The end of AzureAD and MSOnline PowerShell modules

Maxime Hiez
Entra ID
30 Jan, 2025

Introduction

Microsoft recently announced the general availability of the Microsoft Entra PowerShell module. This module offers administrators and IT professionals a new way to manage and automate tasks related to Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory). This update marks an important step in simplifying identity and access management in cloud environments.

Timeline

In 2021, Microsoft announced that the next developments on PowerShell would focus on the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK.

Module	End of support	Retirement
AzureAD	March, 30 2025	After July 1, 2025
MSOnline	March, 30 2025	Early Apr 2025 to late May 2025

Benefits of migrating to Microsoft Graph

Microsoft Graph represents the best-in-breed API surface. It offers a single unified endpoint to access Microsoft Entra services and Microsoft 365 services such as Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Intune. All new functionalities will only be available through Microsoft Graph. Microsoft Graph is also more secure and resilient than Azure AD Graph.

Microsoft Graph has all the capabilities that have been available in Azure AD Graph and new APIs like identity protection and authentication methods. Its client libraries offer built-in support for features like retry handling, secure redirects, transparent authentication, and payload compression.

How to know if these modules are still used

Microsoft Entra sign-in logs can be used to identify connections from MSOnline and AzureAD PowerShell. They provide information about the client and user of the PowerShell session.

Sign in to the Microsoft Entra Admin Center by opening your web browser to https://entra.microsoft.com.
In the left menu, click Identity, then Monitoring & health and Sign-in logs.
Select the User sign-ins (Interactive) tab, then click Add filters and choose the Application attribute.
Enter Azure Active Directory PowerShell to apply the filter.

The MSOnline PowerShell and AzureAD PowerShell sign-in events appear with the application name Azure Active Directory PowerShell.

How to upgrade to the new version ?

You can install the new Entra module (API version /v1.0) via the following PowerShell command :

Install-Module -Name Microsoft.Entra -Repository PSGallery -Scope CurrentUser -Force -AllowClobber

Or install the beta version of the module via the following PowerShell command :

Install-Module -Name Microsoft.Entra.Beta -Repository PSGallery -Scope CurrentUser -Force -AllowClobber

Once installed, you can connect via the following PowerShell command :

Connect-Entra -Scopes 'User.Read.All'

If you have existing scripts that run with the AzureAD module, you can continue to use them with minimal modification by adding the Enable-EntraAzureADAlias command.

Import-Module -Name Microsoft.Entra.Users
Connect-Entra #Replaces Connect-AzureAD for auth
Enable-EntraAzureADAlias #Enable aliasing
Get-AzureADUser -Top 1

Conclusion

The general availability of the Microsoft Entra PowerShell module provides administrators with a powerful and flexible new way to manage identity and access in cloud environments. By automating common tasks and centralizing management, this module increases efficiency and security.