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Access the admin center

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Your gateway to the Microsoft Managed Desktop service is the Microsoft Intune admin center. If you're unfamiliar with the capabilities of the admin center for device management, see the Microsoft Intune documentation.

Note

In the Microsoft Intune admin center the following browsers are supported:

  • Microsoft Edge (latest version)
  • Safari (latest version, Mac only)
  • Chrome (latest version)
  • Firefox (latest version)

Your administrative account will need specific permissions in order to access the Microsoft Managed Desktop administrative features in the Microsoft Intune admin center.

You can manage admin access to these features within your organization by using role-based access control. Several Microsoft Entra administrator roles, and built-in Microsoft Managed Desktop roles are available to provide more granular control to different features within the Microsoft Intune admin center. For more information about Microsoft Entra roles, see Microsoft Entra built-in roles.

Unlike Microsoft Entra administrator roles that apply to various Microsoft products and services, the built-in roles are specific to Microsoft Managed Desktop and will only guarantee access to the Admin features for this service. Admins can assign built-in roles to users individually, or in combination with Microsoft Entra administrator roles to add Microsoft Managed Desktop permissions to existing admin accounts.

Microsoft Entra roles with Microsoft Managed Desktop access

Microsoft Entra role Microsoft Managed Desktop permissions
Global Administrator Admins with this role will have read and write permissions to all features in the Microsoft Intune admin center.
Global Reader Admins with this role will have read-only permissions to all features in the Microsoft Intune admin center.
Intune Service Administrator Admins with this role will have read and write permissions to features not related to security in the Microsoft Intune admin center.
Service Support Administrator Admins with this role will have read-only permissions to features not related to security and write permissions to manage support requests including escalation requests in the Microsoft Intune admin center.
Security Admin Admins with this role will have read-only permissions to all features and write permissions for security related features in Microsoft Managed Desktop in the admin center.
Security Reader Admins with this role will have read-only permissions to all features in the Microsoft Intune admin center.

If you need help with assigning Microsoft Entra roles, see Microsoft Entra built-in roles.

Important

Only the Global Administrator role has the necessary permissions to enroll your organization in Microsoft Managed Desktop. Be aware that Microsoft Entra roles will give user accounts privileges across a variety of Microsoft services. After completing enrollment with Microsoft Managed Desktop, you should always use the role with the least privileges necessary to accomplish your other tasks.

Built-in roles provided by Microsoft Managed Desktop

The following are the built-in roles provided by Microsoft Managed Desktop:

Built-in role Microsoft Managed Desktop permissions
Microsoft Managed Desktop Service Administrator When assigned to a user, this role gives the admin read and write permissions to Microsoft Managed Desktop features not related to security in the Microsoft Intune admin center.
Microsoft Managed Desktop Service Reader When assigned to a user, this role gives the admin read-only permissions to Microsoft Managed Desktop features not related to security in the Microsoft Intune admin center.
Microsoft Managed Desktop Security Manager When assigned to a user, this role gives that admin read and write permissions only for security related features in the Microsoft Intune admin center.
Microsoft Managed Desktop Support Partner When assigned to a user, this role gives the admin read and write permissions only for creating and managing elevation requests and support partner engaged escalation requests in the Microsoft Intune admin center.

Note

Security features include security-related communications, management of security contacts, management of security-related support requests, and access to security related reports.

Assigning built-in roles to user

For easy management of built-in roles, there's a security group for each custom role with the name "Modern Workplace Roles - Role Name". For example, “Modern Workplace Roles – Security Manager”).

To assign users to one of these security groups:

  1. Go to the Microsoft Intune admin center.
  2. In the left pane, select Groups.
  3. Search for Modern Workplace Roles, and then select the group associated with the role you want to assign.
  4. Select Members on the left side, and then select + Add members in the command bar.
  5. Enter the email of the person being added. If they're a guest, you must invite them before you can assign the group.
  6. Select Select at the bottom.

Note

Nesting security groups for role assignment is not currently supported.

Assigning built-in roles to groups

To assign one or more of the built-in roles to a existing group:

  1. Go to portal.azure.com.
  2. Search for and open Enterprise applications.
  3. Change the Application type filter to Microsoft Applications and, then select Apply.
  4. Search for and select Modern Workplace Customer APIs.
  5. Select Users and groups from the pane on the left side, and then select + Add user/group.
  6. Search for the group you want from Users and groups.
  7. Search for the applicable role from Select a role, and then select it.
  8. Select Assign.