System-preferred authentication
Microsoft's edit ·
Microsoft's commit message in MicrosoftDocs/entra-docs · commit 2f928bb · +1 −4 lines · also on GitHub
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title: System-preferred authentication in Microsoft Entra ID
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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.
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ms.topic: overview
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−ms.date: 09/01/2026
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+ms.date: 10/07/2026
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ms.reviewer: msft-poulomi
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ms.custom: msecd-doc-authoring-1012
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ai-usage: ai-assisted
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For example, if a user registered both a password and a passkey, system-preferred authentication prompts the user to sign in with the passkey instead of the password. The user can still choose to sign in by using another method, but they're first prompted to try the most secure method they registered.
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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.
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−> [!NOTE]
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−> 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.
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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.
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