Configure federated sign-in for Windows devices

Starting in Windows 11 SE, version 22H2 and Windows 11 Pro Edu/Education, version 22H2 with KB5022913, you can enable your users to sign-in using a federated identity provider (IdP) via web sign-in.
This feature is called federated sign-in.
Federated sign-in is a great way to simplify the sign-in process for your users: instead of having to remember a username and password defined in Azure AD, they can sign-in using their existing credentials from the IdP. For example, students and educators can use QR code badges to sign-in.

Benefits of federated sign-in

Federated sign-in enables students to sign-in in less time, and with less friction. With fewer credentials to remember and a simplified sign-in process, students are more engaged and focused on learning.

Important

Currently, this feature is designed for 1:1 devices. For an optimal experience, you should not enable federated sign-in on shared devices.

Prerequisites

To implement federated sign-in, the following prerequisites must be met:

  1. An Azure AD tenant, with one or multiple domains federated to a third-party IdP. For more information, see What is federation with Azure AD? and Use a SAML 2.0 IdP for Single Sign On

    Note

    If your organization uses a third-party federation solution, you can configure single sign-on to Azure Active Directory if the solution is compatible with Azure Active Directory. For questions regarding compatibility, contact your identity provider. If you're an IdP, and would like to validate your solution for interoperability, refer to these guidelines.

  2. Individual IdP accounts created: each user requires an account defined in the third-party IdP platform

  3. Individual Azure AD accounts created: each user requires a matching account defined in Azure AD. These accounts are commonly created through automated solutions, for example:

    For more information about identity matching, see Identity matching in Azure AD.

  4. Licenses assigned to the Azure AD user accounts. It's recommended to assign licenses to a dynamic group: when new users are provisioned in Azure AD, the licenses are automatically assigned. For more information, see Assign licenses to users by group membership in Azure Active Directory

  5. Enable federated sign-in on the Windows devices

To use federated sign-in, the devices must have Internet access. This feature doesn't work without it, as the authentication is done over the Internet.

Important

WS-Fed is the only supported federated protocol to join a device to Azure AD. If you have a SAML 2.0 IdP, it's recommended to complete the Azure AD join process using one of the following methods:

  • Provisioning packages (PPKG)
  • Windows Autopilot self-deploying mode

Windows edition and licensing requirements

The following table lists the Windows editions that support Federated sign-in:

Windows Pro Windows Enterprise Windows Pro Education/SE Windows Education
No No Yes Yes

Federated sign-in license entitlements are granted by the following licenses:

Windows Pro Education/SE Windows Enterprise E3 Windows Enterprise E5 Windows Education A3 Windows Education A5
Yes No No Yes Yes

For more information about Windows licensing, see Windows licensing overview.

Federated sign-in for student assigned (1:1) devices is supported on the following Windows editions and versions:

  • Windows 11 SE, version 22H2 and later
  • Windows 11 Pro Edu/Education, version 22H2 with KB5022913

Federated sign-in for shared devices is supported starting in Windows 11 SE/Pro Edu/Education, version 22H2 with KB5026446.

Configure federated sign-in

You can configure federated sign-in for student assigned (1:1) devices or student shared devices:

  • When federated sign-in is configured for student assigned (1:1) devices, the first user who signs in to the device with a federated identity becomes the primary user. The primary user is always displayed in the bottom left corner of the sign-in screen
  • When federated sign-in is configured for student shared devices, there's no primary user. The sign-in screen displays, by default, the last user who signed in to the device

The configuration is different for each scenario, and is described in the following sections.

Configure federated sign-in for student assigned (1:1) devices

To use web sign-in with a federated identity provider, your devices must be configured with different policies. Review the following instructions to configure your devices using either Microsoft Intune or a provisioning package (PPKG).

To configure federated sign-in using Microsoft Intune, create a custom profile with the following settings:

To configure devices with Microsoft Intune, use a custom policy:

  1. Go to the Microsoft Intune admin center
  2. Select Devices > Configuration profiles > Create profile
  3. Select Platform > Windows 10 and later and Profile type > Templates > Custom
  4. Select Create
  5. Specify a Name and, optionally, a Description > Next
  6. Add the following settings:
Setting
  • OMA-URI: ./Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Education/IsEducationEnvironment
  • Data type: Integer
  • Value: 1
    		•
  • OMA-URI: ./Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/FederatedAuthentication/EnableWebSignInForPrimaryUser
  • Data type: Integer
  • Value: 1
    		•
  • OMA-URI: ./Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Authentication/ConfigureWebSignInAllowedUrls
  • Data type: String
  • Value: Semicolon separated list of domains, for example: samlidp.clever.com;clever.com;mobile-redirector.clever.com
    		•
  • OMA-URI: ./Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Authentication/ConfigureWebCamAccessDomainNames
  • Data type: String
  • Value: This setting is optional, and it should be configured if you need to use the webcam during the sign-in process. Specify the list of domains that are allowed to use the webcam during the sign-in process, separated by a semicolon. For example: clever.com
    		•

    Custom policy showing the settings to be configured to enable federated sign-in

    1. Select Next
    2. Assign the policy to a security group that contains as members the devices or users that you want to configure > Next
    3. Under Applicability Rules, select Next
    4. Review the policy configuration and select Create

    For more information about how to create custom settings using Intune, see Use custom settings for Windows devices in Intune.

    Configure federated sign-in for student shared devices

    To use web sign-in with a federated identity provider, your devices must be configured with different policies. Review the following instructions to configure your shared devices using either Microsoft Intune or a provisioning package (PPKG).

    To configure federated sign-in using Microsoft Intune, create a custom profile with the following settings:

    To configure devices with Microsoft Intune, use a custom policy:

    1. Go to the Microsoft Intune admin center
    2. Select Devices > Configuration profiles > Create profile
    3. Select Platform > Windows 10 and later and Profile type > Templates > Custom
    4. Select Create
    5. Specify a Name and, optionally, a Description > Next
    6. Add the following settings:
    Setting
  • OMA-URI: ./Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Education/IsEducationEnvironment
  • Data type: Integer
  • Value: 1
    		•
  • OMA-URI: ./Vendor/MSFT/SharedPC/EnableSharedPCModeWithOneDriveSync
  • Data type: Boolean
  • Value: True
    		•
  • OMA-URI: ./Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Authentication/EnableWebSignIn
  • Data type: Integer
  • Value: 1
    		•
  • OMA-URI: ./Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Authentication/ConfigureWebSignInAllowedUrls
  • Data type: String
  • Value: Semicolon separated list of domains, for example: samlidp.clever.com;clever.com;mobile-redirector.clever.com
    		•
  • OMA-URI: ./Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Authentication/ConfigureWebCamAccessDomainNames
  • Data type: String
  • Value: This setting is optional, and it should be configured if you need to use the webcam during the sign-in process. Specify the list of domains that are allowed to use the webcam during the sign-in process, separated by a semicolon. For example: clever.com
    		•
    1. Select Next
    2. Assign the policy to a security group that contains as members the devices or users that you want to configure > Next
    3. Under Applicability Rules, select Next
    4. Review the policy configuration and select Create

    For more information about how to create custom settings using Intune, see Use custom settings for Windows devices in Intune.

    How to use federated sign-in

    Once the devices are configured, a new sign-in experience becomes available.

    As users enter their username, they're redirected to the identity provider sign-in page. Once the Idp authenticates the users, they're signed-in. In the following animation, you can observe how the first sign-in process works for a student assigned (1:1) device:

    Windows 11 SE sign-in using federated sign-in through Clever and QR code badge, in a student assigned (1:1) device.

    Important

    For student assigned (1:1) devices, once the policy is enabled, the first user who sign-in to the device will also set the disambiguation page to the identity provider domain on the device. This means that the device will be defaulting to that IdP. The user can exit the federated sign-in flow by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete to get back to the standard Windows sign-in screen. The behavior is different for student shared devices, where the disambiguation page is always shown, unless preferred Azure AD tenant name is configured.

    Important considerations

    Known issues affecting student assigned (1:1) devices

    Federated sign-in for student assigned (1:1) devices doesn't work with the following settings enabled:

    • EnableSharedPCMode or EnableSharedPCModeWithOneDriveSync, which are part of the SharedPC CSP
    • Interactive logon: do not display last signed in, which is a security policy part of the Policy CSP
    • Take a Test in kiosk mode, since it uses the security policy above

    Known issues affecting student shared devices

    The following issues are known to affect student shared devices:

    • Non-federated users can't sign-in to the devices, including local accounts
    • Take a Test in kiosk mode, since it uses a local guest account to sign in

    Account management

    For student shared devices, it's recommended to configure the account management policies to automatically delete the user profiles after a certain period of inactivity or disk levels. For more information, see Set up a shared or guest Windows device.

    Preferred Azure AD tenant name

    To improve the user experience, you can configure the preferred Azure AD tenant name feature.
    When using preferred AAD tenant name, the users bypass the disambiguation page and are redirected to the identity provider sign-in page. This configuration can be especially useful for student shared devices, where the disambiguation page is always shown.

    For more information about preferred tenant name, see Authentication CSP - PreferredAadTenantDomainName.

    Identity matching in Azure AD

    When an Azure AD user is federated, the user's identity from the IdP must match an existing user object in Azure AD. After the token sent by the IdP is validated, Azure AD searches for a matching user object in the tenant by using an attribute called ImmutableId.

    Note

    The ImmutableId is a string value that must be unique for each user in the tenant, and it shouldn't change over time. For example, the ImmutableId could be the student ID or SIS ID. The ImmutableId value should be based on the federation setup and configuration with your IdP, so confirm with your IdP before setting it.

    If the matching object is found, the user is signed-in. Otherwise, the user is presented with an error message. The following picture shows that a user with the ImmutableId 260051 can't be found:

    Azure AD sign-in error: a user with a matching ImmutableId can't be found in the tenant.

    Important

    The ImmutableId matching is case-sensitive.

    The ImmutableId is typically configured when the user is created in Azure AD, but it can also be updated later.
    In a scenario where a user is federated and you want to change the ImmutableId, you must:

    1. Convert the federated user to a cloud-only user (update the UPN to a non-federated domain)
    2. Update the ImmutableId
    3. Convert the user back to a federated user

    Here's a PowerShell example to update the ImmutableId for a federated user:

    Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser -Force
Install-Module Microsoft.Graph -Scope CurrentUser
Import-Module Microsoft.Graph
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes 'User.Read.All', 'User.ReadWrite.All'

#1. Convert the user from federated to cloud-only
Update-MgUser -UserId alton@example.com -UserPrincipalName alton@example.onmicrosoft.com

#2. Convert the user back to federated, while setting the immutableId
Update-MgUser -UserId alton@example.onmicrosoft.com -UserPrincipalName alton@example.com -OnPremisesImmutableId '260051'

    Troubleshooting

    • The user can exit the federated sign-in flow by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete to get back to the standard Windows sign-in screen
    • Select the Other User button, and the standard username/password credentials are available to log into the device