Failed to retrieve account authentication token - SSMS

Chun Hanssen 110

I was trying to connect my Azure account in SSMS but was faced with the following error. Any ideas on how to mitigate this?

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1 answer

Amira Bedhiafi 40,726 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2025-11-10T18:26:36.36+00:00

Hello Chun !

Thank you for posting on Microsoft Learn Q&A.

SSMS tried to reuse a cached token, but your tenant/CA policy now requires an interactive MFA sign in so token retrieval fails.

In SSMS, go to file then account Settings then sign out (or in object explorer, disconnect).

Reconnect and in the connect to server window set authentication = Azure Active Directory – Universal with MFA and complete the MFA prompt.

If the WAM prompt never shows or still fails, switch off WAM in SSMS
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Chun Hanssen 110 Reputation points

2025-11-11T09:39:48.5766667+00:00

Thanks for the info. Do you have further information on how this can be done?

"Reconnect and in the connect to server window set authentication = Azure Active Directory – Universal with MFA and complete the MFA prompt."

Kalyani Kondavaradala 3,540 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-11T14:26:30.0166667+00:00

Hi Chun Hanssen,

You need to select the Microsoft Entra MFA option while connecting to the Server in

SSMS. If you still getting same issue please try restarting the SSMS tool and make sure you are using updated SSMS version

MFA and Authentication Issue: If your Azure account uses Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), be sure you're employing the latest SSMS that supports Active Directory Universal Authentication

Clear Token Cache: SSMS caches Microsoft Entra ID tokens, which might cause issues if recent permission changes have occurred. You can clear the cache by going to Help > Clear Entra ID Token Cache in SSMS.

Let us know if you still facing the issue, we are here to help you.

Thanks!
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