By Anamarija Pogorelec
Publication Date: 2026-11-12 11:04:00
Microsoft Entra’s Hard Deletion Protection, now in preview, gives administrators a seven-day window to recover selected identities before they can be permanently erased.
The feature is designed to help organizations respond to accidental or malicious deletion of critical directory objects. It supports users that are not synchronized from on-premises systems, cloud-only groups, applications, and service principals. Entra Agent ID objects are covered through their underlying identity types.
How the recovery window works
Entra generally retains supported soft-deleted objects for 30 days, during which administrators can restore them. However, permanent deletion can end that recovery opportunity sooner.
Hard Deletion Protection blocks permanent removal during the first seven days after an object is soft deleted. It does not prevent the initial deletion, which makes the object inactive and can disrupt access to dependent services.
After seven days, permanent deletion is…
