External facing chatbot asking for authentication: Authentication Not Configured error.

Question

I've been experimenting in Azure AI and hitting a bit or a roadblock. I built a chatbot agent that ingests a document and provides answers based on this document. I deployed the agent externally so any user from outside can access. But the thing keeps asking for authentication even after deleting any authentication requirements in the web app. It seems that something else is looking for authentication and I can't figure out what (App Service Plan, Search Service, Azure OpenAI, Storage Service). I tried Copilot with gpt4 and 5 and also Claude but nothing can figure out what's going on. Any Azure AI experts here who can help me out? Here is the error I am seeing: Authentication Not Configured

This app does not have authentication configured. Please add an identity provider by finding your app in the Azure Portaland following these instructions.

Authentication configuration takes a few minutes to apply.

If you deployed in the last 10 minutes, please wait and reload the page after 10 minutes

Answer 1

Hi Andrei Sanzharov

For your Azure AI chatbot authentication issue, the core problem is that multiple services (App Service, Search Service, OpenAI, and Storage) can independently enforce authentication, even after removing explicit authentication from the web app.

The error you are seeing—“Authentication Not Configured”—is almost always caused by the default authentication settings applied when deploying a chatbot from Azure AI Studio to an App Service. By default, these deployments enable Microsoft Entra ID authentication, even if you did not explicitly configure it. Removing authentication in the App Service UI alone does not fully resolve the issue because the app code checks an environment variable (AUTH_ENABLED) that defaults to True.

To fix this,

1.Disable Authentication from Authentication tab. or Use Enabled Authentication - Skip authentication.

2.Modify env variable

go to Azure Portal → App Service → Configuration → Application Settings, add or update the setting AUTH_ENABLED=False, and restart the app. Alternatively, you can remove the identity provider under App Service → Authentication.

Other services like Azure AI Search, Azure OpenAI, and Storage typically use keys or managed identities and do not trigger this specific error unless you have configured private endpoints or RBAC. After making these changes, confirm that the app restarts successfully and test from an external network. This approach directly addresses the root cause and ensures your chatbot is accessible without unnecessary authentication prompts.

Hope it helps!

Thank you