Microsoft Entra ID
AuthenticationSystem-preferred authentication in Microsoft Entra ID
In brief
The article date was updated to October 7, 2026, and the note about gradual Microsoft-managed deployment through September 2026 was removed.
What Entra admins need to know
Administrators will no longer see the September 2026 rollout described as ongoing; no action is stated as required.
This editorial summary was generated by AI from the documentation changes. Verify important details in the full Microsoft Learn article.
Documentation change
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System-preferred authentication is a Microsoft managed setting, which is a three-state policy (enabled, disabled, or Microsoft managed). If you don't want to enable system-preferred authentication, change the state from Microsoft managed to Disabled, or exclude users and groups from the policy.
After system-preferred authentication is enabled, the authentication system does all the work. Users don't need to set any authentication method as their default because the system always determines and presents the most secure method they registered.
How system-preferred authentication applies to sign-in
After system-preferred authentication is enabled, the authentication system does all the work. Users don't need to set any authentication method as their default because the system always determines and presents the most secure method they registered.
How system-preferred authentication applies to sign-in
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ title: System-preferred authentication in Microsoft Entra ID description: Learn how system-preferred authentication evaluates methods to prompt users with the most secure sign-in option for both first-factor and second-factor authentication. ms.topic: overview-ms.date: 09/01/2026+ms.date: 10/07/2026 ms.reviewer: msft-poulomi ms.custom: msecd-doc-authoring-1012 ai-usage: ai-assisted@@ -18,9 +18,6 @@ For example, if a user registered both a password and a passkey, system-preferre System-preferred authentication is a Microsoft managed setting, which is a [three-state policy](#authentication-method-feature-configuration-properties) (enabled, disabled, or Microsoft managed). If you don't want to enable system-preferred authentication, change the state from **Microsoft managed** to **Disabled**, or exclude users and groups from the policy. -> [!NOTE]-> The **Microsoft managed** state behavior affects both first-factor and multifactor authentication and is being gradually deployed to tenants through September 2026. If your tenant or users don't experience system-preferred authentication as the first factor when the **State** is **Microsoft managed**, the rollout isn't deployed yet for your tenant.- After system-preferred authentication is enabled, the authentication system does all the work. Users don't need to set any authentication method as their default because the system always determines and presents the most secure method they registered. ## How system-preferred authentication applies to sign-in