How to Automate Temporary Access Expiry for Admin Accounts in Microsoft 365

Managing admin accounts requires a careful balance between security and user experience. For instance, Azure temporary admin access is sometimes only suited in certain segments or workflows, where admin privileges may not always prove necessary. To follow through on this setup, check out this comprehensive guide below.

Methods for automating temporary access in Microsoft 365

Use the table to choose and quickly navigate to your preferred activation steps.

📌 Prerequisites:

• Microsoft Entra ID P2 (required for PIM)
• PowerShell 7+ with Microsoft.Graph or AzureAD module
• Admin permissions to assign directory roles
• [Optional] GPO or registry tagging for local status logging
• [Optional] NinjaOne RMM for script deployment, registry scanning, or alerting

👉 Reminder: Some steps may vary depending on system defaults or active settings.

💡 Tip: Check out the Things to look out for section for tips on managing potential risks.

Method 1: Use Microsoft Entra Privileged Identity Management (PIM)

This method is ideal for organizations with Entra ID P2/PIM looking to grant temporary access with automated expiry.

1. Here’s the script for assigning an eligible role instead of an active role:

Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "RoleManagement.ReadWrite.Directory","Directory.ReadWrite.All"

2. Then, here’s how to pull the eligible user ID and role ID:

$user = Get-MgUser -UserPrincipalName "[email protected]"

$role = Get-MgDirectoryRole | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -eq "Global

Administrator"}

3. If the user is inactive:

New-MgRoleManagementDirectoryRoleEligibilityScheduleRequest `

-PrincipalId $user.Id `

-RoleDefinitionId $role.Id `

-DirectoryScopeId "/" `

-Action "AdminAssign" `

-ScheduleInfo @{startDateTime = (Get-Date); expiration =

@{type="AfterDuration"; duration="PT2H"}}

This step ensures the user receives access for only 2 hours, and it expires automatically.

Method 2: Automate role activation and expiry via PowerShell Script

PowerShell scripts are flexible and can be used via an RMM for one-click deployment or automation. Here’s the corresponding script:

Start-MgRoleManagementDirectoryRoleAssignmentScheduleRequest `

-Action "SelfActivate" `

-PrincipalId $user.Id `

-RoleDefinitionId $role.Id `

-DirectoryScopeId "/" `

-ScheduleInfo @{

startDateTime = (Get-Date);

expiration = @{

type = "AfterDuration";

duration = "PT1H"

}

}

An activation request will be submitted against the existing eligibility, which then triggers PIM to enforce a time-boxed assignment for eligible users. This script also terminates the elevated access after a set duration.

Tips for logging and auditing temporary admin requests

The following actions can help with the enforcement and logging of temporary elevated privileges.

Store admin access status in the registry

You can track the associated registry keys via PowerShell to verify if the deployment was successful. Run the following script with administrative privileges:

New-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Org\AdminAccessAudit" -Force

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Org\AdminAccessAudit" -Name

"LastAdminGranted" -Value (Get-Date).ToString("u")

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Org\AdminAccessAudit" -Name

"ExpiresAt" -Value ((Get-Date).AddHours(1)).ToString("u")

💡 Tip: Additionally, you can also check registry values by using reg query HKLM\SOFTWARE\Org\AdminAccessAudit on an elevated Command Prompt.

Monitor or revoke active admin access via script

For immediate enforcement, you can use PowerShell to enumerate active assignments and remove them after a set access period:

$assignments =

Get-MgRoleManagementDirectoryRoleAssignmentScheduleInstance

foreach ($a in $assignments) {

if ($a.StartDateTime -lt (Get-Date).AddHours(-1)) {

Remove-MgRoleManagementDirectoryRoleAssignmentScheduleInstance

-RoleAssignmentScheduleInstanceId $a.Id

}

}

This script can be scheduled via Task Scheduler or automated through a NinjaOne policy.

Use Group Policy for event logging and enforcement

While Group Policy is unable to directly automate temporary access expiry, you can utilize it instead for audit logging and detection of access requests and changes.

Here are some ways it can complement PIM:

• Enable detailed logon/logoff, privilege use, and security group management auditing.
• Deploy a Scheduled Task that runs your revocation or monitoring script on a cadence.
• Fire scripts on event IDs (e.g., local admin group change) for immediate remediation or logging.

In addition, you can limit interactive logon to standard users and manage local Administrators group membership via GPO/Restricted Groups.

⚠️ Things to look out for when automating Intune profile assignments

Below are common risks, their possible consequences, and some practical ways to reverse or prevent issues.

As always with access policies, it’s recommended to test and validate configurations in a controlled environment or segment. The length of temporary access also deserves careful consideration, since some workflows may require longer or shorter access expiry durations.

Use NinjaOne to enhance temporary access policies

Access policies are crucial to IT and business operations, which is why automation is valuable for creating efficient workflows, minimizing delay, and securing auditable trails for risk management and compliance. NinjaOne helps accomplish these and unlock capabilities to:

• Deploy scripts to initiate or revoke temporary role access
• Read registry keys to validate admin access to Windows
• Trigger alerts when devices have overdue admin privileges
• Log events related to privilege elevation for audit reviews
• Tag endpoints for admin exposure risk or escalation policy coverage

With NinjaOne RMM®, MSPs can enforce zero-standing access policies with greater efficiency and consistency, especially for scaling environments, through automation, visibility, and control.

Best practices for automating profile assignment in Intune

Credential management requires a layered approach to thoroughly balance security and flexibility across stakeholders. On one hand, elevated access can be important to various IT and production workflows. On the other, privilege can be misused or abused in the absence of strict implementation and control policies. With these in mind, temporary access provides a reliable safeguard for supporting critical tasks and minimizing risks .

Related topics:

• Microsoft Azure Pros & Cons: Active Directory
• What is Credential Management? Definition & Best Practices