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Microsoft Delays License Management Update for Dynamics 365 F&O with mid-January 2026 rolling start

by Jason Gumpert
Editor, MSDynamicsWorld.com

Microsoft has delayed and reworked plans to enforce new license management rules for Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations applications once again. This week they announced a plan to start license enforcement on January 15, 2026 using a rolling deadline based on each customer’s contract renewal or anniversary date. 

The new license enforcement policy was scheduled to go into effect on November 1, 2025 for all customers and had already moved into a pre-enforcement mode that included emails to administrators and on-screen warnings about the coming enforcement changes. But it appears Microsoft took note of concerns and issues and decided to not only delay the start but to introduce the change on a rolling basis.

In an FAQ document, Microsoft stated: 

Customers with renewal on January 15 will receive notification on December 15, 2025. As a reminder, only users who lack the necessary licenses assigned in Microsoft 365 Admin  Center will receive these notifications. 

Customers with renewals before January 15, 2026 will move to the new validation process on their next contract renewal or anniversary date after the deadline, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft first revealed the new license validation plans in March 2025. Before this week’s announcement, the latest guidance from experts in the field was that email alerts had started going out to administrators on September 1, but users were not getting in-app messages. And while questions remain, this is still the time to take licensing compliance seriously, experts say.

See also: 

According to Microsoft's latest guidance, customers will experience the following “milestone-driven timeline” for renewal:  

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About Jason Gumpert

As the editor of MSDynamicsWorld.com, Jason oversees all editorial content on the site and at our events, as well as providing site management and strategy. He can be reached at jgumpert@msdynamicsworld.com.

Prior to co-founding MSDynamicsWorld.com, Jason was a Principal Software Consultant at Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC), where he implemented solutions, trained customers, managed software development, and spent some time in the pre-sales engineering organization. He has also held consulting positions at CSC Consulting and Monitor Group.

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