Azure AD Change UPN

I have an account ([email protected]) in an Azure Active Directory (non-Hybrid). I want to change the UPN name "admin." to "firstname.lastname".

The field is editable in Azure Portal and altered using the Set-MsolUserPrincipalName cmdlet in the MSOnline PowerShell module. Are they any negative implications to making this change? Loss of access to a resource?

After user rename, some client apps, like Outlook, or third-party applications might temporary loose some functionality or become broken. Simply because apps cache usernames and might not react well on a username change. But nothing that a reset of an app can't fix. Other than that, it is a safe operation, meaning you will not loose any privileges or access rights.

If you really serious about testing the impact, just create another administrative account and test the rename action on it. Or create another admin account to use if something goes wrong. You should always have more than one admin account anyway, which would be used in emergency scenarios, aka "break glass" account

People undergo name changes all the time, and this is no different. Outlook will not break, however the label above the user's folder structure won't update, though this is purely cosmetic. If its important, you can create a new Outlook profile.

Some other comments:

• If this was an admin account, its best to create a new account for regular users. Not only should admins have a dedicated admin account, but once an admin account, always an admin account.
• If you're using OneDrive, note the onedrive url will change, so hard coded references to that will need to be fixed (though sync will not be affected).

Further reading:

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/troubleshoot/user-interface/smtp-address-in-users-profile-not-change
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/upn-changes
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/hybrid/connect/howto-troubleshoot-upn-changes