How to Assign Microsoft 365 User Licenses

• Microsoft 365 licenses must be assigned to users before they can use the services.
• The M365 admin center is the primary portal for issuing licenses, since group assignment was removed from the Entra and Azure portals.
• Although group assignments are highly scalable, administrators should understand the ramifications of using them.

Microsoft 365 (M365) services and software, including Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, require that each user is assigned a User Subscription License (User SL). The User SL grants access to the hosted services or installed software when users sign in with their Entra ID credentials. Although admins can assign User SLs individually or by group through the M365 admin center, advanced or complex licensing requirements can be addressed programmatically with PowerShell and the Microsoft Graph API. Administrators should also be aware that some licensed services, like Purview, also require consumption-based billing for capabilities like managing non-Microsoft AI services.