Configure Microsoft Entra multifactor authentication settings

To customize the end-user experience for Microsoft Entra multifactor authentication (MFA), you can configure options for reporting suspicious activities. The following table describes Microsoft Entra MFA settings, and subsections cover each setting in more detail.

Account lockout (MFA Server only)

To prevent repeated MFA attempts as part of an attack, the account lockout settings let you specify how many failed attempts to allow before the account becomes locked out for a period of time. The account lockout settings are applied only when a PIN code is entered for the MFA prompt by using MFA Server on-premises.

The following settings are available:

• Number of MFA denials that trigger account lockout
• Minutes until account lockout counter is reset
• Minutes until account is automatically unblocked

To configure account lockout settings, complete these steps:

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least an Authentication Policy Administrator.

2. Browse to Protection > Multifactor authentication > Account lockout. You might need to click Show more to see Multifactor authentication.

3. Enter the values for your environment, and then select Save.

   

Report suspicious activity

When an unknown and suspicious MFA prompt is received, users can report the activity by using Microsoft Authenticator or through their phone. Report suspicious activity is integrated with Microsoft Entra ID Protection for risk-driven remediation, reporting, and least-privileged administration.

Users who report an MFA prompt as suspicious are set to High User Risk. Administrators can use risk-based policies to limit access for these users, or enable self-service password reset (SSPR) for users to remediate problems on their own.

If you don't have a Microsoft Entra ID P2 license for risk-based policies, you can use risk detection events to either manually identify and disable impacted users, or set up automation by using custom workflows with Microsoft Graph. For more information about investigating and remediating user risk, see:

• How to: Investigate risk
• How to: Remediate risks and unblock users

To enable Report suspicious activity from the Authentication methods policy Settings:

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least an Authentication Policy Administrator.
2. Browse to Protection > Authentication methods > Settings.
3. Set Report suspicious activity to Enabled. The feature remains disabled if you choose Microsoft managed. For more information about Microsoft managed values, see Protecting authentication methods in Microsoft Entra ID.
4. Select All users or a specific group.
5. If you also upload custom greetings for your tenant, select a Reporting code. The reporting code is the number that users enter into their phone to report suspicious activity. The reporting code is only applicable if custom greetings are also uploaded by an Authentication Policy Administrator. Otherwise, the default code is 0, regardless of any value specified in the policy.
6. Click Save.

Remediating risk for tenants with Microsoft Entra ID P1 license

When a user reports an MFA prompt as suspicious, the event shows up in the sign-in logs (as a sign-in that was rejected by the user), in the Audit logs, and in the Risk detections report.

You can also query for risk detections and users flagged as risky by using Microsoft Graph.

For manual remediation, administrators or helpdesk can ask the users to reset their password by using self-service password reset (SSPR), or do so on their behalf. For automated remediation, use the Microsoft Graph APIs, or use PowerShell to create a script that changes the user’s password, forces SSPR, revokes sign-in sessions, or temporarily disables the user account.

Remediating risk for tenants with Microsoft Entra ID P2 license

Tenants with a Microsoft Entra ID P2 license can use risk-based Conditional Access policies to automatically remediate user risk, in addition to the options Microsoft Entra ID P2 license.

Configure a policy that looks at user risk under Conditions > User risk. Look for users where risk = high to either block them from sign in or require them to reset their password.

For more information, see Sign-in risk-based Conditional Access policy.

OATH tokens

Microsoft Entra ID supports the use of OATH TOTP SHA-1 tokens that refresh codes every 30 or 60 seconds. You can purchase these tokens from the vendor of your choice.

OATH TOTP hardware tokens typically come with a secret key, or seed, pre-programmed in the token. You need to input these keys into Microsoft Entra ID as described in the following steps. Secret keys are limited to 128 characters, which might not be compatible with all tokens. The secret key can contain only the characters a-z or A-Z and digits 1-7. It must be encoded in Base32.

Programmable OATH TOTP hardware tokens that can be reseeded can also be set up with Microsoft Entra ID in the software token setup flow.

OATH hardware tokens are supported as part of a public preview. For more information about previews, see Supplemental Terms of Use for Microsoft Azure Previews.

After you acquire tokens, you need to upload them in a comma-separated values (CSV) file format. Include the UPN, serial number, secret key, time interval, manufacturer, and model, as shown in this example:

upn,serial number,secret key,time interval,manufacturer,model
Helga@contoso.com,1234567,1234567abcdef1234567abcdef,60,Contoso,HardwareKey

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as a Global Administrator.
2. Go to Protection > Multifactor authentication > OATH tokens, and upload the CSV file.

Depending on the size of the CSV file, it might take a few minutes to process. Select Refresh to get the status. If there are any errors in the file, you can download a CSV file that lists them. The field names in the downloaded CSV file are different from those in the uploaded version.

After any errors are addressed, the administrator can activate each key by selecting Activate for the token and entering the OTP displayed in the token.

Users can have a combination of up to five OATH hardware tokens or authenticator applications, such as the Microsoft Authenticator app, configured for use at any time.

Phone call settings

If users receive phone calls for MFA prompts, you can configure their experience, such as caller ID or the voice greeting they hear.

In the United States, if you haven't configured MFA caller ID, voice calls from Microsoft come from the following numbers. Users with spam filters should exclude these numbers.

Default number: +1 (855) 330-8653

The following table lists more numbers for different countries/regions.

To configure your own caller ID number, complete the following steps:

1. Go to Protection > Multifactor authentication > Phone call settings.
2. Set the MFA caller ID number to the number you want users to see on their phones. Only US-based numbers are allowed.
3. Select Save.

Custom voice messages

You can use your own recordings or greetings for Microsoft Entra multifactor authentication. These messages can be used in addition to the default Microsoft recordings or to replace them.

Before you begin, be aware of the following restrictions:

• The supported file formats are .wav and .mp3.
• The file size limit is 1 MB.
• Authentication messages should be shorter than 20 seconds. Messages that are longer than 20 seconds can cause the verification to fail. If the user doesn't respond before the message finishes, the verification times out.

Custom message language behavior

When a custom voice message is played to the user, the language of the message depends on the following factors:

• The language of the user.
  • The language detected by the user's browser.
  • Other authentication scenarios might behave differently.
• The language of any available custom messages.
  • This language is chosen by the administrator when a custom message is added.

For example, if there's only one custom message, and it's in German:

• A user who authenticates in the German language will hear the custom German message.
• A user who authenticates in English will hear the standard English message.

Custom voice message defaults

You can use the following sample scripts to create your own custom messages. These phrases are the defaults if you don't configure your own custom messages.

Set up a custom message

To use your own custom messages, complete the following steps:

1. Go to Protection > Multifactor authentication > Phone call settings.
2. Select Add greeting.
3. Choose the Type of greeting, such as Greeting (standard) or Authentication successful.
4. Select the Language. See the previous section on custom message language behavior.
5. Browse for and select an .mp3 or .wav sound file to upload.
6. Select Add and then Save.

MFA service settings

Settings for app passwords, trusted IPs, verification options, and remembering multifactor authentication on trusted devices are available in the service settings. This is a legacy portal.

You can access service settings from the Microsoft Entra admin center by going to Protection > Multifactor authentication > Getting started > Configure > Additional cloud-based MFA settings. A window or tab opens with additional service settings options.

Trusted IPs

Location conditions are the recommended way to configure MFA with Conditional Access because of IPv6 support and other improvements. For more information about location conditions, see Using the location condition in a Conditional Access policy. For steps to define locations and create a Conditional Access policy, see Conditional Access: Block access by location.

The trusted IPs feature of Microsoft Entra multifactor authentication also bypasses MFA prompts for users who sign in from a defined IP address range. You can set trusted IP ranges for your on-premises environments. When users are in one of these locations, there's no Microsoft Entra multifactor authentication prompt. The trusted IPs feature requires Microsoft Entra ID P1 edition.

If your organization uses the NPS extension to provide MFA to on-premises applications, the source IP address will always appear to be the NPS server that the authentication attempt flows through.

Trusted IP bypass works only from inside the company intranet. If you select the All Federated Users option and a user signs in from outside the company intranet, the user has to authenticate by using multifactor authentication. The process is the same even if the user presents an AD FS claim.

User experience inside the corporate network

When the trusted IPs feature is disabled, multifactor authentication is required for browser flows. App passwords are required for older rich-client applications.

When trusted IPs are used, multifactor authentication isn't required for browser flows. App passwords aren't required for older rich-client applications if the user hasn't created an app password. After an app password is in use, the password is required.

User experience outside the corporate network

Regardless of whether trusted IPs are defined, multifactor authentication is required for browser flows. App passwords are required for older rich-client applications.

Enable named locations by using Conditional Access

You can use Conditional Access rules to define named locations by using the following steps:

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Conditional Access Administrator.
2. Browse to Protection > Conditional Access > Named locations.
3. Select New location.
4. Enter a name for the location.
5. Select Mark as trusted location.
6. Enter the IP range for your environment in CIDR notation. For example, 40.77.182.32/27.
7. Select Create.

Enable the trusted IPs feature by using Conditional Access

To enable trusted IPs by using Conditional Access policies, complete the following steps:

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Conditional Access Administrator.

2. Browse to Protection > Conditional Access > Named locations.

3. Select Configure multifactor authentication trusted IPs.

4. On the Service Settings page, under Trusted IPs, choose one of these options:

   • For requests from federated users originating from my intranet: To choose this option, select the checkbox. All federated users who sign in from the corporate network bypass multifactor authentications by using a claim that's issued by AD FS. Ensure that AD FS has a rule to add the intranet claim to the appropriate traffic. If the rule doesn't exist, create the following rule in AD FS:

     c:[Type== "https://schemas.microsoft.com/ws/2012/01/insidecorporatenetwork"] => issue(claim = c);

     Note

     The Skip multifactor authentication for requests from federated users on my intranet option will affect the Conditional Access evaluation for locations. Any request with the insidecorporatenetwork claim would be treated as coming from a Trusted location if that option is selected.

   • For requests from a specific range of public IPs: To choose this option, enter the IP addresses in the text box, in CIDR notation.

     • For IP addresses that are in the range xxx.xxx.xxx.1 through xxx.xxx.xxx.254, use notation like xxx.xxx.xxx.0/24.
     • For a single IP address, use notation like xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/32.
     • Enter up to 50 IP address ranges. Users who sign in from these IP addresses bypass multifactor authentications.

5. Select Save.

Enable the trusted IPs feature by using service settings

If you don't want to use Conditional Access policies to enable trusted IPs, you can configure the service settings for Microsoft Entra multifactor authentication by using the following steps:

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least an Authentication Policy Administrator.

2. Browse to Protection > Multifactor authentication > Additional cloud-based MFA settings.

3. On the Service settings page, under Trusted IPs, choose one or both of the following options:

   • For requests from federated users on my intranet: To choose this option, select the checkbox. All federated users who sign in from the corporate network bypass multifactor authentication by using a claim that's issued by AD FS. Ensure that AD FS has a rule to add the intranet claim to the appropriate traffic. If the rule doesn't exist, create the following rule in AD FS:

     c:[Type== "https://schemas.microsoft.com/ws/2012/01/insidecorporatenetwork"] => issue(claim = c);

   • For requests from a specified range of IP address subnets: To choose this option, enter the IP addresses in the text box, in CIDR notation.

     • For IP addresses that are in the range xxx.xxx.xxx.1 through xxx.xxx.xxx.254, use notation like xxx.xxx.xxx.0/24.
     • For a single IP address, use notation like xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/32.
     • Enter up to 50 IP address ranges. Users who sign in from these IP addresses bypass multifactor authentications.

4. Select Save.

Verification methods

You can choose the verification methods that are available for your users in the service settings portal. When your users enroll their accounts for Microsoft Entra multifactor authentication, they choose their preferred verification method from the options that you've enabled. Guidance for the user enrollment process is provided in Set up my account for multifactor authentication.

The following verification methods are available:

For more information, see What authentication and verification methods are available in Microsoft Entra ID?.

Enable and disable verification methods

To enable or disable verification methods, complete the following steps:

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least an Authentication Policy Administrator.
2. Browse to Identity > Users > All users.
3. Select Per-user MFA.
4. Under Multifactor authentication at the top of the page, select Service settings.
5. On the Service settings page, under Verification options, select or clear the appropriate checkboxes.
6. Select Save.

Remember multifactor authentication

The remember multifactor authentication feature lets users bypass subsequent verifications for a specified number of days, after they've successfully signed in to a device by using MFA. To enhance usability and minimize the number of times a user has to perform MFA on a given device, select a duration of 90 days or less.

How the feature works

The remember multifactor authentication feature sets a persistent cookie on the browser when a user selects the Don't ask again for X days option at sign-in. The user isn't prompted again for MFA from that browser until the cookie expires. If the user opens a different browser on the same device or clears the cookies, they're prompted again to verify.

The Don't ask again for X days option isn't shown on non-browser applications, regardless of whether the app supports modern authentication. These apps use refresh tokens that provide new access tokens every hour. When a refresh token is validated, Microsoft Entra ID checks that the last multifactor authentication occurred within the specified number of days.

The feature reduces the number of authentications on web apps, which normally prompt every time. The feature can increase the number of authentications for modern authentication clients that normally prompt every 180 days, if a lower duration is configured. It might also increase the number of authentications when combined with Conditional Access policies.

Enable remember multifactor authentication

To enable and configure the option to allow users to remember their MFA status and bypass prompts, complete the following steps:

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least an Authentication Policy Administrator.
2. Browse to Identity > Users > All users.
3. Select Per-user MFA.
4. Under Multifactor authentication at the top of the page, select service settings.
5. On the service settings page, under remember multifactor authentication, select Allow users to remember multifactor authentication on devices they trust.
6. Set the number of days to allow trusted devices to bypass multifactor authentications. For the optimal user experience, extend the duration to 90 or more days.
7. Select Save.

Mark a device as trusted

After you enable the remember multifactor authentication feature, users can mark a device as trusted when they sign in by selecting Don't ask again.

Next steps

To learn more, see What authentication and verification methods are available in Microsoft Entra ID?