflict
Problem: I'm federating two custom domains (domainA.com and domainB.com) in the same Entra tenant to Google Workspace as the IdP using New-MgDomainFederationConfiguration. Cloud-only tenant, no on-premises AD. domainA.com works perfectly. When attempting to federate domainB.com, I get: 409 Conflict — Request_MultipleObjectsWithSameKeyValue Root cause: Both domains are in the same Google Workspace org. Google always sends the same IssuerUri in every SAML response regardless of which SAML app is used. Entra's global IssuerUri uniqueness constraint blocks the second domain. Workarounds attempted: Modified IssuerUri with unique query parameter — Google's SAML assertion still contains the original IssuerUri, Entra silently rejects it Second Google SAML app — Google sends identical IdP Entity ID regardless Google Legacy SSO profile with domain-specific issuer — only affects Google authentication, not Microsoft-initiated SAML flows Beta Graph API — same constraints MSOnline module — fails with Negotiate/forbidden error Questions: Is there any supported way to federate two domains in the same tenant to the same Google Workspace org? Is there a Graph API equivalent of the legacy -SupportMultipleDomain switch? domainB.com also returns "No matching stub found. Please reset the federation" on every update attempt — is this a known backend issue? We have a support ticket open for 21 days with no engineer response. Any help appreciated!
PIM
Hello, everyone. I need some help. We already use PIM for Just-in-Time activation of administrative functions in Entra ID, but we would like something more granular. For example, we want certain administrative actions in Microsoft 365, such as accessing sensitive data or performing critical tasks, to only be possible upon specific request and approval, even if the user has already activated the function in PIM. Is this only possible with PIM, or is there another feature in Microsoft 365 for this type of control?Priority Handling in GSA Client Forwarding Profile Rules
Hello, I would like to provide feedback and propose a functional improvement regarding priority control for forwarding rules in Global Secure Access (GSA). In our environment, we are using Microsoft Entra Private Access with a combination of CIDR-based rules and FQDN-based rules. We understand that it is not possible to create Enterprise Applications with overlapping IP address ranges. Based on this limitation, our current operational model is as follows: Administrators create Enterprise Applications using CIDR ranges that broadly cover entire datacenter networks. Access for application owners to specific servers and ports is defined using FQDN-based rules. With this type of configuration, when reviewing the list of rules shown in the GSA Client → Forwarding Profile → Rules tab, we can see that each rule is assigned a Priority, and the rules appear to be evaluated sequentially from top to bottom. From this behavior, it is clear that: DNS rules are evaluated first Enterprise Application rules are evaluated next Quick Access rules are evaluated last However, between CIDR-based Enterprise Application rules and FQDN-based Enterprise Application rules, there does not appear to be a clear or explicit priority model. Instead, the position — and therefore the evaluation order — seems to depend on the order in which the Enterprise Applications were created. As a result, even when we intend to apply a more specific FQDN-based rule for a particular host, the broader CIDR-based administrative rule may be evaluated first. In such cases, access can be unintentionally blocked, preventing us from achieving the intended access control behavior. After understanding this mechanism, we have been working around the issue by carefully controlling the creation order of Enterprise Applications — creating host-specific FQDN-based applications first, followed by broader CIDR-based rules. While this approach avoids the issue, it significantly increases administrative complexity and makes long-term management more difficult. Based on this experience, we would strongly appreciate enhancements such as: The ability to manually control rule evaluation order in the UI, or More intelligent and predictable automatic prioritization between FQDN-based and CIDR-based rules Such improvements would greatly enhance usability, predictability, and maintainability of GSA forwarding rule configurations. Thank you for considering this feedback.Device Migration from On-prem AD to Azure AD
Hello All, We want to migrate our On-Prem AD devices to Azure AD and enroll into intune. We have Azure AD sync and all but needs to convert machine to Azure AD join only not Hybrid AD. So we would like to create new user profile on machine. We have used two methods so far. 1) Reset the machine and use join to Azure AD from OOBE. ( Issue - This will make user a Administrator for that machine and we dont want that ) 2) Unbind from on-prem AD, join to Azure AD manually but the same issue like number 1. 3) Using Hardware Hash, register devices to Autopilot and then reset all the machines. ( Issue - This will take too long to migrate 250 machines and helping remote workers are quite difficult ) Has anyone tried any different method or is there any expert suggestion ? Thanks!Can External ID (CIAM) federate to an Azure AD/Entra ID tenant using SAML?
What I'm trying to achieve I'm setting up SAML federation FROM my External ID tenant (CIAM) TO a partner's Entra ID tenant (regular organizational tenant) for a hybrid CIAM/B2B setup where: Business users authenticate via their corporate accounts (OIDC or SAML) Individual customers use username/password or social providers (OIDC) Tenant details / Terminology: CIAM tenant: External ID tenant for customer-facing applications IdP tenant: Example Partner's organizational Entra ID tenant with business accounts Custom domain: mycustomdomain.com (example domain for the IdP tenant) Configuration steps taken Step 1: IdP Tenant (Entra ID) - Created SAML App Set up Enterprise App with SAML SSO Entity ID: https://login.microsoftonline.com/<CIAM_TENANT_ID>/ Reply URL: https://<CIAM_TENANT_ID>.ciamlogin.com/login.srf NameID: Persistent format Claim mapping: emailaddress → user.mail Step 2: CIAM Tenant (External ID) - Added SAML IdP (Initially imported from the SAML metadata URL from the above setup) Federating domain: mycustomdomain.com Issuer URI: https://sts.windows.net/<IDP_TENANT_ID>/ Passive endpoint: https://login.microsoftonline.com/mycustomdomain.com/saml2 DNS TXT record added: DirectFedAuthUrl=https://login.microsoftonline.com/mycustomdomain.com/saml2 Step 3: Attached to User Flow Added SAML IdP to user flow under "Other identity providers" Saved configuration and waited for propagation The problem It doesn't work. When testing via "Run user flow": No SAML button appears (should display "Sign in with mycustomdomain") Entering email address removed for privacy reasons doesn't trigger federation The SAML provider appears configured but never shows up in the actual flow Also tried using the tenant GUID in the passive endpoint instead of the domain - same result My question Is SAML federation from External ID to regular Entra ID tenants actually possible? I know OIDC federation to Microsoft tenants is (currently, august 2025) explicitly blocked (microsoftonline.com domains are rejected). Is SAML similarly restricted? The portal lets me configure everything without throwing any errors, but it never actually works. Am I missing something in my configuration? The documentation for this use case is limited and I've had to piece together the setup from various sources. Or is this a fundamental limitation where External ID simply can't federate to ANY Microsoft tenant regardless of the protocol used?MFA catch-22 during onboarding due to registration policy
Hi, We are experiencing a catch-22 scenario during user onboarding related to MFA. New users are required to install the Microsoft Authenticator app via our Company Portal. However, they are prompted to complete MFA registration before they can access or download anything from the Company Portal. Since they do not yet have the Authenticator app installed, they are effectively blocked from completing the MFA setup. From our investigation, it appears that the Multi-Factor Authentication registration policy is enforcing MFA registration for new users. In our scenario, this creates a circular dependency. We have attempted to exclude our office network from MFA using Conditional Access, but this does not resolve the issue because the MFA registration policy is triggered before Conditional Access policies are evaluated. Our questions: Is there a recommended way to handle MFA onboarding in this type of scenario? Can Conditional Access policies be used instead of the MFA registration policy for initial MFA enrollment?Using managed identities to assign users and groups to app-roles in Enterprise apps
Hi everyone, I'm looking for a way to use managed identities to assign users and groups to app-roles in Enterprise apps via Azure DevOps pipelines (using Workload Identity Federation) Currently it seems I can't add a managed identity as an owner on the enterprise app, for example. Thanks in advance!Display On-prem Password Policy on SSPR Page
Hi All We are beginning to rollout SSPR with on-prem writeback. So far so good. Is there a way we can display our on-prem password policy requirements on the SSPR screen? I have seen the MS docs, but can't really make any sense of them so any help would be greatly appreciated. SK
Multitenant organization (MTO): user licenses
Hello everyone, As described https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/enterprise/set-up-multi-tenant-org, I have created an MTO. It seems to have worked because I can see users from tenant A in tenant B. Everything looks correct, as the users have #EXT# in their usernames, their type is “Member”, and their identity is “ExternalAzureAD”. BUT they are all unlicensed. My question: is there a way to synchronize the licenses of the users, or do I really have to purchase the same license twice for a single user? Specifically, I am interested in the following licenses: Microsoft 365 Business Premium (access to Teams, SharePoint, Exchange Online shared mailboxes, etc.) Dynamics 365 licenses (e.g., Business Central). Thank you very much for your assistance, and warm regards, Nico
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- 2 MIN READA new standards-based option for identity teams to manage user and group lifecycle in Microsoft Entra.Apr 02, 2026
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