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Manage Microsoft 365 Apps licenses for devices

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If you have Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise (device) or Microsoft 365 Apps for Education (device), you can assign licenses to devices by using Microsoft Entra groups. When a device has a license, anyone who uses that device can use Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. For example, let's say you have 20 laptops and tablets that are used by people in your organization. When you assign a license to each device, each person who logs in to one of the devices uses Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise without the need for their own license.

Important

Device-based licensing for Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise is available only as an add-on license for some commercial customers and some education customers. For commercial customers, the license is Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise (device) and is available only through Enterprise Agreement/Enterprise Agreement Subscription. For education customers, the license is Microsoft 365 Apps for Education (device) and is available only through Enrollment for Education Solutions (EES). For more information, read the blog post on education availability. For commercial availability, contact your Microsoft account representative.

To begin, you create a group in the Microsoft Entra admin center, and then assign devices to the group. To learn more about device licensing, including device requirements, what types of groups you can use, and how to configure Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise to use device licensing, see Device-based licensing for Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise.

Before you begin

You must be a Global Administrator to perform the tasks in this article. For more information, see About admin roles.

Caution

Global Administrators have almost unlimited access to your organization's settings and most of its data. To help keep your organization secure, we recommend that you limit the number of Global Administrators as much as possible.

Assign licenses to devices

When you assign licenses to a group, you assign licenses to all devices within the group. You can only assign one subscription to any single group.

Tip

If you're using Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet in China, use the following link to access the admin center: https://portal.partner.microsoftonline.cn/

  1. In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to the Billing > Licenses page.
  2. On the Licenses page, choose Microsoft 365 Apps for Education (device) or Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise (device).
  3. On the next page, select a subscription, then select Assign licenses.
  4. In the Assign licenses to a group pane, begin typing a group name, and then select it from the results to add it to the list.
  5. Select Assign, then select Close.

Unassign licenses from devices

When you unassign licenses from a group, you remove the licenses from all devices within the group. All apps and their associated data are then read-only.

Tip

If you're using Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet in China, use the following link to access the admin center: https://portal.partner.microsoftonline.cn/

  1. In the admin center, go to the Billing > Licenses page.
  2. On the Licenses page, choose Microsoft 365 Apps for Education (device) or Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise (device).
  3. On the next page, select a subscription, select the three dots (more actions), and then select Unassign licenses.
  4. In the Unassign licenses dialog box, select Unassign.