Managing Guest User Lifecycle in Microsoft Entra

Guest users play a crucial role in modern organizations, enabling external collaboration while maintaining security and governance. However, managing their lifecycle effectively is essential to prevent unnecessary access and security risks. Microsoft Entra offers tools to govern guest users efficiently, ensuring that access is managed, reviewed, and eventually revoked when no longer needed.

In this blog post, we’ll explore:

• The different lifecycle states of guest users
• How to manage guest users in the Microsoft Entra admin center
• How to automate guest user lifecycle management programmatically

Understanding Guest User Lifecycle in Microsoft Entra

Microsoft Entra provides three states to classify guest users based on how their access is managed:

• Governed – These guest users have a clearly defined lifecycle. They will be disabled or deleted after a set period once their last access package assignment expires.
• Ungoverned – These guests are not actively managed and remain in the tenant indefinitely, even after their access package assignment expires.
• Blank – This applies to guest users who received access packages before lifecycle management features were introduced. Their status is undefined.

When a guest user is marked as Governed, entitlement management ensures that their access is automatically revoked after a specified number of days, reducing security risks associated with inactive accounts.

Managing Guest Users in Microsoft Entra Admin Center

Admins can control guest user lifecycles directly from the Microsoft Entra admin center by following these steps:

Step 1: Sign in to Microsoft Entra Admin Center

Log in as an Identity Governance Administrator or another role with the necessary permissions (Catalog owner, Access package manager, or Access package assignment manager) here https://enelm.cmd.ms/

Step 2: Navigate to Entitlement Management

• Go to Identity Governance > Entitlement Management > Access Packages.
• Select the access package that includes the guest users whose lifecycle you want to manage.

Tip! You can also add user from Cross-tenant access Connected org directly from here

But for now, let’s add an Existing Guest user

Step 3: Mark Guest Users as Governed

• In the Assignments section, find the guest user.
• Click Mark guest as governed in the top menu.
• Only users who requested access for themselves (not those assigned manually) can be changed.
• Click Save to confirm.

Once the user is added it will be in Delivering mode for couple of seconds

Once a guest user is governed, their account will be disabled or removed according to the tenant-wide entitlement management settings.

Automating Guest User Lifecycle Management with Microsoft Graph

For organizations that need to manage guest users at scale, Microsoft Graph provides a way to automate the process.

Admins can use the accessPackageSubject resource type in Microsoft Graph to programmatically:

• Identify guest users
• Modify their lifecycle status
• Automate access revocation based on entitlement management policies

For more details, refer to Microsoft’s accessPackageSubject documentation.

Why Guest User Governance Matters

Without proper lifecycle management, guest accounts can become security risks if left in the tenant indefinitely. Converting ungoverned users to Governed ensures:
✅ Automatic removal or deactivation when access is no longer needed
✅ Reduced administrative overhead by automating user offboarding
✅ Stronger security posture by minimizing unnecessary external accounts

By leveraging Microsoft Entra Entitlement Management, organizations can efficiently manage guest access while maintaining compliance and security.

Next Steps

🔹 Review your existing guest users – Identify ungoverned users who no longer need access.
🔹 Implement governance policies – Ensure that entitlement management settings align with your organization’s security requirements.
🔹 Automate where possible – Use Microsoft Graph to streamline guest user lifecycle management.

Want to learn more? Check out Microsoft’s official documentation on managing external access.

By taking proactive steps, you can maintain secure and efficient guest user management in your Microsoft Entra environment. 🚀