I signed in to the Microsoft Admin Center with a FIDO2 security key, but got a warning that I had signed in without MFA and could face disruptions when enforcement starts in February. Does this mean passkeys won't satisfy the requirement, or is something else going on?
Why is the Microsoft Admin Center warning me about MFA when I use a security key?
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A FIDO2 security key can satisfy an MFA requirement. The warning alone doesn't establish that passkey-only accounts will be locked out. Check the Entra sign-in logs for that specific sign-in, including the authentication details and Conditional Access results, to see how it was evaluated.
Also check the current Microsoft guidance and the details linked from the notice. The February date in the message shouldn't be assumed to describe every account or admin service without checking the scope.
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Look for overlapping per-user MFA settings and Conditional Access policies. That combination was suggested as a cause of similar warnings, though it doesn't explain every case. Review the account's configuration and policy results before changing anything, especially for privileged accounts.
Tavrel.9x:
Conditional Access being configured doesn't necessarily rule out another policy or legacy per-user setting affecting the account.
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It could also be a misleading banner or a detection issue. There isn't enough here to say exactly why it appeared, though, or to conclude that the warning checks only older authentication methods.
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MFA enforcement is not the same thing as requiring everyone to switch to passkeys or passwordless sign-in. Other methods can satisfy MFA too, depending on the policy and service. Check the actual enforcement notice rather than treating the popup as a mandate for one particular method.
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Rilven-5q:
If the sign-in record shows MFA was satisfied, that gives you a useful distinction between what happened during authentication and what the banner is reporting.