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Recover objects using Microsoft Entra Backup and Recovery (Preview)

Important

Microsoft Entra Backup and Recovery is currently in preview. See the Supplemental Terms of Use for Microsoft Azure Previews for legal terms that apply to Azure features that are in beta, preview, or otherwise not yet released into general availability.

Learn how to recover objects to a previously known-good state by using Microsoft Entra Backup and Recovery. Recovery includes restoring, soft-deleting, and updating supported objects and attributes.

Key details:

  • A recovery ID identifies the recovery job.
  • Only one recovery runs at a time. If another job (recovery job or difference report) is already running, you must wait for it to complete or cancel it before starting a new one.
  • Recovery History retains recovery details for 5 days after recovery completion date.
  • Audit logs record all recovery actions.

Prerequisites

To recover objects, you need the Microsoft Entra Backup Administrator role.

Recover from a difference report

Use this method when you already created a difference report and reviewed the changes.

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Microsoft Entra Backup Administrator.

  2. Go to Backup and recovery > Difference reports. Select a completed difference report.

    Screenshot of the Difference Reports page showing three completed reports with available backups.

  3. After inspecting the objects listed in the difference report, select Recover to start recovery.

    Screenshot of the Recover from difference report dialog showing the list of objects that will be recovered, with the Recover button at the bottom.

    If you recover from a difference report that was created with scoping filters, recovery automatically uses the same scope and doesn't allow additional filtering. To recover a different set of objects, start from the backups page and run difference report to review changes.

  4. (Optional) To recover a single high-priority object without initiating a full recovery job, open the object's changed attributes panel and select Recover this object.

    Screenshot of the View changed attributes panel for a user object, with a confirmation dialog asking to recover the specific object.

    Difference reports are a point-in-time comparison. If objects are modified in the tenant after the report is created, those changes aren't reflected in the report. When you recover from a difference report, recovery applies to the tenant's most current state. This might result in a different set of changes than the difference report shows.

Recover directly from a backup

Creating a difference report lets you preview changes before recovery. To skip this step, recover directly from a backup.

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Microsoft Entra Backup Administrator.

  2. Go to Backup and recovery > Backups. Select a backup and select Recover backup.

    Screenshot of the Backups page with a backup selected and the Recover backup button visible in the toolbar.

  3. (Optional) Apply scoping filters to limit the objects included in recovery. Choose one of these options:

    • Recover all objects in their previous state: Recovers all supported objects in the tenant.

      Screenshot of the Recover backup dialog with the Recover all objects in their previous state option selected and the cursor on the Recover button.

    • Recover only certain types of objects: Limits recovery to selected object types, such as Users or Conditional Access Policies.

      Screenshot of the Recover backup dialog with Recover only certain types of objects selected and type options shown.

    • Recover only specific objects by their ID: Limits recovery to specific objects by their object IDs. Enter up to 100 object IDs across different object types.

      Screenshot of the Recover backup dialog with Recover only specific objects by ID selected and object ID entries shown.

  4. Select Recover to start the recovery job.

Warning

Recovery actions apply directly to your tenant and can't be undone automatically. Review changes in a difference report before starting recovery. The recovery job records all changes in audit logs.

Cancel a recovery

Cancel a recovery job while it's running. Any recovery actions completed before cancelation remain in effect.

  1. Go to Backup and recovery > Recovery History.

  2. Select the in-progress recovery job, and then select Cancel.

    Screenshot of the Recovery History page showing completed and in-progress recovery jobs, with the Cancel button visible in the toolbar.

Note

  • Hard-deleted objects can't be recovered. Use Protected Actions to prevent unwanted hard deletions in your tenant.

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