Portal Walkthrough: Control 1.1 - Restrict Agent Publishing by Authorization

Last Updated: April 2026 Portal: Power Platform Admin Center, Microsoft Entra Admin Center, M365 Admin Center, Copilot Studio Estimated Time: 30-60 minutes

Prerequisites & Licensing

This walkthrough requires:

Power Platform Admin or (preferred) AI Administrator role assigned
Access to PPAC, Entra, M365 Admin Center, Copilot Studio
Security groups already created in Entra ID
Managed Environments licensed (required for Step 4 sharing limits)
Copilot Studio licensed at the tenant or per-user
Microsoft Entra ID P1 for any dynamic group membership
For sovereign tenants (GCC / GCC-High / DoD), all portal URLs differ — consult Microsoft sovereign-cloud documentation; this walkthrough uses commercial URLs

See the parent Control 1.1 Prerequisites & Licensing block for the full list.

Propagation timing

Most settings below are not retroactive and take up to ~1 hour to enforce against existing agents and active sessions. Authentication changes (Step 6) take effect only after each agent is re-published. Do not interpret a delayed enforcement window as a broken control.

Step-by-Step Configuration

Step 0 (Recommended): Establish Release Gates and Separation of Duties

Use environment separation to enforce authorization as a technical control (not just policy):

Create at least DEV/UAT/PROD environments (all in US regions).
Assign roles so that:
Makers can create/edit only in DEV (and optionally UAT).
Publishers/Release Managers (small group) can publish to production channels in PROD.
Compliance approvers cannot publish; they approve via workflow/tickets.
Enforce "no direct publish to PROD" by ensuring unauthorized users do not have maker/admin rights in PROD.

This release-gate model is what makes "restrict publishing by authorization" auditable.

Step 1: Create Security Groups for Authorized Makers

Sign in to the Microsoft Entra Admin Center (https://entra.microsoft.com)
Navigate to Identity > Groups > All groups
Select New group
Configure the group:
Group type: Security
Group name: FSI-Agent-Makers-Team or FSI-Agent-Makers-Enterprise
Group description: Authorized makers for team/enterprise agent development
Membership type: Assigned (for strict control) or Dynamic (for automation)
Add authorized users as members
Select Create

Create additional security groups to support segregation of duties and release gates:

FSI-Agent-Publishers-Prod (small, named individuals only)
FSI-Agent-Approvers-Compliance (approvers only; no maker rights required)
FSI-Agent-Admins-Platform (Power Platform/Dataverse admins)

Step 2: Configure Environment Security Roles

Sign in to the Power Platform Admin Center (https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com)
Navigate to Manage > Environments
Select the target environment
Select Settings > Users + permissions > Security roles
Review and configure roles:
Environment Maker: Can create apps and flows (assign to authorized makers only)
Basic User: Can run apps but not create (for end users)
Dataverse System Admin: Full control (limit to admins only)
Remove Environment Maker role from unauthorized users

Recommended minimum assignments by environment:

Environment	FSI-Agent-Makers-*	FSI-Agent-Publishers-Prod	FSI-Agent-Admins-Platform	All Other Users
DEV	Environment Maker	-	Dataverse System Admin	-
UAT	(optional) Environment Maker	-	Dataverse System Admin	-
PROD	-	Environment Maker	Dataverse System Admin	Basic User only

Step 3: Restrict Copilot Studio Authoring (Two Layers)

There are two enforcement layers for who can author / edit Copilot Studio agents. Configure both; they apply to different scopes.

Layer A — Tenant-wide author gate (Power Platform Admin Center)

Sign in to Power Platform Admin Center
Navigate to Manage > Tenant settings
Locate Copilot Studio authors (may appear as "preview" depending on tenant rollout)
Set to Specific security groups, then add FSI-Agent-Makers-* (and FSI-Agent-Publishers-Prod for PROD-eligible authors)
Save

Caveat (Microsoft-documented): Users who already hold a Copilot Studio license at the time this setting is enforced retain authoring access until their license is removed. Pair this control with a license-cleanup pass for any user not in the approved groups.

Layer B — Per-environment Dataverse Security Roles

Copilot Studio agents in Dataverse-backed environments require Dataverse security roles, not the legacy "Environment Maker" PowerShell role assignment:

PPAC > Manage > Environments > select environment
Settings > Users + permissions > Security roles
Locate and assign the following Dataverse roles to your security groups:
Environment Maker (Dataverse role) — for agent creation
Copilot Author (or the equivalent Dataverse role enabling Copilot Studio authoring in your environment — name has shifted across releases; verify in your tenant)
Remove these roles from any "Everyone in tenant" / "All users" group assignment
Save

Why both layers? Layer A is the tenant-wide gate that controls who Microsoft will let into Copilot Studio at all. Layer B is the per-environment Dataverse permission needed to do anything once they are in. Either alone leaves a gap.

Future direction: Microsoft is consolidating these into the Copilot hub in PPAC (left nav > Copilot > Settings, per MC1162460). Verify the current state in your tenant before relying on the legacy paths.

Important: The agent sharing limits below are different from the canvas-app sharing limits historically configured under "Limit sharing". Make sure you are configuring the agent rules — the canvas-app rules will not restrict Copilot Studio agent sharing.

PPAC > Manage > Environments > select environment > ... > Enable Managed Environments (if not already)
Open the environment > Settings > Product > Sharing limits (verify exact label in your tenant — the Microsoft Learn page is managed-environment-sharing-limits)
Configure the agent sharing rules for governance level:

Setting	Recommended (Team)	Regulated (Enterprise)
Let people grant Editor permissions when agents are shared	Restricted to specific groups	Off for non-author users
Let people grant Viewer permissions when agents are shared	Restricted to specific groups	Restricted to named groups
Only share with individuals (no security groups)	On for non-Publishers groups	On
Limit number of viewers who can access each agent	Optional cap (e.g., 200)	On with strict cap

Save

Propagation: Settings are not retroactive to existing agent shares and take up to ~1 hour to enforce against new sharing actions. Verify with a test share from a non-author account after the wait window.

Step 5: Implement Approval Workflow (Team/Enterprise)

For collaborative and enterprise-managed environments, implement a formal approval process:

Create Approval SharePoint List:
Columns: Agent Name, Creator, Environment, Governance Tier, Approval Status, Approver, Date
Configure permissions for Compliance team review
Create Power Automate Approval Flow (optional automation):
Trigger: When agent is ready for production
Action: Send approval to designated approvers
Outcome: Update registry and notify creator
Document Approval Requirements:
Team collaboration: Manager + Compliance acknowledgment
Enterprise managed: Governance Committee + Legal review + Change Advisory Board

Release Gates (evidence-grade):

Gate	Purpose	Artifacts
Gate A	Design & Data Review	Agent purpose, data classification, connectors list
Gate B	Security Review	DLP/connector policy confirmation, least-privilege review
Gate C	Testing/UAT	Functional testing evidence, user acceptance sign-off
Gate D	Production Publish	Approval record + change ticket ID

Configuration by Governance Level

Setting	Baseline (Personal)	Recommended (Team)	Regulated (Enterprise)
Security groups	Optional	Required	Required + approval
Environment Maker role	Default access	Restricted to group	Restricted + logged
Copilot Studio access	All users	Authorized groups	Authorized + reviewed
Sharing restrictions	None	Exclude sharing to groups	No sharing allowed
Approval workflow	None	Manager approval	Governance committee
Publishing audit	Basic	Enhanced	Complete with retention

Microsoft 365 Integrated Surfaces

If your organization exposes Copilot Studio agents through Microsoft 365 integrated surfaces (Microsoft Teams or Microsoft 365 publish targets):

Only allow publishing to broad channels from the PROD environment.
Restrict PROD maker/publishing rights to FSI-Agent-Publishers-Prod.
If Teams distribution is used, ensure only designated administrators can manage org-wide availability.
Require a change ticket/approval record for any publish that makes an agent broadly discoverable.

Evidence expectation: An auditor should be able to trace a publish event in audit logs back to an approved change record and to a user's membership in FSI-Agent-Publishers-Prod at the time of publish.

Agent and Tenant Configuration

Step 6: Configure Agent-Level Authentication (Copilot Studio)

For each Copilot Studio agent, configure authentication settings to prevent unauthorized or anonymous interactions:

Open Copilot Studio (https://copilotstudio.microsoft.com)
Navigate to Agents and select the target agent
Go to Settings (right side of the agent header) > Security
Configure authentication:
Change authentication from "No Authentication" to "Authenticate with Microsoft" (recommended for internal agents) or "Authenticate Manually" (for OAuth-based scenarios)
If using "Authenticate Manually," enable "Require users to sign in" to prevent anonymous interactions
For "Authenticate with Microsoft," users are already authenticated through Teams and Microsoft 365
Select Save
Re-publish the agent. Authentication setting changes take effect only after the next publish of each affected agent (per Microsoft Learn). Until then, existing sessions continue under the prior authentication mode.

Repeat for every agent in Zone 2 and Zone 3 environments.

Automated Detection: Unrestricted Agent Sharing Detector

For continuous automated detection of agents with overly permissive sharing configurations, deploy the Unrestricted Agent Sharing Detector (UASD). UASD scans all agents for organization-wide sharing, public internet links, unapproved groups, excessive individual shares, and cross-tenant access — with automated remediation and exception management.

In Copilot Studio, select the target agent
Select the three dots (…) > Share to review who can chat with or collaborate on the agent
Verify the agent is not shared with:
"Anyone" (public access)
"Any (multi-tenant)" (cross-tenant access)
Restrict sharing to:
Copilot Readers (for limited general access to low-risk agents)
Specific Security Groups (for restricted access based on role)
Enforce broader sharing restrictions through Managed Environment sharing rules in Power Platform Admin Center
Document exceptions for any agents intentionally shared broadly (requires risk acceptance)

Step 8: Control Generative-AI Agent Publishing (Tenant Level)

Sign in to Power Platform Admin Center
Navigate to Manage > Tenant settings
Locate the AI / generative-AI publishing setting (label has changed across releases — recent rollouts surface this as "AI features", "Generative AI features", or "Copilot AI features for makers"; verify the current label in your tenant)
Set to Off (or restrict to specific environments) until governance review confirms AI-feature controls are in place
Save

Document any exception in writing with a dated approval; revisit at the next governance cadence.

Step 9: Block Unapproved Agents (M365 Admin Center)

The current GA flow is instance-scoped, not agent-scoped — you must drill into a specific instance to block:

Sign in to M365 Admin Center
Copilot > Agents & connectors > Agents (label may also appear as "Agents" alone)
Select All agents
Click into the unapproved agent to open its Overview
Open Instance availability > See details
Select the specific instance (e.g., a tenant-wide deployment, a Teams channel, a SharePoint site)
Select Block for that instance
Repeat for each instance where the agent is exposed
Document the block decision (date, who authorized, reason) and notify the agent owner

Important: Selecting "Block" at the agent level without drilling into instances will not have the expected effect in the current UI. Block must be set at the instance level for each surface.

Validation

After completing these steps, verify:

Back to Control 1.1 | PowerShell Setup | Verification Testing | Troubleshooting

Updated: April 2026 | Version: v1.4.0 | Classification: Portal Walkthrough