Microsoft recommends creating a specialized account for each administrative user for the purposes of accessing Office 365 via PowerShell.

If you intend to set up 2FA for tenant administrator accounts, you should note that those accounts won’t be able to sign in to Office 365 using PowerShell. But there may be apps that are incompatible or require an app password, so make sure you test all the apps in your organization before enabling 2FA.

I’ve tested 2FA with Microsoft’s mobile Office apps, Outlook Groups, Office 2016 desktop apps, and OneDrive for Business in Windows 10, and found no problems. For details on how to enable MA for Exchange Online tenants, see Enable Modern Authentication in Exchange Online. Versions of Outlook prior to 2013 don’t support Modern Authentication. Microsoft’s Authenticator app for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone makes it easier than ever to implement 2FA by using push notifications for verification rather than requiring users to type in access codes.īefore setting up 2FA for Office 365 users, make sure you enable Modern Authentication (MA) for Exchange Online if users are accessing Exchange using Outlook 2016 or 2013. Two-factor authentication (2FA) has been available in Office 365 for a couple of years, but you need to manually enable it for your users. In What Is Multifactor Authentication and How Does It Work? on the Petri IT Knowledgebase, I explained the concept of two-factor and multi-factor authentication, and why you should enable it for sensitive accounts.

In today’s Ask the Admin, I’ll show you how to enable two-factor authentication on a Microsoft account with the help of Microsoft’s Authenticator mobile app.

Office 365 enable mfa