Microsoft 365 Copilot Readiness Report Shows Unknown Users: Fix

When you run the Microsoft 365 Copilot Readiness Report in the Microsoft 365 admin center, the report may list some users as Unknown instead of showing their display name, department, or license status. This typically happens when the Microsoft Entra ID user object has missing or incomplete directory attributes, such as the UserPrincipalName or DisplayName fields being empty or deleted. This article explains why the Copilot Readiness Report shows Unknown users and provides a step-by-step method to fix the underlying directory data so the report populates correctly.

Why the Copilot Readiness Report Shows Unknown Users

The Microsoft 365 Copilot Readiness Report pulls user data from Microsoft Entra ID the directory service that stores user objects, group memberships, and license assignments. When a user appears as Unknown, it means the report cannot resolve the user object to a valid display name or user principal name. The root cause is almost always one of the following:

Deleted or Empty DisplayName Attribute

If a user object in Entra ID has a blank DisplayName field, the report cannot generate a readable label. This can happen when a user was created via directory synchronization from on-premises Active Directory and the sync process failed to populate the DisplayName, or if an admin deleted the attribute manually.

Missing or Invalid UserPrincipalName

The UserPrincipalName UPN is the primary identifier for the report. If the UPN is missing, duplicated, or contains special characters not recognized by the readiness tool, the user object may fail to resolve and appear as Unknown. This is common in hybrid environments where the on-premises UPN does not match the cloud UPN.

Stale or Orphaned User Objects

User objects that were soft-deleted or are still in a pending deletion state can cause the report to show Unknown. These objects exist in the directory but lack the required attributes for the report to process them correctly.

Steps to Fix Unknown Users in the Copilot Readiness Report

Follow these steps in order to identify and correct the user directory data that causes the Unknown label. You need Global Reader or User Administrator permissions in Microsoft Entra ID to complete these steps.

1. Identify the Affected Users in the Readiness Report
   Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center at admin.microsoft.com. Go to Health > Copilot > Readiness report. Look for rows where the User column shows Unknown. Note the date and time the report was last generated. Write down the total number of affected users.
2. Export the Report to CSV for Detailed Analysis
   On the Readiness report page, click Export and choose Export all data. Save the CSV file to your local machine. Open the CSV in Excel or a text editor. The Unknown users will have a blank or missing value in the User Principal Name column. This confirms the directory attribute issue.
3. Check the User Object in Microsoft Entra ID
   Open the Microsoft Entra admin center at entra.microsoft.com. Go to Identity > Users > All users. Search for the user ID or object ID from the CSV. Click the user name to open the profile. Under the Properties tab, verify the UserPrincipalName and DisplayName fields are populated. If either field is blank, proceed to the next step.
4. Restore Missing Attributes Using Microsoft Entra ID
   On the user profile page, click Edit properties. Enter a valid display name in the Display name field. Ensure the User principal name matches the format username@domain.com and does not contain spaces or special characters except the @ sign and period. Click Save. Repeat for each affected user.
5. Bulk-Check Attributes Using Microsoft Graph PowerShell
   Open Windows PowerShell as an administrator. Run Install-Module Microsoft.Graph -Scope CurrentUser if you have not installed the module. Run Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "User.Read.All" and sign in with your admin account. Run the following command to list all users with blank DisplayName or UPN:
   Get-MgUser -All | Where-Object { [string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($_.DisplayName) -or [string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($_.UserPrincipalName) } | Select-Object Id, UserPrincipalName, DisplayName
   The output shows the object IDs of users with missing attributes. Use the object ID to locate the user in Entra ID and fill in the missing data.
6. Refresh the Copilot Readiness Report
   Return to the Microsoft 365 admin center. Go to Health > Copilot > Readiness report. Click Refresh to request a new report generation. The report can take up to 24 hours to update because the readiness data is cached. Check back the next day to confirm the Unknown users are replaced with the correct display names.

If the Copilot Readiness Report Still Shows Unknown Users

If the Unknown users persist after you have restored the directory attributes, check for these additional issues.

Copilot Readiness Report Shows Unknown Users After License Assignment

A user might have a valid Copilot license assigned but still appear as Unknown in the readiness report if the license has not propagated to the directory. Go to Microsoft 365 admin center > Billing > Licenses. Select the Copilot license product. Under the Assigned licenses tab, verify the user is listed. If the user is listed but still Unknown, remove the license assignment and re-assign it after one hour. The report should update within 24 hours.

Copilot Readiness Report Shows Unknown Users for Guest Users

Guest users who have been invited to the tenant but have not accepted the invitation may appear as Unknown. The readiness report only resolves users who have completed the invitation process. Go to Microsoft Entra admin center > Identity > Users > All users. Filter by User type: Guest. For each guest user listed as Unknown in the report, check the Invitation state column. If it shows PendingAcceptance, resend the invitation. After the guest accepts, the report will show their display name.

Copilot Readiness Report Shows Unknown Users for Synced Users

In hybrid environments where users are synced from on-premises Active Directory using Microsoft Entra Connect, the Unknown label can occur if the sync process has not run recently or if the on-premises attribute mapping is incorrect. Check the last sync time in Microsoft Entra admin center > Identity > Hybrid management > Microsoft Entra Connect. If the sync is stale, trigger a delta sync from the on-premises server using the command Start-ADSyncSyncCycle -PolicyType Delta. Verify that the on-premises DisplayName and UserPrincipalName attributes are mapped to the correct cloud attributes. The default mapping for DisplayName is displayName and for UPN is userPrincipalName.

Item	On-Premises Active Directory	Microsoft Entra ID Cloud
Attribute name for display name	displayName	DisplayName
Attribute name for user principal name	userPrincipalName	UserPrincipalName
Sync direction	On-premises to cloud	Cloud receives from on-premises
Common cause of Unknown users	Blank displayName or UPN in on-premises AD	Stale sync or mapping mismatch
Fix method	Populate the attributes in Active Directory Users and Computers	Run a delta sync or correct attribute mapping in Entra Connect

Now you can identify and correct the directory attributes that cause the Copilot Readiness Report to show Unknown users. Start by exporting the report to CSV and checking the UserPrincipalName and DisplayName fields in Microsoft Entra ID. If the issue is related to synced users, verify the on-premises Active Directory attributes and trigger a delta sync. For persistent Unknown labels, remove and re-assign the Copilot license. Use the Microsoft Graph PowerShell command Get-MgUser with the Where-Object filter to bulk-scan for empty attributes across your entire tenant.