AFAIK, there is currently no support for joining on-premises Windows servers to Entra ID. You can hybrid join them, but this doesn't resolve your dilemma, since you still need to maintain your AD
hth
Marcin
Connect Windows server with EntraID
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Ian McGuinness
20
Reputation points
Hi, This may be a simple question but I haven't found anywhere that says definitively so I thought I'd ask. If I had a network that was currently 100% 365, ID with EntraID, files in 365 SharePoint, emails in 365 Exchange, Windows devices connected to the Entra domain etc but now I have a need for a local server (lots of large files, specific local applications or whatever reason) can i join a server to EntraID and use users IDs to manage basic access (e.g. group membership access to a shared folder)? I'd rather not have to use a local AD if I can get away with it. Thanks Ian
Microsoft Security | Microsoft Entra | Microsoft Entra ID
Windows for business | Windows Server | User experience | Other
Microsoft Security | Microsoft Entra | Other
Accepted answer
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Marcin Policht 53,675 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator2024-02-19T23:50:39.06+00:00
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Ian McGuinness 20 Reputation points
2024-02-19T23:58:27.6633333+00:00 OK, thanks for the answer. Kinda wish we could like a Win10/11 can but it is what it is. Maybe a NAS that can AAD/EntraID join would be a solution for them.
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Marcin Policht 53,675 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2024-02-19T23:04:33.5666667+00:00 Have you considered migrating the workloads on this server to an Azure VM? This would allow you to join Microsoft Entra ID directly by following https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cosmos-db/configure-synapse-link This functionality is not supported for servers outside of Azure
hth
Marcin -
Ian McGuinness 20 Reputation points
2024-02-19T23:19:23.4466667+00:00 Hi, That is a potential in some cases but some situations just needs to be local so I'm just investigating if it's a possibility or if these sites are local AD bound for the foreseeable future. e.g. if they have massive files and limited bandwidth they would need a local file share.
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Tassilo LAUERMANN 0 Reputation points2025-08-05T13:07:37.75+00:00 something new? We have similar ideas...
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