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How to Switch Tenants in the Azure Portal with Entra B2B
Question details
The user needs to know how to manually switch between Microsoft Entra tenants in the Azure Portal when utilizing Entra B2B cross-tenant access.
- Product
- Microsoft Azure
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Accessing resources hosted in a different organization's tenant (e.g., switching from xyz.com to abc.com) as a B2B guest user.
- Observed behavior
- Cross-tenant access settings establish trust but do not automatically switch users or grant permissions, requiring the user to execute a manual tenant switch.
Ensure you have successfully signed into the Azure Portal with your primary account credentials, and confirm that the destination tenant has already invited or provisioned your account with the required roles.
Use the Azure Portal Directory Switcher
This is the standard and most straightforward method to toggle between multiple Entra tenants your account has access to.
Even when cross-tenant access and trusts are properly configured, Azure does not redirect you automatically to a guest tenant. You must manually select the destination tenant from your portal settings.
Navigate to portal.azure.com and log in using your primary account credentials (e.g., your xyz.com account).
Click on your profile picture or the 'Directories + subscriptions' icon located in the top-right corner of the global header.
In the portal settings pane that appears, locate the target tenant (Tenant B / abc.com) from your directory list and click the 'Switch' button next to it.
Access the Tenant via Direct URL
Use this method if you want to bypass your default home tenant and log directly into the guest tenant using a specific URL.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why don't cross-tenant access settings automatically grant me permissions?
Cross-tenant access settings in Microsoft Entra B2B only establish the foundational trust between two organizations (e.g., enabling MFA trust). The destination tenant (Tenant B) must still explicitly invite your account and assign you the necessary Azure roles or resource permissions.
How do I find the tenant ID needed for the direct URL method?
If you cannot find it within your own portal settings, you must ask the administrator of the destination tenant to provide you with their tenant ID (a 32-character GUID) or their primary domain name (e.g., contoso.onmicrosoft.com).
Do I need a separate password to log into the guest tenant?
No. The primary advantage of Microsoft Entra B2B is that you authenticate using your home tenant's credentials. Even though you are switching to Tenant B's directory, your login process continues to use your original password.
