Forum Discussion
Azure AD Sign-in to Azure VMs fails due to enforced MFA (I think)?
MFA is setup on the account that I don't seem to be able to login to the Azure VM with - and gives the error in my original screenshot.
If I login using another account that is not a global admin, but had to change the user's initial password by logging first into the Azure Portal (as you can't do Azure VM logins with intial temp passwords) - I then get the message saying that I must enable MFA on the account. But, I chose not to do this and it gives you 14 days grace to set it up. This account can login to the Azure VM successfully - this is what leads me to believe that it must be the enforced MFA (not via a CA policy) that is preventing my original user from logging in as this is the only difference I can think exists between the two accounts.
I have discovered that if I disconnect the Azure VM from Azure AD and then re-join using my Azure AD (Global Admin, Work/School account) - then I can RDP to the Azure VM successfully using the same account (i.e. the one that does not work if the account is joined at deployment time).
It definitely seems to be something to do with MFA being enforced by the "Security defaults" Conditional Access policy (which I can't disable as it is a system policy) - I found this in the Azure AD Sign-In logs, which I think is related to the failure (even though the failure occurs on the Azure VM login screen):
Why is it insisting on MFA and failing the CA policy when joined at deployment time, but not if I join it manually after deployment?
Even if it insists on MFA, shouldn't I pass this OK with the strong authentication of Windows Hello and PIN from my Azure-AD joined home laptop (I have even tried when logged into the laptop as the Azure AD (Global Admin, Work/School account) instead of a local account, but this does not help.
I have discovered that it is definitely the Azure AD "Security Defaults" that are now enabled by default on new Azure AD Tenants:
If I set this to No - then I can login with the Azure AD (Global Admin, Work/School) account that I could not login with previously.
What I don't understand is why the strong Authentication of Windows Hello and PIN from my Azure AD joined home laptop does not allow this MFA requirement to be passed when the "Security Defaults" is enabled?
- You can’t combina CA and Security Defaults. Defaults being enabled on new tenants is a for quite a while now.
So, your issue is solved?- No, not really, I want "Security Defaults" enabled for security, but also to still be able to login to my Azure AD joined VM with my Azure AD user accounts.
With the Azure AD Free tenant, it is not possible to turn off MFA for the Windows Sign-In cloud app (listed as a work-around) as there is no access to CA policies.
Also Windows Hello with PIN should allow the MFA requirement to be passed shouldn't it - but I am not seeing this?
And, why is it if I disconnect the Azure VM from Azure AD and then re-join it manually from within Windows, I can then login successfully with the account that I could not login with before with Security Defaults still enabled on the Azure AD tenant properties?
