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How to restore a deleted user in Microsoft 365

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How to restore a deleted user in Microsoft 365

How to restore a deleted user in Microsoft 365 within the 30-day window: admin center and Graph routes, UPN conflicts, what comes back, and after 30 days.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/how-to-restore-a-deleted-user-in-microsoft-365

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How long do I have to restore a deleted Microsoft 365 user?

30 days from deletion. During that window the user sits in Deleted users with the mailbox, OneDrive, licences, group memberships, and most properties intact. After 30 days the object is permanently deleted and cannot be…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/how-to-restore-a-deleted-user-in-microsoft-365

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Why does the restore fail with a proxy address or UPN conflict?

Because a new object — often a re-created user with the same name, or a shared mailbox given the old address — now holds the UPN or an SMTP address the deleted user needs back. Rename or remove the address on the confli…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/how-to-restore-a-deleted-user-in-microsoft-365

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What if the user was synced from on-premises Active Directory?

Restore the on-premises AD object first (AD Recycle Bin, or re-create in the same OU with the same source anchor), then let Entra Connect sync it; Entra matches it to the soft-deleted cloud object and restores it. Resto…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/how-to-restore-a-deleted-user-in-microsoft-365

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Step 1: Find the user

Microsoft 365 admin center → Users → Deleted users, or Entra admin center → Users → Deleted users. Both show the same soft-deleted objects.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/how-to-restore-a-deleted-user-in-microsoft-365

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Step 2: Resolve conflicts

If someone re-created the user or reassigned the address, the restore will fail with a conflict. Either remove the address from the new object (Set-Mailbox new@contoso.com -EmailAddresses @{remove="smtp:j.smith@contoso.…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/how-to-restore-a-deleted-user-in-microsoft-365

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Step 3: Restore

Admin center: select the user → Restore user → choose to keep the UPN or, if there is a conflict, assign a new one → confirm. Or:

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Step 4: Hybrid: restore on-premises first

Restore the AD object (Restore-ADObject -Identity <objectGUID>), confirm it lands in a synced OU with the original ms-DS-ConsistencyGuid / objectGUID, then force a sync: Start-ADSyncSyncCycle -PolicyType Delta. Entra ma…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/how-to-restore-a-deleted-user-in-microsoft-365

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