Edit

Can't delete a directory through the Azure Management Portal

  • Article

This article can help you fix an issue in which you can't delete a directory from the Microsoft Entra extension in Azure portal.

Original product version:   Microsoft Entra ID
Original KB number:   2967860

Symptoms

You can't delete a directory from the Microsoft Entra extension through the Azure Management Portal. Additionally, you receive one of the following messages:

You are signed in as a user for whom <Your Company Name> is the home directory.

Delete all users except yourself.

Directory has one or more subscriptions to Microsoft Online Services.

Directory has one or more Azure subscriptions.

Directory has one or more applications.

Directory has one or more Multi-Factor Authentication providers.

Directory is a "Partner" directory.

Directory contains one or more applications that were added by a user or administrator.

You are signed in as a user for whom <Your Company Name> is the home directory

Make sure that your directory has no home users, and then delete the directory. The user who deletes this directory must be a guest user, must be homed in another directory, and must be a global admin of the directory that is being deleted.

For example, your directory has the domains contoso.onmicrosoft.com and contoso.com. There must be no users who have these domains in your directory. The guest user may be a Microsoft account or may be homed from another directory such as fabrikam.onmicrosoft.com.

To learn more about how to add a guest user, see Create or edit users. When you create this user in your directory, select one of the following:

  • A user who has an existing Microsoft account
  • A user in another Microsoft Entra directory

This user must also be an admin of your Azure subscription.

Delete all users except yourself

Do what the message tells you to do. That is, delete all users except yourself.

Directory has one or more subscriptions to Microsoft Online Services

Do you have one of the following subscriptions?

  • Office 365
  • Intune
  • Dynamics
  • Microsoft Azure Information Protection (previously known as Microsoft Azure Rights Management)
  • Microsoft Entra ID P1 or P2

If you have one of these subscriptions, contact billing and subscriptions support.

Do you have one of the following subscriptions?

  • Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security
  • Microsoft Entra Basic

If you have one of these subscriptions, contact your Volume Licensing partner to cancel the subscription.

Directory has one or more Azure subscriptions

If you have an Azure subscription, make sure that your Azure subscription is not linked to another directory. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. In the navigation pane, select Settings, and select Subscriptions.

  2. Notice the following information:

    • Subscription
    • Account administrator
    • Directory

  3. If the directory that you are trying to delete is listed under any of the subscriptions, the account administrator has to sign in and change the directory that is associated with the subscription. To do this, the account administrator should follow these steps:

    1. On this screen, select Edit Directory.
    2. In the Edit Directory window, select the Directory list, and then change the directory.

Note

If no other directory is available as an option, the account administrator must be a global admin of another directory or must create a new directory. You will see the Edit Directory option if the account is a Microsoft account. Organizational accounts can't change the directory. Therefore, the directory can't be deleted.

Directory has one or more applications

To learn how to remove applications from your directory, read Adding, updating, and removing an application

Note

Azure AD and MSOnline PowerShell modules are deprecated as of March 30, 2024. To learn more, read the deprecation update. After this date, support for these modules are limited to migration assistance to Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK and security fixes. The deprecated modules will continue to function through March, 30 2025.

We recommend migrating to Microsoft Graph PowerShell to interact with Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD). For common migration questions, refer to the Migration FAQ. Note: Versions 1.0.x of MSOnline may experience disruption after June 30, 2024.

You may also have to remove additional service principals. Use Azure Active Directory module for Windows PowerShell to remove all service principals. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Open Azure Active Directory module for Windows PowerShell.

  2. Connect to the Microsoft Online Service.

  3. Run the following command:

    Get-MsolServicePrincipal | Remove-MsolServicePrincipal

    Note

    You may receive an error when you remove some service principals. These principals can't be removed. However, this does not prevent you from deleting your directory. The error that you receive may resemble the following:

    Remove-MsolServicePrincipal : Invalid value for parameter. Parameter Name: appPrincipalId.

Directory has one or more Multi-Factor Authentication providers

Remove Azure multi-factor authentication providers for your directory. For information about how do this, see Plan an Azure Multi-Factor Authentication deployment.

Directory is a 'Partner' directory

Contact Microsoft Partner Support at Microsoft Partner Site.

Directory contains one or more applications that were added by a user or administrator

To fix this issue, follow the steps in "Cannot delete" error when you try to delete a B2C directory in Microsoft Entra ID.

Contact us for help

If you have questions or need help, create a support request, or ask Azure community support. You can also submit product feedback to Azure feedback community.