Forum Discussion

Abutalhakhan's avatar
Abutalhakhan
Copper Contributor
Jan 21, 2026

Microsoft Purview - Endpoint Data Discovery

Hi all, 

I wanted to understand Microsoft Purview’s capabilities around data discovery on Windows endpoints, specifically in a legacy data scenario.

Use case:
We have data residing on Windows machines/endpoints that is:

  • Legacy in nature
  • Not being actively moved, migrated, or modified
  • Sitting at rest on local disks (user endpoints)

Questions:

  1. Can Microsoft Purview perform data discovery or classification on such endpoint‑resident data?
  2. Does Purview support scanning or discovering data on Windows endpoints at rest, without requiring the data to be uploaded, migrated, or modified?
  3. If not directly, are there any supported approaches or workarounds (e.g., via integrations with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Information Protection scanners, or other Purview components) to achieve this?
  4. What are the current limitations of Purview when it comes to endpoint-based data discovery?
No RepliesBe the first to reply

Resources