AADSTS90002 tenant not found in directory

Not specified by the original author.

AADSTS90002: Tenant '[tenant-id]' not found

TL;DR

The tenant in your auth request does not exist. Nine times out of ten it is a typo in the tenant ID, a tenant that was deleted, or the subscription ID pasted where the tenant ID should be. Verify the tenant ID in the portal and fix the request.

The error

AADSTS90002: Tenant '[tenant-id]' not found. This may happen if there are no active subscriptions for the tenant. Check with your subscription administrator to provide active subscription for the tenant.

Fix it

1. In the Azure portal go to Microsoft Entra ID, Overview, and copy the Tenant ID exactly. Expected: you have the real tenant ID on your clipboard.
2. Compare it character by character with the tenant in your failing request. Expected: you find the typo or mismatch.
3. If you pasted a subscription ID where the tenant ID belongs, swap it. The subscription ID is not the tenant ID. Expected: the auth request carries the tenant ID.
4. If the tenant was recently deleted or the subscription lapsed, recover the subscription first. Expected: an active subscription backs the tenant again.
5. Retry the auth request with the corrected tenant. Expected: the error is gone.

When to use this

• An agent sees AADSTS90002 during login, token acquisition, or CLI auth.
• A script hardcodes a tenant ID that may have changed.

When NOT to use this

• AADSTS50034 (the user is missing) or AADSTS700016 (the app is missing). The tenant itself is fine in those cases.
• AADSTS50020 (the account is fine, it just is not in this tenant).

Compatibility

• Microsoft Entra ID, Azure CLI, MSAL, any OAuth flow that takes a tenant parameter.

Variant phrasings

• "AADSTS90002" on its own
• "Tenant not found"
• "no active subscriptions for the tenant"

Root cause

The tenant lookup happens before anything else in the auth pipeline. A wrong tenant ID fails fast, and the error message helpfully but confusingly mentions subscriptions, which sends people chasing subscription problems when the tenant ID is simply wrong.

Edge cases

• B2C tenants and work tenants have different ID formats in some flows. Make sure you copied the ID from the right directory.
• Cached tokens or config files can hold a stale tenant ID long after a tenant migration. Search your config for the old value.

The TROUBLESHOOTING.md in okapi-ca/ms-365-admin-mcp-server documents the AADSTS90002 pattern: the tenant specified in the authentication request cannot be found, typically because of a typo in the tenant ID or a deleted tenant, with the fix being to verify the tenant ID in the Azure portal. Microsoft's documented meaning for the code points the same way: check that the tenant exists and has an active subscription.

Not specified by the original author.

TL;DR

application id not found is Microsoft Entra ID error AADSTS700016: the application ID in your auth request does not exist in the tenant the request targets. The app is usually single-tenant and registered in a different directory, or the client ID was copied wrong. Check the app registration and its home tenant in the portal, then make the app multi-tenant or fix the tenant ID in the request, and retry.

AADSTS700016: Application with identifier '[app-id]' was not found in the directory '[directory]'. This can happen if the application has not been installed by the administrator of the tenant or consented to by any user in the tenant.

Use this when

• Sign-in fails with application id not found, or the full text names AADSTS700016
• The failure happens during az login, MSAL, Azure Identity, or an OAuth sign-in flow
• A single-tenant app (for example a Teams bot) works for its home tenant but fails for anyone else

Not for this skill when

• The code is AADSTS50034 (the user account does not exist) or AADSTS90002 (the tenant itself is not found). Different root causes
• The code is AADSTS65001 (admin consent missing). The app exists there, consent is the problem; see the related skill below

Steps

1. Find the app registration. In the Azure portal go to Microsoft Entra ID, then App registrations, and search for the application ID from the error. Read the home tenant on the overview page.

Expected: you find the app and can name its home tenant, or you find nothing at all.

2. Compare tenants. If the app is registered in tenant A but your auth request targets tenant B, that mismatch is the cause: a single-tenant app is not found in any other directory.

Expected: the tenant in your request and the app home tenant are either the same (go to step 4) or different (go to step 3).

3. Fix the mismatch one of two ways. Either switch the auth request to the app home tenant, or, if users from other tenants need to sign in, open Authentication, then Supported account types, and change it to Accounts in any organizational directory, so the app can be consented into other tenants.

Expected: the setting saves, and a fresh sign-in from the other tenant reaches consent instead of the not found error.

4. If the app ID matches nothing anywhere, re-copy it. Copy the Application (client) ID from the app overview page character for character; a directory ID or object ID pasted in its place produces exactly this error.

Expected: the identifier in your config matches the overview page exactly.

5. If the app was created minutes ago, wait and retry. New registrations take a few minutes to propagate across Entra ID.

Expected: the error clears on retry without any config change.

Variant phrasings

aadsts700016

The code on its own is this same failure: the application lookup failed in the targeted tenant. Work steps 1 to 3.

application with identifier was not found in the directory

The long form of the same AADSTS700016 text, without the code in front. Same tenant mismatch fix.

azure application id not found

Usually seen with az login or a service principal sign-in: check that the tenant ID in the command or environment matches the tenant where the app is registered.

the application has not been installed by the administrator of the tenant

That sentence is part of the AADSTS700016 message. It means the app has no service principal in that tenant yet, which follows from the tenant mismatch in step 2, not from a separate install step.

Root cause

Entra ID looks up the app by ID inside the tenant named in the auth request. If the app was never created or consented in that tenant, the lookup fails. The classic trigger is a single-tenant registration used from a different tenant: in the source issue a Teams bot configured single-tenant failed the moment auth came from another directory.

Edge cases

• Personal Microsoft accounts hitting this against a work app: the app must allow personal accounts, or the user needs a guest account in the tenant.
• A deleted and re-created registration keeps a similar name but a new application ID; update the ID everywhere, and re-consent in other tenants because their service principal can go stale.

Tool compatibility

Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD), MSAL libraries, Azure Identity SDKs, and the Azure CLI. Applies to interactive sign-in, device code, and service principal flows.

Related skills

• AADSTS65001: The user or administrator has not consented to use the application: https://vectle.com/skills/skl_hySi8ByIZRqKpNmV4nis8g
• azure identity not found: https://vectle.com/skills/skl_O0wm7fdvw17HY02tjklDMw
• az is not recognized as an internal or external command (fix the CLI before az login can reach Entra at all): https://vectle.com/skills/skl5Pd62kWnOuvbjd39Uy1LQ

Provenance

Built from GitHub issue officedev/microsoft-teams-samples#1741, linked in the evidence.

GitHub issue officedev/microsoft-teams-samples#1741 ("Single Tenant Bot Type not Supported?", closed 2026-03-09, 10 comments): a bot's app registration was single-tenant, so sign-in attempts from another tenant failed with AADSTS700016 because the app was not found in the directory the auth request targeted. Maintainer resolution: configure the app registration as multi-tenant (or register it in each tenant), then re-run auth against the correct tenant. The verbatim error from the issue is "AADSTS700016: Application with identifier ... was not found in the directory", which matches Microsoft's documented meaning for the code: the application has not been installed by the tenant administrator or consented to by any user in the tenant.

Not specified by the original author.

AADSTS50020: User account from identity provider does not exist in tenant

TL;DR

The account is real at its identity provider (say, a personal Microsoft account), but it has no footprint in the tenant the app is asking about. The fix is usually on the tenant side: invite the user as a guest, or point the auth request at the tenant where the account actually lives.

The error

AADSTS50020: User account '[user]' from identity provider '[provider]' does not exist in tenant '[tenant]' and cannot access the application '[app]' in that tenant. The account needs to be added as an external user in the tenant first.

Fix it

1. Confirm which tenant the auth request targets and which identity provider the account belongs to. Expected: you can state both plainly, and they do not match.
2. If the user should access this tenant, add them as a B2B guest: Entra ID, Users, New guest user, send the invite. Expected: the user appears in the tenant's user list.
3. Have the guest redeem the invitation before retrying. Expected: first sign-in completes the redemption and the error goes away.
4. If the app should just work for anyone, change the app registration to multi-tenant and have the user sign in against their home tenant. Expected: no guest account needed.
5. Double-check you are not mixing personal and work accounts. A personal account signing into a work-only app is the most common form of this error. Expected: using the right account type clears it.

When to use this

• An agent sees AADSTS50020 during federated or cross-tenant sign-in.
• A personal Microsoft account tries to use an app registered in a work tenant.

When NOT to use this

• AADSTS50034 (the account does not exist in any directory you checked).
• AADSTS700016 (the app registration itself is missing).

Compatibility

• Microsoft Entra ID, B2B collaboration, multi-tenant apps.

Variant phrasings

• "AADSTS50020" on its own
• "The account needs to be added as an external user in the tenant first"

Root cause

Entra separates "the account exists somewhere" from "the account exists in this tenant". Federated and personal accounts trip this constantly: the identity provider happily authenticates the user, then the tenant says it has never heard of them.

Edge cases

• Guests who changed their home-tenant UPN can end up with a stale guest object. Remove and re-invite.
• Conditional Access policies can block the guest even after the invite is redeemed. Check the sign-in log for the real blocker.

The tenant and subscription troubleshooting guide in microsoft/openclaw-dev (docs/troubleshooting/tenant-subscription-troubleshooting.md) documents the AADSTS50020 pattern: an account that authenticates fine at its identity provider but is rejected because it has no presence in the target tenant, with the fix being a B2B guest invitation or correcting the tenant in the auth request. This aligns with Microsoft's documented meaning of the code: the account needs to be added as an external user in the tenant first.