Users will use their domain-based credentials to sign in to the AD DS domain. You might ask why you need to synchronize these identities. The answer is so that users will have a single identity that they can use to access their on-premises apps and cloud services that use Azure AD such as Windows 10 Enterprise E3 or E5. This means that users can use their existing credentials to sign in to Azure AD and access the cloud services that you provide and manage for them.
Azure AD Connect is a service that you can install on-premises or in a virtual machine in Azure. If you are implementing Azure AD, and you already have an on-premises domain, you don't need to integrate with Azure AD, since your main authentication method is your internal AD. If you want to manage all your infrastructure in the cloud, you can safely configure your domain controller remotely to integrate your computers with Azure AD, but you won't be able to apply fine controls using GPO.
Azure AD is best suited for the global administration of devices when you don't have any on-premises servers. Customers who are federated with Azure Active Directory are also eligible. For more information, see Review requirements on devices , later in this topic. Upon acquisition of Windows 10 subscription has been completed Windows 10 Business, E3 or E5 , customers will receive an email that will provide guidance on how to use Windows as an online service:.
When you have the required Azure AD subscription, group-based licensing is the preferred method to assign Enterprise E3 or E5 licenses to users. A per-user PowerShell scripted method of assigning licenses is available.
Organizations can use synchronized AD groups to automatically assign licenses. Now that your subscription has been established and Windows 10 Enterprise E3 or E5 licenses have been assigned to users, the users are ready to upgrade their devices running Windows 10 Pro, version or later to Windows 10 Enterprise.
What will the users experience? How will they upgrade their devices? Users can join a Windows 10 Pro device to Azure AD the first time they start the device during setup , or they can join a device that they already use running Windows 10 Pro, version During the initial setup, on the Who owns this PC?
To join a device to Azure AD when the device already has Windows 10 Pro, version installed and set up. If your device is running Windows 10, version or later, this step is not needed. From Windows 10, version , the device will automatically activate Windows 10 Enterprise using the firmware-embedded activation key.
Figure 7a - Windows 10 Pro activation in Settings. Windows 10 Pro activation is required before Enterprise E3 or E5 can be enabled Windows 10, versions and only. Once the device is joined to your Azure AD subscription, the user will sign in by using his or her Azure AD account, as illustrated in Figure 8.
The Windows 10 Enterprise E3 or E5 license associated with the user will enable Windows 10 Enterprise edition capabilities on the device.
If there are any problems with the Windows 10 Enterprise E3 or E5 license or the activation of the license, the Activation panel will display the appropriate error message or status. You can use this information to help you diagnose the licensing and activation process.
Subscriptions to Windows 10 Enterprise are also available for virtualized clients. Active Directory-joined and Azure Active Directory-joined clients are supported. In some instances, users may experience problems with the Windows 10 Enterprise E3 or E5 subscription.
The most common problems that users may experience are as follows:. The existing Windows 10 Pro, version or operating system is not activated. This problem does not apply to Windows 10, version or later. Thanks for your feedback. Choose where you want to search below Search Search the Community. Search the community and support articles Windows Windows 10 Search Community member.
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