Join a Windows 11 device to Microsoft Entra ID is almost the same steps as you would like to join a Windows 10 device to Microsoft Entra ID. The only difference is that Microsoft renamed Azure AD to Entra ID on this August 15, 2023. But still it creates a bit of confusion to us as we’ve been get used with Azure AD for a long time. In this post I’ll demonstrate how to join a Windows 11 device to Entra ID (To make sure we’re aligned with the official Microsoft names, in the post I would mainly using Microsoft Entra ID instead of Microsoft Azure AD. Say goodbye to the past old name.)
Prerequisite
To join a Windows 11 or Windows 10 device to Microsoft Entra ID, make sure you meet the followings:
- Your devices are equipped with Windows 11/10 Pro or above.
- Your Azure AD account (Microsoft Entra ID account) been granted or allowed to join a device to Entra ID.
- Your targeted device has correct hostname or naming conventions that meet your organization’s policy.
- A decent internet connection.
Once the above prerequisites are met, then you can move forward with rest of steps.
Steps for join a device to Microsoft Entra ID
In general, there two main ways to join a device to Microsoft Entra ID either by join a new Windows device during the out of box experience (OOBE) or join from the Settings App. As the first way is very intuitive and mainly intended for end-user instead, I’ll demonstrate the latter way.
1.Press “Windows Logo key + I” combination key to open up Settings app > navigate to “Accounts” > “Access work or school”.
2.Click connect and waiting for few seconds to loading.
3.Select “Join this device to Microsoft Entra ID”.
4.Enter your Microsoft Entra ID account (or AzureAD account, if you prefer).
5.Enter the password of your Microsoft Entra ID account.
6.Click “Join” button to confirm the action > waiting for few seconds.
7.Once completed you will see the following message then click “Done”.
Verification
To verify whether your device is joined to your Microsoft Entra ID, go to Settings app > Account > Access work or school > you should saw it says connected to XXXX Azure AD. (Jeez, it should be Microsoft Entra ID, but probably it will be updated on 2024 with 24H1).
Conclusion
However, you should keep in mind that Windows Home Editions do not support Microsoft Entra Join. These editions can still access many of the benefits by using Microsoft Entra registration (a.k.a. Azure AD registration).
