Sometimes, the installation of Azure AD Connect can mess up your project deadlines in mere seconds. In this blogpost, I want to share an error that kept the admins of an organization occupied for quite some time, while it was relatively easy to fix.

The situation

An organization wants to perform an Azure AD Connect swing migration from another Azure AD Connect server.

An admin exports the configuration of the existing Azure AD Connect installations, downloads Azure AD Connect, and runs it on the new Windows Server installation.

On the Welcome to Azure AD Connect page, the admin selects the I agree to the license terms and privacy notice. option and hits the Continue button. On the Express Settings page, the admin clicks Customize.

On the Install required components page, the admin selects the Import synchronization settings option, browses to the previously exported settings and hits the Install button.

The issue

On the Install required components page, the admin clicks Install. Instead of being taken to the User Sign-in page, the admin is confronted with an error message:

An error occurred while importing your synchronization settings. Details: 'AuthorizationManager check failed.'

The cause

This issue is caused by a policy on the system that restricts PowerShell script execution.

At the organization where the error was encountered, a Group Policy object was in place that configured Allow only signed scripts for the Turn on Script Execution policy setting, underneath Windows PowerShell, underneath Windows Components, underneath Administrative Templates.

The solution

To solve this issue, we excluded the new Azure AD Connect server from the scope of the Group Policy that restricted PowerShell script execution.

We then had to update Group Policy settings, uninstall Azure AD Connect and reinstall Azure AD Connect. After these changes, we could import synchronization settings successfully.

Concluding

Secure Windows Server settings sometimes block the usage of Microsoft Identity-solutions. We've learned this with the November 2022 Windows Updates, and we're seeing it again in the above situation…