If you have a paid subscription to Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, Enterprise Mobility Suite, or other Microsoft services, you have a free subscription to Microsoft Azure Active Directory. You can use Azure AD to create and manage user and group accounts. To activate this subscription and access the Azure management portal, you have to complete a one-time registration process. Afterward, you can access Azure AD from your Microsoft service that uses it.
Note: Active Directory is the only Microsoft Azure service that’s included with your free subscription. For more information, see What is Azure?
Before you begin
Use a private browsing session (not a regular session) to access the Azure sign-in page or the Azure management portal (in step 1) because this will prevent the credential that you are currently logged on with from being passed to Azure. To open an InPrivate Browsing session in Internet Explorer or a Private Browsing session in Mozilla FireFox, just press CTRL+SHIFT+P. To open a private browsing session in Google Chrome (called an incognito window), press CTRL+SHIFT+N.
Register your Azure AD subscription
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Go to the Microsoft Azure sign-in page by using one of the following methods:
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Click a link in your Microsoft service that goes to Azure AD. For example, go to the Office 365 admin portal and then select Reports > Security & compliance, and then click Azure AD reports (paid Office 365 subscription required) to go to the Azure AD sign-up workflow. If the FISMA requirements window is displayed, click Agree.
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Go to the Office 365 admin portal and then select Admin centers > Azure AD.
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On the Microsoft Azure sign up page, complete the information under About you and then click Next.
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Under Identity verification by phone, select a verification method (text message or phone call), type the phone number for your mobile phone, and then click either Send text message or Call me.
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A six-digit verification code is sent to your mobile phone via the verification method you selected. Type the verification code in the box, and then click Verify code.
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In Identity verification by card, provide information for a credit or debit card and then click Next.
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In Agreement, review the subscription agreement, offer details, and privacy statement. Select the check box to indicate your agreement, and then click Sign up.
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In the Microsoft Azure Subscriptions page, refresh your browser to verify that the setup process for the subscription is complete.
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After your subscription is registered, the Subscriptions page looks similar to this one. Notice that the status is set to Active, which indicates that the registration was successful. Click Portal to go to the Azure management portal for your organization.
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Because it’s the first time that you’ve visited the Azure management portal, you can take a short tour (which is worth your time) or you can go directly to the portal. Click the arrow to take the tour, or click X to skip the tour and go directly to the Azure management portal.
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After you finish viewing the tour or cancel the tour, the Azure management portal is displayed, and the name of your organization is listed on the All items page.
More information
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You can access the Azure management portal from your Microsoft service. Or, you can browse to https://manage.windowsazure.com and sign in to Azure using the global administrator account that was used to create your Office 365 organization.
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For information about managing users and groups and performing other directory management tasks, see Administering your Azure AD directory.
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After you register your Access to Azure Active Directory subscription, you can upgrade to an Azure Active Directory Premium subscription. For more information, see Azure Active Directory editions.