Windows Server Administrator Associate AZ-802 curated learning path

Yes — your impression is understandable. Microsoft’s AZ-802 study guide is primarily an exam blueprint, rather than a single linear course. However, Microsoft Learn now has several learning paths that explicitly say they prepare you for AZ-802.

A practical AZ-802 Microsoft Learn path

I’d organize your preparation roughly like this:

AD DS — start here

Deploy and manage Active Directory Domain Services — about 7h 43m.

Covers domain controllers, FSMO, users/groups, trusts, replication, sites, and Group Policy. This maps directly to the largest AZ-802 domain: Deploy and manage AD DS (20–25%).

Hybrid Windows Server administration

Manage Windows Server instances and workloads in a hybrid environment — about 8h 7m.

Focus on Windows Admin Center, PowerShell remoting, Azure Arc, Azure Update Manager and hybrid management.

Hyper-V / VMs

Manage Virtual Machines.

Covers Hyper-V configuration and management and Azure VM concepts.

Networking

Work through the networking material referenced by the AZ-802 study guide, particularly Windows Server networking, DNS/DHCP, routing and hybrid connectivity. The current exam explicitly includes on-premises and hybrid networking (10–15%).

Storage and file services

Make sure you cover disks/volumes, Storage Spaces, Storage Spaces Direct, Storage Replica, Data Deduplication, SMB, NTFS/ReFS, iSCSI and BitLocker. These are explicitly listed in the current AZ-802 objectives.

Security

Secure Windows Server infrastructure — about 14h 6m.

This is a substantial path covering Windows Server hardening, LAPS, security baselines, Defender, Group Policy security, authentication and AD security.

Monitoring and troubleshooting

Monitor and troubleshoot Windows Server environments — about 7h 33m.

This is particularly relevant because monitoring/troubleshooting accounts for 15–20% of the current exam. It covers Performance Monitor, Event Viewer, Azure Monitor, networking, Windows Update and AD troubleshooting.

The important bit

Don't use the old AZ-800/AZ-801 learning paths as your primary AZ-802 curriculum. The current AZ-802 objectives were updated, and Microsoft explicitly lists the seven areas above in the current study guide.

Also, Microsoft currently describes AZ-802 as covering:

AD DS — 20–25%

Hybrid Windows Server — 10–15%

Virtual machines — 10–15%

Networking — 10–15%

Storage/file services — 15–20%

Security — 10–15%

Monitoring/troubleshooting — 15–20%

So yes, there is considerably more relevant Learn content than the study-guide page initially makes obvious. The trick is that Microsoft has split it across several learning paths rather than presenting one giant "AZ-802 course.

One other useful page is the current Windows Server Administrator Associate certification page, although Microsoft currently says “No training available for this exam” on that certification page, which explains some of the confusion.