Copilot won't allow authentication with Microsoft Entra accounts

The IT admins will need to remap the Copilot key for the complete experience

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Remapping the Copilot key within organizations

In the start of 2024, Microsoft celebrated what they called the year of AI PC by adding a physical Copilot key to the keyboard. A lot changed since then. Copilot recently became a native Windows app and pressing the dedicated key on a Copilot+ PC launches it. However, if your PC is managed by an organization and you’re logging in with a Microsoft Entra account, the Copilot key will only launch Microsoft 365.

Now, in a new Windows IT Pro Blog post, Microsoft advises IT managers that they need to remap the key if they want the users to be able to access the Copilot app.

As we’ve previously shared, Copilot in Windows has been removed, and the Microsoft Copilot app is now only available to consumer users authenticating with a Microsoft account. It will not work for commercial users authenticating with a Microsoft Entra account. With this change, IT admins will need to take steps to ensure employees authenticating with a Microsoft Entra account can still access Copilot via the Copilot key.

So, the common scenario for organization managed PC is that when going through an OOBE or setting up a new account using Microsoft Entra, by pressing the Copilot key will open Copilot in the Microsoft 265 app even if you didn’t pay for a Copilot for Microsoft 265 license.

However, Microsoft says that thanks to the fact that Copilot is now dedicated to regular consumers, you will be able to access it by logging in with a Microsoft account. If you log in with an Entra account, the Copilot app will redirect you to the Copilot browser experience which is designed for work and comes with enterprise data protection.

If you’re an IT admin and you want to remap the Copilot key to open the app, you will need to change the Windows client policies through Group Policy or CSP.

Long story short, the Microsoft Copilot app will no longer allow authentication with Microsoft Entra accounts. You can still uninstall or disable Copilot within your organization if you want to. However, if you already remapped the key after the October Windows 11 security update, nothing will change.

What do you think about this change? Let’s talk about it in the comments below.

More about the topics: Copilot+PCs, Microsoft copilot

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