MS-900 Describe Microsoft 365 apps and services Practice Question
Your organization uses Microsoft Teams and wants to allow external partners to participate in shared channels without giving them full tenant access. Which identity solution should you configure?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse Microsoft Teams guest access (which creates a guest user in the tenant) with the more restrictive B2B direct connect for shared channels, leading them to select guest access when the question explicitly requires 'without giving them full tenant access.'
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Microsoft Entra External ID
Microsoft Entra External ID (formerly Azure AD External Identities) is the correct solution because it allows external partners to authenticate and access shared Teams channels without granting them full tenant access. Unlike guest access, which creates a B2B collaboration user object in the tenant, External ID enables cross-tenant access policies that limit partner identities to specific resources like shared channels, preserving tenant isolation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Microsoft Teams guest access
Why it's wrong here
Teams guest access is a feature that relies on Microsoft Entra B2B collaboration to add external users as guests in your directory. This provides those users the full Teams experience for all teams they are added to, which is broader than the scope of a single shared channel. In contrast, shared channels via Microsoft Entra External ID's B2B direct connect give more limited, channel-specific access without creating a guest account. Since the requirement is to allow only specific partners for a shared channel, guest access grants more access than necessary and is therefore not the best choice.
- ✓
Microsoft Entra External ID
Why this is correct
Microsoft Entra External ID is the correct service for enabling collaboration with external partners using their own identities, such as another Microsoft Entra tenant or Microsoft account. It offers B2B collaboration for guest users and B2B direct connect for shared channels, allowing controlled access to resources without requiring a guest object in your directory for every partner. This service provides fine-grained conditional access policies and governance for each partner relationship, making it ideal for Teams shared channels and other partner scenarios.
- ✗
Active Directory Federation Services
Why it's wrong here
Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) is an on-premises identity provider used to federate your own organization's directory with Microsoft Entra ID or other systems. It does not manage external partner identities—it only authenticates your existing users against your corporate Active Directory. For enabling external partners to access Microsoft Teams, AD FS is not involved in provisioning or controlling access for external entities; instead, that is handled by Microsoft Entra External ID. Thus, AD FS is not a valid solution for this scenario.
- ✗
Microsoft Entra ID B2C
Why it's wrong here
Microsoft Entra ID B2C is a customer identity and access management (CIAM) service intended for consumer-facing applications, such as retail portals or mobile apps. It supports self-service sign-up, social identity providers, and custom policies, but it is not designed for business-to-business partner collaboration where you already know and trust the partner's corporate identity. For Teams collaboration, you would not use B2C because it cannot integrate with your partner's Microsoft Entra tenant for seamless, controlled access to internal tools. So B2C is inappropriate for external partner access.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Microsoft 365 Alert Policies
Key term
Collaboration
Collaboration in Microsoft 365 refers to the integrated tools and services that enable people to work together in real time, share information, and coordinate tasks from anywhere.
Key term
User
A user is any person, system, or device that interacts with an IT service, resource, or identity system, typically authenticated through credentials and authorized to perform specific actions.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This MS-900 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the MS-900 exam.