Is Azure actually required for Visual Studio?

Question

I got the email saying I need to establish MFA for my Azure account. However, the only reason I even have an Azure account is that it was a required step along the way to downloading and registering my paid copy of Visual Studio.

If I ignore my Azure account and let it lapse/not have MFA/etc., will anything happen to my Visual Studio license or install?

Thanks,

Glenn

Answer 1

No, letting your Azure account lapse or not enabling MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) will not affect your Visual Studio license or installation. Visual Studio and Azure are separate services, even though they are both under the Microsoft ecosystem. Your Visual Studio license is tied to your Microsoft account, not specifically to Azure.

However, if your Visual Studio subscription includes Azure credits or other Azure-related benefits, you might lose access to those benefits if your Azure account is not active. But as far as your Visual Studio installation and license are concerned, they will remain unaffected.

If you don't plan to use Azure, you can simply ignore the MFA requirement for Azure, and your Visual Studio will continue to work as usual.

Answer 2

Hello @Glenn Glazer ,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

The benefits of the MFA policies are described here => Why enable MFA policies? It’s optional and need to be enabled/disabled.

I don’t think it will interfere your license/install(VS).

For more details, you can contact Visual Studio Subscription Team.

Sincerely,

Tianyu

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