Confusing error message when unkown user tries to sign in and isSignUpAllowed is set to false

Question

For Entra External ID in the external tenant, using only the EmailPassword identity provider, the standard error message for a non-existing user when signing in is: "We couldn't find an account with this email address.", which is fair.

However, when isSignUpAllowed (on onInteractiveAuthFlowStart) is set to FALSE, the error message changes to a very confusing message for consumers: "You can't sign in here with a personal account. Use your work or school account instead."

This message is misleading because of course, we DO want you to able to sign in with your personal account, namely the External ID local account.

Is there any way we can change this error message?

PS: I kinda understand that MSFT tries to imply here that you cant use a personal MSA, as this is the same type of message you'd see for a workforce tenant... but this is very confusing for our consumer customers trying to sign in.

Answer 1

Hi @Michel-BB , I just received word from our Product Team that this is a bug and they are actively working on a fix. I will keep this thread updated with any progress.Please let me know if you have any questions and I can help you further.

If this answer helps you please mark "Accept Answer" so other users can reference it.

Thank you,

James

Answer 2

Hi @Michel-BB , you can use Language Customization to change the error message in the UI. You would edit the JSON values with your updated message:

{
  "LocalizedStrings": [...],
  "LocalizedCollections": [{
      "ElementType":"ClaimType",
      "ElementId":"<UserAttribute>",
      "TargetCollection":"Restriction",
      "Override": true,
      "Items":[
           {
                "Name":"<Response1>",
                "Value":"<Value1>"
           },
           {
                "Name":"<Response2>",
                "Value":"<Value2>"
           }
     ]
  }]
}

Please let me know if you have any questions and I can help you further.

If this answer helps you please mark "Accept Answer" so other users can reference it.

Thank you,

James

Answer 3

Hello @Michel-BB,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Q&A.

Based on your description, I understand that you are experiencing two different behaviors with the user flow in an External ID tenant on the login prompt screen.

When a non-user attempts to log in or enters an email address, they typically receive an error message stating: "We couldn't find an account with this email address." This behavior is expected based on the scenario.

However, you have observed a different behavior in the same user flow when isSignUpAllowed: false is configured. In this case, the error message reads: "You can't sign in here with a personal account. Use your work or school account instead." This is unexpected, and you are looking to modify the text to avoid misleading the end users.

I would like to confirm that this is a known issue for External ID tenant user flows when isSignUpAllowed: false is enabled. The product engineering team has been informed about this behavior. They have identified the issue and confirmed that a fix has been developed. The complete fix is scheduled to be rolled out to all tenants next month. Until then, this behavior will persist when isSignUpAllowed: false is configured in user flows.

Once the fix is implemented, end users will no longer see such a prompt when they enter a non-user email address on the login screen.

For reference, you can review the following Q&A threads where other customers have raised the same issue:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/2123394/entra-external-id-additional-sign-in-options-after?page=1&orderby=Helpful#answers

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/2125400/ciam-sign-in-issue-with-mil-domain

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-nz/answers/questions/2119251/how-to-fix-passkey-authentication

I hope this information is helpful. Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Thanks,
Raja Pothuraju.