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Troubleshoot: On-premises Microsoft Entra Password Protection

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After the deployment of Microsoft Entra Password Protection, troubleshooting may be required. This article goes into detail to help you understand some common troubleshooting steps.

The DC agent cannot locate a proxy in the directory

The main symptom of this problem is 30017 events in the DC agent Admin event log.

The usual cause of this issue is that a proxy has not yet been registered. If a proxy has been registered, there may be some delay due to AD replication latency until a particular DC agent is able to see that proxy.

The DC agent is not able to communicate with a proxy

The main symptom of this problem is 30018 events in the DC agent Admin event log. This problem may have several possible causes:

  1. The DC agent is located in an isolated portion of the network that does not allow network connectivity to the registered proxy(s). This problem may be benign as long as other DC agents can communicate with the proxy(s) in order to download password policies from Azure. Once downloaded, those policies will then be obtained by the isolated DC via replication of the policy files in the sysvol share.

  2. The proxy host machine is blocking access to the RPC endpoint mapper endpoint (port 135)

    The Microsoft Entra Password Protection Proxy installer automatically creates a Windows Firewall inbound rule that allows access to port 135. If this rule is later deleted or disabled, DC agents will be unable to communicate with the Proxy service. If the builtin Windows Firewall has been disabled in lieu of another firewall product, you must configure that firewall to allow access to port 135.

  3. The proxy host machine is blocking access to the RPC endpoint (dynamic or static) listened on by the Proxy service

    The Microsoft Entra Password Protection Proxy installer automatically creates a Windows Firewall inbound rule that allows access to any inbound ports listened to by the Microsoft Entra Password Protection Proxy service. If this rule is later deleted or disabled, DC agents will be unable to communicate with the Proxy service. If the builtin Windows Firewall has been disabled in lieu of another firewall product, you must configure that firewall to allow access to any inbound ports listened to by the Microsoft Entra Password Protection Proxy service. This configuration may be made more specific if the Proxy service has been configured to listen on a specific static RPC port (using the Set-AzureADPasswordProtectionProxyConfiguration cmdlet).

  4. The proxy host machine is not configured to allow domain controllers the ability to log on to the machine. This behavior is controlled via the "Access this computer from the network" user privilege assignment. All domain controllers in all domains in the forest must be granted this privilege. This setting is often constrained as part of a larger network hardening effort.

Proxy service is unable to communicate with Azure

  1. Ensure the proxy machine has connectivity to the endpoints listed in the deployment requirements.

  2. Ensure that the forest and all proxy servers are registered against the same Azure tenant.

    You can check this requirement by running the Get-AzureADPasswordProtectionProxy and Get-AzureADPasswordProtectionDCAgent PowerShell cmdlets, then compare the AzureTenant property of each returned item. For correct operation, the reported tenant name must be the same across all DC agents and proxy servers.

    If an Azure tenant registration mismatch condition does exist, this problem can be fixed by running the Register-AzureADPasswordProtectionProxy and/or Register-AzureADPasswordProtectionForest PowerShell cmdlets as needed, making sure to use credentials from the same Azure tenant for all registrations.

DC agent is unable to encrypt or decrypt password policy files

Microsoft Entra Password Protection has a critical dependency on the encryption and decryption functionality supplied by the Microsoft Key Distribution Service. Encryption or decryption failures can manifest with a variety of symptoms and have several potential causes.

  1. Ensure that the KDS service is enabled and functional on all Windows Server 2012 and later domain controllers in a domain.

    By default the KDS service's service start mode is configured as Manual (Trigger Start). This configuration means that the first time a client tries to use the service, it is started on-demand. This default service start mode is acceptable for Microsoft Entra Password Protection to work.

    If the KDS service start mode has been configured to Disabled, this configuration must be fixed before Microsoft Entra Password Protection will work properly.

    A simple test for this issue is to manually start the KDS service, either via the Service Management MMC console, or using other management tools (for example, run "net start kdssvc" from a command prompt console). The KDS service is expected to start successfully and stay running.

    The most common root cause for the KDS service being unable to start is that the Active Directory domain controller object is located outside of the default Domain Controllers OU. This configuration is not supported by the KDS service and is not a limitation imposed by Microsoft Entra Password Protection. The fix for this condition is to move the domain controller object to a location under the default Domain Controllers OU.

  2. Incompatible KDS encrypted buffer format change from Windows Server 2012 R2 to Windows Server 2016

    A KDS security fix was introduced in Windows Server 2016 that modifies the format of KDS encrypted buffers; these buffers will sometimes fail to decrypt on Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2. The reverse direction is okay - buffers that are KDS-encrypted on Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 will always successfully decrypt on Windows Server 2016 and later. If the domain controllers in your Active Directory domains are running a mix of these operating systems, occasional Microsoft Entra Password Protection decryption failures may be reported. It is not possible to accurately predict the timing or symptoms of these failures given the nature of the security fix, and given that it is non-deterministic which Microsoft Entra Password Protection DC Agent on which domain controller will encrypt data at a given time.

    There is no workaround for this issue other than to not run a mix of these incompatible operating systems in your Active Directory domain(s). In other words, you should run only Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 domain controllers, OR you should only run Windows Server 2016 and above domain controllers.

DC agent thinks the forest has not been registered

The symptom of this issue is 30016 events getting logged in the DC Agent\Admin channel that says in part:

The forest has not been registered with Azure. Password policies cannot be downloaded from Azure unless this is corrected.

There are two possible causes for this issue.

  1. The forest has indeed not been registered. To resolve the problem, please run the Register-AzureADPasswordProtectionForest command as described in the deployment requirements.
  2. The forest has been registered, but the DC agent is unable to decrypt the forest registration data. This case has the same root cause as issue #2 listed above under DC agent is unable to encrypt or decrypt password policy files. An easy way to confirm this theory is that you will see this error only on DC agents running on Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012R2 domain controllers, while DC agents running on Windows Server 2016 and later domain controllers are fine. The workaround is the same: upgrade all domain controllers to Windows Server 2016 or later.

Weak passwords are being accepted but should not be

This problem may have several causes.

  1. Your DC agent(s) are running a public preview software version that has expired. See Public preview DC agent software has expired.

  2. Your DC agent(s) cannot download a policy or is unable to decrypt existing policies. Check for possible causes in the above topics.

  3. The password policy Enforce mode is still set to Audit. If this configuration is in effect, reconfigure it to Enforce using the Microsoft Entra Password Protection portal. For more information, see Modes of operation.

  4. The password policy has been disabled. If this configuration is in effect, reconfigure it to enabled using the Microsoft Entra Password Protection portal. For more information, see Modes of operation.

  5. You have not installed the DC agent software on all domain controllers in the domain. In this situation, it is difficult to ensure that remote Windows clients target a particular domain controller during a password change operation. If you think you have successfully targeted a particular DC where the DC agent software is installed, you can verify by double-checking the DC agent admin event log: regardless of outcome, there will be at least one event to document the outcome of the password validation. If there is no event present for the user whose password is changed, then the password change was likely processed by a different domain controller.

    As an alternative test, try setting\changing passwords while logged in directly to a DC where the DC agent software is installed. This technique is not recommended for production Active Directory domains.

    While incremental deployment of the DC agent software is supported subject to these limitations, Microsoft strongly recommends that the DC agent software is installed on all domain controllers in a domain as soon as possible.

  6. The password validation algorithm may actually be working as expected. See How are passwords evaluated.

Ntdsutil.exe fails to set a weak DSRM password

Active Directory will always validate a new Directory Services Repair Mode password to make sure it meets the domain's password complexity requirements; this validation also calls into password filter dlls like Microsoft Entra Password Protection. If the new DSRM password is rejected, the following error message results:

C:\>ntdsutil.exe
ntdsutil: set dsrm password
Reset DSRM Administrator Password: reset password on server null
Please type password for DS Restore Mode Administrator Account: ********
Please confirm new password: ********
Setting password failed.
        WIN32 Error Code: 0xa91
        Error Message: Password doesn't meet the requirements of the filter dll's

When Microsoft Entra Password Protection logs the password validation event log event(s) for an Active Directory DSRM password, it is expected that the event log messages will not include a user name. This behavior occurs because the DSRM account is a local account that is not part of the actual Active Directory domain.

Domain controller replica promotion fails because of a weak DSRM password

During the DC promotion process, the new Directory Services Repair Mode password will be submitted to an existing DC in the domain for validation. If the new DSRM password is rejected, the following error message results:

Install-ADDSDomainController : Verification of prerequisites for Domain Controller promotion failed. The Directory Services Restore Mode password does not meet a requirement of the password filter(s). Supply a suitable password.

Just like in the above issue, any Microsoft Entra Password Protection password validation outcome event will have empty user names for this scenario.

Domain controller demotion fails due to a weak local Administrator password

It is supported to demote a domain controller that is still running the DC agent software. Administrators should be aware however that the DC agent software continues to enforce the current password policy during the demotion procedure. The new local Administrator account password (specified as part of the demotion operation) is validated like any other password. Microsoft recommends that secure passwords be chosen for local Administrator accounts as part of a DC demotion procedure.

Once the demotion has succeeded, and the domain controller has been rebooted and is again running as a normal member server, the DC agent software reverts to running in a passive mode. It may then be uninstalled at any time.

Booting into Directory Services Repair Mode

If the domain controller is booted into Directory Services Repair Mode, the DC agent password filter dll detects this condition and will cause all password validation or enforcement activities to be disabled, regardless of the currently active policy configuration. The DC agent password filter dll will log a 10023 warning event to the Admin event log, for example:

The password filter dll is loaded but the machine appears to be a domain controller that has been booted into Directory Services Repair Mode. All password change and set requests will be automatically approved. No further messages will be logged until after the next reboot.

Public preview DC agent software has expired

During the Microsoft Entra Password Protection public preview period, the DC agent software was hard-coded to stop processing password validation requests on the following dates:

  • Version 1.2.65.0 will stop processing password validation requests on September 1 2019.
  • Version 1.2.25.0 and prior stopped processing password validation requests on July 1 2019.

As the deadline approaches, all time-limited DC agent versions will emit a 10021 event in the DC agent Admin event log at boot time that looks like this:

The password filter dll has successfully loaded and initialized.

The allowable trial period is nearing expiration. Once the trial period has expired, the password filter dll will no longer process passwords. Please contact Microsoft for a newer supported version of the software.

Expiration date:  9/01/2019 0:00:00 AM

This message will not be repeated until the next reboot.

Once the deadline has passed, all time-limited DC agent versions will emit a 10022 event in the DC agent Admin event log at boot time that looks like this:

The password filter dll is loaded but the allowable trial period has expired. All password change and set requests will be automatically approved. Please contact Microsoft for a newer supported version of the software.

No further messages will be logged until after the next reboot.

Since the deadline is only checked on initial boot, you may not see these events until long after the calendar deadline has passed. Once the deadline has been recognized, no negative effects on either the domain controller or the larger environment will occur other than all passwords will be automatically approved.

Important

Microsoft recommends that expired public preview DC agents be immediately upgraded to the latest version.

An easy way to discover DC agents in your environment that need to be upgrade is by running the Get-AzureADPasswordProtectionDCAgent cmdlet, for example:

PS C:\> Get-AzureADPasswordProtectionDCAgent

ServerFQDN            : bpl1.bpl.com
SoftwareVersion       : 1.2.125.0
Domain                : bpl.com
Forest                : bpl.com
PasswordPolicyDateUTC : 8/1/2019 9:18:05 PM
HeartbeatUTC          : 8/1/2019 10:00:00 PM
AzureTenant           : bpltest.onmicrosoft.com

For this topic, the SoftwareVersion field is obviously the key property to look at. You can also use PowerShell filtering to filter out DC agents that are already at or above the required baseline version, for example:

PS C:\> $LatestAzureADPasswordProtectionVersion = "1.2.125.0"
PS C:\> Get-AzureADPasswordProtectionDCAgent | Where-Object {$_.SoftwareVersion -lt $LatestAzureADPasswordProtectionVersion}

The Microsoft Entra Password Protection Proxy software is not time-limited in any version. Microsoft still recommends that both DC and proxy agents be upgraded to the latest versions as they are released. The Get-AzureADPasswordProtectionProxy cmdlet may be used to find Proxy agents that require upgrades, similar to the example above for DC agents.

Refer to Upgrading the DC agent and Upgrading the Proxy service for more details on specific upgrade procedures.

Emergency remediation

If a situation occurs where the DC agent service is causing problems, the DC agent service may be immediately shut down. The DC agent password filter dll still attempts to call the non-running service and will log warning events (10012, 10013), but all incoming passwords are accepted during that time. The DC agent service may then also be configured via the Windows Service Control Manager with a startup type of “Disabled” as needed.

Another remediation measure would be to set the Enable mode to No in the Microsoft Entra Password Protection portal. Once the updated policy has been downloaded, each DC agent service will go into a quiescent mode where all passwords are accepted as-is. For more information, see Modes of operation.

Removal

If it is decided to uninstall the Microsoft Entra password protection software and cleanup all related state from the domain(s) and forest, this task can be accomplished using the following steps:

Important

It is important to perform these steps in order. If any instance of the Proxy service is left running it will periodically re-create its serviceConnectionPoint object. If any instance of the DC agent service is left running it will periodically re-create its serviceConnectionPoint object and the sysvol state.

  1. Uninstall the Proxy software from all machines. This step does not require a reboot.

  2. Uninstall the DC Agent software from all domain controllers. This step requires a reboot.

  3. Manually remove all Proxy service connection points in each domain naming context. The location of these objects may be discovered with the following Active Directory PowerShell command:

    $scp = "serviceConnectionPoint"
$keywords = "{ebefb703-6113-413d-9167-9f8dd4d24468}*"
Get-ADObject -SearchScope Subtree -Filter { objectClass -eq $scp -and keywords -like $keywords }

    Do not omit the asterisk (“*”) at the end of the $keywords variable value.

    The resulting object(s) found via the Get-ADObject command can then be piped to Remove-ADObject, or deleted manually.

  4. Manually remove all DC agent connection points in each domain naming context. There may be one these objects per domain controller in the forest, depending on how widely the software was deployed. The location of that object may be discovered with the following Active Directory PowerShell command:

    $scp = "serviceConnectionPoint"
$keywords = "{2bac71e6-a293-4d5b-ba3b-50b995237946}*"
Get-ADObject -SearchScope Subtree -Filter { objectClass -eq $scp -and keywords -like $keywords }

    The resulting object(s) found via the Get-ADObject command can then be piped to Remove-ADObject, or deleted manually.

    Do not omit the asterisk (“*”) at the end of the $keywords variable value.

  5. Manually remove the forest-level configuration state. The forest configuration state is maintained in a container in the Active Directory configuration naming context. It can be discovered and deleted as follows:

    $passwordProtectionConfigContainer = "CN=Azure AD Password Protection,CN=Services," + (Get-ADRootDSE).configurationNamingContext
Remove-ADObject -Recursive $passwordProtectionConfigContainer

  6. Manually remove all sysvol related state by manually deleting the following folder and all of its contents:

    \\<domain>\sysvol\<domain fqdn>\AzureADPasswordProtection

    If necessary, this path may also be accessed locally on a given domain controller; the default location would be something like the following path:

    %windir%\sysvol\domain\Policies\AzureADPasswordProtection

    This path is different if the sysvol share has been configured in a non-default location.

Health testing with PowerShell cmdlets

The AzureADPasswordProtection PowerShell module includes two health-related cmdlets that perform basic verification that the software is installed and working. It is a good idea to run these cmdlets after setting up a new deployment, periodically thereafter, and when a problem is being investigated.

Each individual health test returns a basic Passed or Failed result, plus an optional message on failure. In cases where the cause of a failure is not clear, look for error event log messages that may explain the failure. Enabling text-log messages may also be useful. For more details please see Monitor Microsoft Entra Password Protection.

Proxy health testing

The Test-AzureADPasswordProtectionProxyHealth cmdlet supports two health tests that can be run individually. A third mode allows for the running of all tests that do not require any parameter input.

Proxy registration verification

This test verifies that the Proxy agent is properly registered with Azure and is able to authenticate to Azure. A successful run will look like this:

PS C:\> Test-AzureADPasswordProtectionProxyHealth -VerifyProxyRegistration

DiagnosticName          Result AdditionalInfo
--------------          ------ --------------
VerifyProxyRegistration Passed

If an error is detected, the test will return a Failed result and an optional error message. Here is an example of one possible failure:

PS C:\> Test-AzureADPasswordProtectionProxyHealth -VerifyProxyRegistration

DiagnosticName          Result AdditionalInfo
--------------          ------ --------------
VerifyProxyRegistration Failed No proxy certificates were found - please run the Register-AzureADPasswordProtectionProxy cmdlet to register the proxy.

Proxy verification of end-to-end Azure connectivity

This test is a superset of the -VerifyProxyRegistration test. It requires that the Proxy agent is properly registered with Azure, is able to authenticate to Azure, and finally adds a check that a message can be successfully sent to Azure thus verifying full end-to-end communication is working.

A successful run will look like this:

PS C:\> Test-AzureADPasswordProtectionProxyHealth -VerifyAzureConnectivity

DiagnosticName          Result AdditionalInfo
--------------          ------ --------------
VerifyAzureConnectivity Passed

Proxy verification of all tests

This mode allows for the bulk running of all tests supported by the cmdlet that do not require parameter input. A successful run will look like this:

PS C:\> Test-AzureADPasswordProtectionProxyHealth -TestAll

DiagnosticName          Result AdditionalInfo
--------------          ------ --------------
VerifyTLSConfiguration  Passed
VerifyProxyRegistration Passed
VerifyAzureConnectivity Passed

DC Agent health testing

The Test-AzureADPasswordProtectionDCAgentHealth cmdlet supports several health tests that can be run individually. A third mode allows for the running of all tests that do not require any parameter input.

Basic DC agent health tests

The following tests can all be run individually and do not accept parameters. A brief description of each test is listed in the following table.

DC agent health test Description
-VerifyPasswordFilterDll Verifies that the password filter dll is currently loaded and is able to call the DC agent service
-VerifyForestRegistration Verifies that the forest is currently registered
-VerifyEncryptionDecryption Verifies that basic encryption and decryption is working using the Microsoft KDS service
-VerifyDomainIsUsingDFSR Verifies that the current domain is using DFSR for sysvol replication
-VerifyAzureConnectivity Verifies end-to-end communication with Azure is working using any available proxy

Here is an example of the -VerifyPasswordFilterDll test passing; the other tests will look similar on success:

PS C:\> Test-AzureADPasswordProtectionDCAgentHealth -VerifyPasswordFilterDll

DiagnosticName          Result AdditionalInfo
--------------          ------ --------------
VerifyPasswordFilterDll Passed

DC agent verification of all tests

This mode allows for the bulk running of all tests supported by the cmdlet that do not require parameter input. A successful run will look like this:

PS C:\> Test-AzureADPasswordProtectionDCAgentHealth -TestAll

DiagnosticName             Result AdditionalInfo
--------------             ------ --------------
VerifyPasswordFilterDll    Passed
VerifyForestRegistration   Passed
VerifyEncryptionDecryption Passed
VerifyDomainIsUsingDFSR    Passed
VerifyAzureConnectivity    Passed

Connectivity testing using specific proxy servers

Many troubleshooting situations involve investigating network connectivity between DC agents and proxies. There are two health tests available to focus on such issues specifically. These tests require that a particular proxy server be specified.

Verifying connectivity between a DC agent and a specific proxy

This test validates connectivity over the first communication leg from the DC agent to the proxy. It verifies that the proxy receives the call, however no communication with Azure is involved. A successful run looks like this:

PS C:\> Test-AzureADPasswordProtectionDCAgentHealth -VerifyProxyConnectivity bpl2.bpl.com

DiagnosticName          Result AdditionalInfo
--------------          ------ --------------
VerifyProxyConnectivity Passed

Here is an example failure condition where the proxy service running on the target server has been stopped:

PS C:\> Test-AzureADPasswordProtectionDCAgentHealth -VerifyProxyConnectivity bpl2.bpl.com

DiagnosticName          Result AdditionalInfo
--------------          ------ --------------
VerifyProxyConnectivity Failed The RPC endpoint mapper on the specified proxy returned no results; please check that the proxy service is running on that server.

Verifying connectivity between a DC agent and Azure (using a specific proxy)

This test validates full end-to-end connectivity between a DC agent and Azure using a specific proxy. A successful run looks like this:

PS C:\> Test-AzureADPasswordProtectionDCAgentHealth -VerifyAzureConnectivityViaSpecificProxy bpl2.bpl.com

DiagnosticName                          Result AdditionalInfo
--------------                          ------ --------------
VerifyAzureConnectivityViaSpecificProxy Passed

Next steps

Frequently asked questions for Microsoft Entra Password Protection

For more information on the global and custom banned password lists, see the article Ban bad passwords