Enable a Device

Question

One of the PC we use at the Church was disabled and idle. It needs to be reenable so we can at Microsoft Windows and other Non-profit software and used by a new employee. I am the Admin.

Answer 1

Hi @Annette Mullins, 

Based on the screenshot, the device appears to be disabled in the account view, even though the organization status is still shown as Active. In this situation, the device typically needs to be re-enabled from the Microsoft Entra admin center, as this action cannot be performed from the user-facing My Account > Devices page. 

Depending on your permissions and whether the device was disabled or completely deleted, please follow the appropriate steps below.

Part 1: Enabling the device on your side (admin side)

If you have administrative privileges, you can re-enable the device by following these steps: 

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center with your admin account. 
2. Navigate to Identity > Devices > All devices (or Entra ID > Devices > All devices). 
3. Search for the affected PC by entering its device name or the device Object ID shown in your screenshot. (Note: Searching by Object ID is highly recommended if the device is difficult to locate by owner).
4. Select the device, then click Enable from either the top toolbar or the device details page.

Note: If the "Enable" option is missing or greyed out, please verify that your admin account has the correct roles assigned.

Once enabled, have the user sign back into the PC to test Windows sign-in and Microsoft 365 apps. A disabled device cannot authenticate through Microsoft Entra ID and will lose access to organization resources protected by device-based Conditional Access. 

 

Part 2: Client-Side re-registration and cleanup

If the device was deleted instead of just disabled, it cannot be simply re-enabled. It needs to be manually re-registered. Additionally, if the user continues to face authentication errors after the device is enabled, performing a clean reconnection on the local PC will resolve the issue. 

Please follow these steps on the affected computer: 

1. In the Windows search bar, type and select Access work or school. 
2. Check the status of the account: 
   • If you do not see the account: Click Connect and enter your business or school credentials to register the device. 
   • If you can see the account: Select it, click Disconnect, and then click Connect to log back in and re-register the device. 
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I hope this information is helpful. Should you have any further questions or need additional assistance, please feel free to share them in the comment below. I'm always happy to help. 
Thank you again for your understanding and cooperation.

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Answer 2

To re-enable the disabled church PC so it can be used again with Microsoft 365 and other apps, the device must be enabled in Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD). Being an admin, use one of these approaches.

1. Enable the device in Microsoft Entra ID (portal)

1. Sign in to the Azure portal as an admin: go to Microsoft Entra ID.
2. In the left pane, select Devices.
3. In Devices, search for the disabled device by name or by the Device object ID shown on the My Account Devices page.
4. Select the device.
5. Choose Enable.

If the device had been deleted instead of disabled, it must be re-registered:

1. On the PC, go to Settings > Accounts > Access work or school.
2. Select the church account and choose Disconnect.
3. Select Connect and sign in again to register the device.

After enabling or re-registering, sign in on the PC with the user’s church account and activate Microsoft 365 Apps again if needed.

2. Enable the device with PowerShell (optional)

If managing via PowerShell instead of the portal:

1. On an admin workstation, open PowerShell.
2. Connect with device write permissions:

      Connect-Entra -Scopes 'Device.ReadWrite.All'
   

3. Enable the device using its ObjectId (Device object ID):

      Set-EntraDevice -ObjectId 'paste-device-object-id-here' -AccountEnabled $true
   

Notes:

• Admin role required: Intune Administrator or Cloud Device Administrator.
• Disabling a device blocks authentication and revokes its Primary Refresh Token; enabling restores its ability to sign in and access resources.

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References:

• Microsoft 365 Apps activation error: “Your organization has disabled this device”
• Microsoft Entra device management FAQ
• Manage devices

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