PowerShell and Microsoft Graph examples for group-based licensing in Azure AD
Full functionality for group-based licensing in Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), part of Microsoft Entra, is available through the Azure portal, and currently there are some useful tasks that can be performed using the existing MSOnline PowerShell cmdlets and Microsoft Graph. This document provides examples of what is possible.
Note
Before you begin running cmdlets, make sure you connect to your organization first, by running the Connect-MsolService cmdlet.
Warning
This code is provided as an example for demonstration purposes. If you intend to use it in your environment, consider testing it first on a small scale, or in a separate test organization. You may have to adjust the code to meet the specific needs of your environment.
Assign licenses to a group
Use the following sample to assign licenses to a group by using Microsoft Graph:
POST https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/groups/1ad75eeb-7e5a-4367-a493-9214d90d54d0/assignLicense
Content-type: application/json
{
"addLicenses": [
{
"disabledPlans": [ "11b0131d-43c8-4bbb-b2c8-e80f9a50834a" ],
"skuId": "c7df2760-2c81-4ef7-b578-5b5392b571df"
},
{
"disabledPlans": [ "a571ebcc-fqe0-4ca2-8c8c-7a284fd6c235" ],
"skuId": "sb05e124f-c7cc-45a0-a6aa-8cf78c946968"
}
],
"removeLicenses": []
}
Output:
HTTP/1.1 202 Accepted
Content-type: application/json
location: https://graph.microsoft.com/v2/d056d009-17b3-4106-8173-cd3978ada898/directoryObjects/1ad75eeb-7e5a-4367-a493-9214d90d54d0/Microsoft.DirectoryServices.Group
{
"id": "1ad75eeb-7e5a-4367-a493-9214d90d54d0",
"deletedDateTime": null,
"classification": null,
"createdDateTime": "2018-04-18T22:05:03Z",
"securityEnabled": true,
}
View product licenses assigned to a group
The Get-MsolGroup cmdlet can be used to retrieve the group object and check the Licenses property: it lists all product licenses currently assigned to the group.
(Get-MsolGroup -ObjectId 99c4216a-56de-42c4-a4ac-e411cd8c7c41).Licenses
| Select SkuPartNumber
Output:
SkuPartNumber
-------------
ENTERPRISEPREMIUM
EMSPREMIUM
Note
The data is limited to product (SKU) information. It is not possible to list the service plans disabled in the license.
Use the following sample to get the same data from Microsoft Graph.
GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/groups/99c4216a-56de-42c4-a4ac-e411cd8c7c41?$select=assignedLicenses
Output:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
{
"value": [
{
"assignedLicenses": [
{
"accountId":"f1b45b40-57df-41f7-9596-7f2313883635",
"skuId":"c7df2760-2c81-4ef7-b578-5b5392b571df",
"disabledPlans":[]
},
{
"accountId":"f1b45b40-57df-41f7-9596-7f2313883635",
"skuId":" b05e124f-c7cc-45a0-a6aa-8cf78c946968",
"disabledPlans":[]
},
],
}
]
}
Get all groups with licenses
You can find all groups with any license assigned by running the following command:
Get-MsolGroup -All | Where {$_.Licenses}
More details can be displayed about what products are assigned:
Get-MsolGroup -All | Where {$_.Licenses} | Select `
ObjectId, `
DisplayName, `
@{Name="Licenses";Expression={$_.Licenses | Select -ExpandProperty SkuPartNumber}}
Output:
ObjectId DisplayName Licenses
-------- ----------- --------
7023a314-6148-4d7b-b33f-6c775572879a EMS E5 – Licensed users EMSPREMIUM
cf41f428-3b45-490b-b69f-a349c8a4c38e PowerBi - Licensed users POWER_BI_STANDARD
962f7189-59d9-4a29-983f-556ae56f19a5 O365 E3 - Licensed users ENTERPRISEPACK
c2652d63-9161-439b-b74e-fcd8228a7074 EMSandOffice {ENTERPRISEPREMIUM,EMSPREMIUM}
Get statistics for groups with licenses
You can report basic statistics for groups with licenses. In the example below, the script lists the total user count, the count of users with licenses already assigned by the group, and the count of users for whom licenses could not be assigned by the group.
#get all groups with licenses
Get-MsolGroup -All | Where {$_.Licenses} | Foreach {
$groupId = $_.ObjectId;
$groupName = $_.DisplayName;
$groupLicenses = $_.Licenses | Select -ExpandProperty SkuPartNumber
$totalCount = 0;
$licenseAssignedCount = 0;
$licenseErrorCount = 0;
Get-MsolGroupMember -All -GroupObjectId $groupId |
#get full info about each user in the group
Get-MsolUser -ObjectId {$_.ObjectId} | Foreach {
$user = $_;
$totalCount++
#check if any licenses are assigned via this group
if($user.Licenses | ? {$_.GroupsAssigningLicense -ieq $groupId })
{
$licenseAssignedCount++
}
#check if user has any licenses that failed to be assigned from this group
if ($user.IndirectLicenseErrors | ? {$_.ReferencedObjectId -ieq $groupId })
{
$licenseErrorCount++
}
}
#aggregate results for this group
New-Object Object |
Add-Member -NotePropertyName GroupName -NotePropertyValue $groupName -PassThru |
Add-Member -NotePropertyName GroupId -NotePropertyValue $groupId -PassThru |
Add-Member -NotePropertyName GroupLicenses -NotePropertyValue $groupLicenses -PassThru |
Add-Member -NotePropertyName TotalUserCount -NotePropertyValue $totalCount -PassThru |
Add-Member -NotePropertyName LicensedUserCount -NotePropertyValue $licenseAssignedCount -PassThru |
Add-Member -NotePropertyName LicenseErrorCount -NotePropertyValue $licenseErrorCount -PassThru
} | Format-Table
Output:
GroupName GroupId GroupLicenses TotalUserCount LicensedUserCount LicenseErrorCount
--------- ------- ------------- -------------- ----------------- -----------------
Dynamics Licen... 9160c903-9f91-4597-8f79-22b6c47eafbf AAD_PREMIUM_P2 0 0 0
O365 E5 - base... 055dcca3-fb75-4398-a1b8-f8c6f4c24e65 ENTERPRISEPREMIUM 2 2 0
O365 E5 - extr... 6b14a1fe-c3a9-4786-9ee4-3a2bb54dcb8e ENTERPRISEPREMIUM 3 3 0
EMS E5 - all s... 7023a314-6148-4d7b-b33f-6c775572879a EMSPREMIUM 2 2 0
PowerBi - Lice... cf41f428-3b45-490b-b69f-a349c8a4c38e POWER_BI_STANDARD 2 2 0
O365 E3 - all ... 962f7189-59d9-4a29-983f-556ae56f19a5 ENTERPRISEPACK 2 2 0
O365 E5 - EXO 102fb8f4-bbe7-462b-83ff-2145e7cdd6ed ENTERPRISEPREMIUM 1 1 0
Access to Offi... 11151866-5419-4d93-9141-0603bbf78b42 STANDARDPACK 4 3 1
Get all groups with license errors
To find groups that contain some users for whom licenses could not be assigned:
Get-MsolGroup -All -HasLicenseErrorsOnly $true
Output:
ObjectId DisplayName GroupType Description
-------- ----------- --------- -----------
11151866-5419-4d93-9141-0603bbf78b42 Access to Office 365 E1 Security Users who should have E1 licenses
Use following to get the same data from Microsoft Graph
GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/groups?$filter=hasMembersWithLicenseErrors+eq+true
Output:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
{
"value":[
{
"odata.type": "Microsoft.DirectoryServices.Group",
"objectType": "Group",
"id": "11151866-5419-4d93-9141-0603bbf78b42",
... # other group properties.
},
{
"odata.type": "Microsoft.DirectoryServices.Group",
"objectType": "Group",
"id": "c57cdc98-0dcd-4f90-a82f-c911b288bab9",
...
},
... # other groups with license errors.
]
"odata.nextLink":"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/ groups?$filter=hasMembersWithLicenseErrors+eq+true&$skipToken=<encodedPageToken>"
}
Get all users with license errors in a group
Given a group that contains some license-related errors, you can now list all users affected by those errors. A user can have errors from other groups, too. However, in this example we limit results only to errors relevant to the group in question by checking the ReferencedObjectId property of each IndirectLicenseError entry on the user.
#a sample group with errors
$groupId = '11151866-5419-4d93-9141-0603bbf78b42'
#get all user members of the group
Get-MsolGroupMember -All -GroupObjectId $groupId |
#get full information about user objects
Get-MsolUser -ObjectId {$_.ObjectId} |
#filter out users without license errors and users with license errors from other groups
Where {$_.IndirectLicenseErrors -and $_.IndirectLicenseErrors.ReferencedObjectId -eq $groupId} |
#display id, name and error detail. Note: we are filtering out license errors from other groups
Select ObjectId, `
DisplayName, `
@{Name="LicenseError";Expression={$_.IndirectLicenseErrors | Where {$_.ReferencedObjectId -eq $groupId} | Select -ExpandProperty Error}}
Output:
ObjectId DisplayName License Error
-------- ----------- ------------
6d325baf-22b7-46fa-a2fc-a2500613ca15 Catherine Gibson MutuallyExclusiveViolation
Use following to get the same data from Microsoft Graph:
GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/groups/11151866-5419-4d93-9141-0603bbf78b42/membersWithLicenseErrors
Output:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
{
"value":[
{
"odata.type": "Microsoft.DirectoryServices.User",
"objectType": "User",
"id": "6d325baf-22b7-46fa-a2fc-a2500613ca15",
... # other user properties.
},
... # other users.
],
"odata.nextLink":"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/groups/11151866-5419-4d93-9141-0603bbf78b42/membersWithLicenseErrors?$skipToken=<encodedPageToken>"
}
Get all users with license errors in the entire organization
The following script can be used to get all users who have license errors from one or more groups. The script prints one row per user, per license error, which allows you to clearly identify the source of each error.
Note
This script enumerates all users in the organization, which might not be optimal for large organizations.
Get-MsolUser -All | Where {$_.IndirectLicenseErrors } | % {
$user = $_;
$user.IndirectLicenseErrors | % {
New-Object Object |
Add-Member -NotePropertyName UserName -NotePropertyValue $user.DisplayName -PassThru |
Add-Member -NotePropertyName UserId -NotePropertyValue $user.ObjectId -PassThru |
Add-Member -NotePropertyName GroupId -NotePropertyValue $_.ReferencedObjectId -PassThru |
Add-Member -NotePropertyName LicenseError -NotePropertyValue $_.Error -PassThru
}
}
Output:
UserName UserId GroupId LicenseError
-------- ------ ------- ------------
Anna Bergman 0d0fd16d-872d-4e87-b0fb-83c610db12bc 7946137d-b00d-4336-975e-b1b81b0666d0 MutuallyExclusiveViolation
Catherine Gibson 6d325baf-22b7-46fa-a2fc-a2500613ca15 f2503e79-0edc-4253-8bed-3e158366466b CountViolation
Catherine Gibson 6d325baf-22b7-46fa-a2fc-a2500613ca15 11151866-5419-4d93-9141-0603bbf78b42 MutuallyExclusiveViolation
Drew Fogarty f2af28fc-db0b-4909-873d-ddd2ab1fd58c 1ebd5028-6092-41d0-9668-129a3c471332 MutuallyExclusiveViolation
Here is another version of the script that searches only through groups that contain license errors. It may be more optimized for scenarios where you expect to have few groups with problems.
$groupIds = Get-MsolGroup -All -HasLicenseErrorsOnly $true
foreach ($groupId in $groupIds) {
Get-MsolGroupMember -All -GroupObjectId $groupId.ObjectID |
Get-MsolUser -ObjectId {$_.ObjectId} |
Where {$_.IndirectLicenseErrors -and $_.IndirectLicenseErrors.ReferencedObjectId -eq $groupId.ObjectID} |
Select DisplayName, `
ObjectId, `
@{Name="LicenseError";Expression={$_.IndirectLicenseErrors | Where {$_.ReferencedObjectId -eq $groupId.ObjectID} | Select -ExpandProperty Error}}
}
Check if user license is assigned directly or inherited from a group
For a user object, it is possible to check if a particular product license is assigned from a group or if it is assigned directly.
The two sample functions below can be used to analyze the type of assignment on an individual user:
#Returns TRUE if the user has the license assigned directly
function UserHasLicenseAssignedDirectly
{
Param([Microsoft.Online.Administration.User]$user, [string]$skuId)
foreach($license in $user.Licenses)
{
#we look for the specific license SKU in all licenses assigned to the user
if ($license.AccountSkuId -ieq $skuId)
{
#GroupsAssigningLicense contains a collection of IDs of objects assigning the license
#This could be a group object or a user object (contrary to what the name suggests)
#If the collection is empty, this means the license is assigned directly - this is the case for users who have never been licensed via groups in the past
if ($license.GroupsAssigningLicense.Count -eq 0)
{
return $true
}
#If the collection contains the ID of the user object, this means the license is assigned directly
#Note: the license may also be assigned through one or more groups in addition to being assigned directly
foreach ($assignmentSource in $license.GroupsAssigningLicense)
{
if ($assignmentSource -ieq $user.ObjectId)
{
return $true
}
}
return $false
}
}
return $false
}
#Returns TRUE if the user is inheriting the license from a group
function UserHasLicenseAssignedFromGroup
{
Param([Microsoft.Online.Administration.User]$user, [string]$skuId)
foreach($license in $user.Licenses)
{
#we look for the specific license SKU in all licenses assigned to the user
if ($license.AccountSkuId -ieq $skuId)
{
#GroupsAssigningLicense contains a collection of IDs of objects assigning the license
#This could be a group object or a user object (contrary to what the name suggests)
foreach ($assignmentSource in $license.GroupsAssigningLicense)
{
#If the collection contains at least one ID not matching the user ID this means that the license is inherited from a group.
#Note: the license may also be assigned directly in addition to being inherited
if ($assignmentSource -ine $user.ObjectId)
{
return $true
}
}
return $false
}
}
return $false
}
This script executes those functions on each user in the organization, using the SKU ID as input - in this example we are interested in the license for Enterprise Mobility + Security, which in our organization is represented with ID contoso:EMS:
#the license SKU we are interested in. use Get-MsolAccountSku to see a list of all identifiers in your organization
$skuId = "contoso:EMS"
#find all users that have the SKU license assigned
Get-MsolUser -All | where {$_.isLicensed -eq $true -and $_.Licenses.AccountSKUID -eq $skuId} | select `
ObjectId, `
@{Name="SkuId";Expression={$skuId}}, `
@{Name="AssignedDirectly";Expression={(UserHasLicenseAssignedDirectly $_ $skuId)}}, `
@{Name="AssignedFromGroup";Expression={(UserHasLicenseAssignedFromGroup $_ $skuId)}}
Output:
ObjectId SkuId AssignedDirectly AssignedFromGroup
-------- ----- ---------------- -----------------
157870f6-e050-4b3c-ad5e-0f0a377c8f4d contoso:EMS True False
1f3174e2-ee9d-49e9-b917-e8d84650f895 contoso:EMS False True
240622ac-b9b8-4d50-94e2-dad19a3bf4b5 contoso:EMS True True
Graph doesn’t have a straightforward way to show the result, but it can be seen from this API:
GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/e61ff361-5baf-41f0-b2fd-380a6a5e406a?$select=licenseAssignmentStates
Output:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
{
"value":[
{
"odata.type": "Microsoft.DirectoryServices.User",
"objectType": "User",
"id": "e61ff361-5baf-41f0-b2fd-380a6a5e406a",
"licenseAssignmentState":[
{
"skuId": "157870f6-e050-4b3c-ad5e-0f0a377c8f4d",
"disabledPlans":[],
"assignedByGroup": null, # assigned directly.
"state": "Active",
"error": "None"
},
{
"skuId": "1f3174e2-ee9d-49e9-b917-e8d84650f895",
"disabledPlans":[],
"assignedByGroup": "e61ff361-5baf-41f0-b2fd-380a6a5e406a", # assigned by this group.
"state": "Active",
"error": "None"
},
{
"skuId": "240622ac-b9b8-4d50-94e2-dad19a3bf4b5",
"disabledPlans":[
"e61ff361-5baf-41f0-b2fd-380a6a5e406a"
],
"assignedByGroup": "e61ff361-5baf-41f0-b2fd-380a6a5e406a",
"state": "Active",
"error": "None"
},
{
"skuId": "240622ac-b9b8-4d50-94e2-dad19a3bf4b5",
"disabledPlans":[],
"assignedByGroup": null, # It is the same license as the previous one. It means the license is assigned directly once and inherited from group as well.
"state": " Active ",
"error": " None"
}
],
...
}
],
}
Remove direct licenses for users with group licenses
The purpose of this script is to remove unnecessary direct licenses from users who already inherit the same license from a group; for example, as part of a transition to group-based licensing.
Note
It is important to first validate that the direct licenses to be removed do not enable more service functionality than the inherited licenses. Otherwise, removing the direct license may disable access to services and data for users. Currently it is not possible to check via PowerShell which services are enabled via inherited licenses vs direct. In the script, we specify the minimum level of services we know are being inherited from groups and check against that to make sure users do not unexpectedly lose access to services.
#BEGIN: Helper functions used by the script
#Returns TRUE if the user has the license assigned directly
function UserHasLicenseAssignedDirectly
{
Param([Microsoft.Online.Administration.User]$user, [string]$skuId)
$license = GetUserLicense $user $skuId
if ($license -ne $null)
{
#GroupsAssigningLicense contains a collection of IDs of objects assigning the license
#This could be a group object or a user object (contrary to what the name suggests)
#If the collection is empty, this means the license is assigned directly - this is the case for users who have never been licensed via groups in the past
if ($license.GroupsAssigningLicense.Count -eq 0)
{
return $true
}
#If the collection contains the ID of the user object, this means the license is assigned directly
#Note: the license may also be assigned through one or more groups in addition to being assigned directly
foreach ($assignmentSource in $license.GroupsAssigningLicense)
{
if ($assignmentSource -ieq $user.ObjectId)
{
return $true
}
}
return $false
}
return $false
}
#Returns TRUE if the user is inheriting the license from a specific group
function UserHasLicenseAssignedFromThisGroup
{
Param([Microsoft.Online.Administration.User]$user, [string]$skuId, [Guid]$groupId)
$license = GetUserLicense $user $skuId
if ($license -ne $null)
{
#GroupsAssigningLicense contains a collection of IDs of objects assigning the license
#This could be a group object or a user object (contrary to what the name suggests)
foreach ($assignmentSource in $license.GroupsAssigningLicense)
{
#If the collection contains at least one ID not matching the user ID this means that the license is inherited from a group.
#Note: the license may also be assigned directly in addition to being inherited
if ($assignmentSource -ieq $groupId)
{
return $true
}
}
return $false
}
return $false
}
#Returns the license object corresponding to the skuId. Returns NULL if not found
function GetUserLicense
{
Param([Microsoft.Online.Administration.User]$user, [string]$skuId, [Guid]$groupId)
#we look for the specific license SKU in all licenses assigned to the user
foreach($license in $user.Licenses)
{
if ($license.AccountSkuId -ieq $skuId)
{
return $license
}
}
return $null
}
#produces a list of disabled service plan names for a set of plans we want to leave enabled
function GetDisabledPlansForSKU
{
Param([string]$skuId, [string[]]$enabledPlans)
$allPlans = Get-MsolAccountSku | where {$_.AccountSkuId -ieq $skuId} | Select -ExpandProperty ServiceStatus | Where {$_.ProvisioningStatus -ine "PendingActivation" -and $_.ServicePlan.TargetClass -ieq "User"} | Select -ExpandProperty ServicePlan | Select -ExpandProperty ServiceName
$disabledPlans = $allPlans | Where {$enabledPlans -inotcontains $_}
return $disabledPlans
}
function GetUnexpectedEnabledPlansForUser
{
Param([Microsoft.Online.Administration.User]$user, [string]$skuId, [string[]]$expectedDisabledPlans)
$license = GetUserLicense $user $skuId
$extraPlans = @();
if($license -ne $null)
{
$userDisabledPlans = $license.ServiceStatus | where {$_.ProvisioningStatus -ieq "Disabled"} | Select -ExpandProperty ServicePlan | Select -ExpandProperty ServiceName
$extraPlans = $expectedDisabledPlans | where {$userDisabledPlans -notcontains $_}
}
return $extraPlans
}
#END: helper functions
#BEGIN: executing the script
#the group to be processed
$groupId = "48ca647b-7e4d-41e5-aa66-40cab1e19101"
#license to be removed - Office 365 E3
$skuId = "contoso:ENTERPRISEPACK"
#minimum set of service plans we know are inherited from groups - we want to make sure that there aren't any users who have more services enabled
#which could mean that they may lose access after we remove direct licenses
$servicePlansFromGroups = ("EXCHANGE_S_ENTERPRISE", "SHAREPOINTENTERPRISE", "OFFICESUBSCRIPTION")
$expectedDisabledPlans = GetDisabledPlansForSKU $skuId $servicePlansFromGroups
#process all members in the group and get full info about each user in the group looping through group members.
Get-MsolGroupMember -All -GroupObjectId $groupId | Get-MsolUser -ObjectId {$_.ObjectId} | Foreach {
$user = $_;
$operationResult = "";
#check if Direct license exists on the user
if (UserHasLicenseAssignedDirectly $user $skuId)
{
#check if the license is assigned from this group, as expected
if (UserHasLicenseAssignedFromThisGroup $user $skuId $groupId)
{
#check if there are any extra plans we didn't expect - we are being extra careful not to remove unexpected services
$extraPlans = GetUnexpectedEnabledPlansForUser $user $skuId $expectedDisabledPlans
if ($extraPlans.Count -gt 0)
{
$operationResult = "User has extra plans that may be lost - license removal was skipped. Extra plans: $extraPlans"
}
else
{
#remove the direct license from user
Set-MsolUserLicense -ObjectId $user.ObjectId -RemoveLicenses $skuId
$operationResult = "Removed direct license from user."
}
}
else
{
$operationResult = "User does not inherit this license from this group. License removal was skipped."
}
}
else
{
$operationResult = "User has no direct license to remove. Skipping."
}
#format output
New-Object Object |
Add-Member -NotePropertyName UserId -NotePropertyValue $user.ObjectId -PassThru |
Add-Member -NotePropertyName OperationResult -NotePropertyValue $operationResult -PassThru
} | Format-Table
#END: executing the script
Output:
UserId OperationResult
------ ---------------
7c7f860f-700a-462a-826c-f50633931362 Removed direct license from user.
0ddacdd5-0364-477d-9e4b-07eb6cdbc8ea User has extra plans that may be lost - license removal was skipped. Extra plans: SHAREPOINTWAC
aadbe4da-c4b5-4d84-800a-9400f31d7371 User has no direct license to remove. Skipping.
Note
Please update the values for the variables $skuId and $groupId which is being targeted for removal of Direct Licenses as per your test environment before running the above script.
Next steps
To learn more about the feature set for license management through groups, see the following articles:
- What is group-based licensing in Azure Active Directory?
- Assigning licenses to a group in Azure Active Directory
- Identifying and resolving license problems for a group in Azure Active Directory
- How to migrate individual licensed users to group-based licensing in Azure Active Directory
- How to migrate users between product licenses using group-based licensing in Azure Active Directory
- Azure Active Directory group-based licensing additional scenarios
- PowerShell examples for group-based licensing in Azure Active Directory
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