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SqlClient Active Directory authentication moved to a separate package

ASP.NET Core 11 transitively brings in Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 7.x (up from 5.x in .NET 10). Starting in Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 6.0, the Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) authentication providers are no longer in the main Microsoft.Data.SqlClient package; they ship in a separate Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.Extensions.Azure package. Apps that use an Entra ID Authentication= value in their SQL connection string must add a reference to this package.

Version introduced

.NET 11 Preview 3

Previous behavior

Previously, the Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 5.x package included the Entra ID authentication providers. A connection string such as Server=...;Database=...;Authentication=Active Directory Default worked out of the box for any ASP.NET Core app that transitively pulled in Microsoft.Data.SqlClient (for example, through Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.SqlServer or an Entity Framework Core SQL Server provider).

New behavior

Starting in ASP.NET Core 11, the transitive Microsoft.Data.SqlClient version is 7.x, which no longer ships the Entra ID authentication providers. If your connection string uses one of the Active Directory * Authentication= values and you haven't added the Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.Extensions.Azure package, you get a runtime error similar to:

Cannot find an authentication provider for 'ActiveDirectoryDefault'.
Install the 'Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.Extensions.Azure' NuGet package to use Active Directory (Entra ID) authentication methods.

This affects apps that use Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.SqlServer (DistributedSqlServerCache), apps that use the EF Core SQL Server provider, and any other code path that transitively brings in Microsoft.Data.SqlClient and uses Entra ID authentication.

Type of breaking change

This change is a behavioral change.

Reason for change

The change to move Microsoft Entra ID authentication out of Microsoft.Data.SqlClient was made in the upstream Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 6.0 release. ASP.NET Core 11 picks up that change by upgrading the SqlClient version it depends on transitively. For more information, see dotnet/aspnetcore#66179.

If your app uses a SQL connection string with any Active Directory * Authentication= value, add a PackageReference to Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.Extensions.Azure:

<ItemGroup>
  <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.Extensions.Azure" 
    Version="1.0.0" />
</ItemGroup>

The ASP.NET Core "Individual Accounts" project templates were updated to add this reference for the Azure SQL configurations they support. New projects don't require any manual change.

Affected APIs

None. The break is a transitive runtime requirement to install a NuGet package. No types in Microsoft.AspNetCore.* are affected.

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