Getting error while trying to add a member to Service Group

Question

Getting error while trying to add a member to Service Group

Praveena Vijay 41

I am trying to create a Service Group. While adding members to the Service group, I get the error as The relationship 'defaultDemoSG2' create request is invalid. 'Target id' cannot be the same as source id.

Even when I try to add a resource from different subscription, I get the same error

Thanks, Praveena

VEMULA SRISAI 13,990 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-30T00:31:19.95+00:00

Hello Praveena J,

Thank you for reaching out.

The error: “The relationship 'defaultDemoSG2' create request is invalid. 'Target id' cannot be the same as source id.” occurs because the group you’re trying to add as a member is either the same group or the operation would create a circular relationship. This is enforced by Microsoft Entra ID to prevent self-membership and cycles in nested groups.

Why this happens

A group cannot be added to itself.

Nested groups cannot form circular references.

Only directory objects (users, service principals, devices, or other groups) can be members. Azure resources like subscriptions or VMs cannot be added to Entra groups.

Recommended actions:

Verify the Object ID of the group and the member you’re adding—they must be different.

If adding another group, ensure it doesn’t already include defaultDemoSG2 directly or indirectly.

If your goal is to grant resource access, use Azure RBAC by assigning the group to the resource scope (subscription, resource group, or resource) instead of adding the resource as a member

For more details, please refer to the https://learn.microsoft.com/en-in/graph/api/group-post-members?view=graph-rest-1.0&tabs=http

Kindly let us know if the above comment helps or you need further assistance on this issue.

Please "upvote" if the information helped you. This will help us and others in the community as well.

Your answer

VEMULA SRISAI 13,990 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-30T00:31:19.95+00:00

Hello Praveena J,

Thank you for reaching out.

The error: “The relationship 'defaultDemoSG2' create request is invalid. 'Target id' cannot be the same as source id.” occurs because the group you’re trying to add as a member is either the same group or the operation would create a circular relationship. This is enforced by Microsoft Entra ID to prevent self-membership and cycles in nested groups.

Why this happens

A group cannot be added to itself.

Nested groups cannot form circular references.

Only directory objects (users, service principals, devices, or other groups) can be members. Azure resources like subscriptions or VMs cannot be added to Entra groups.

Recommended actions:

Verify the Object ID of the group and the member you’re adding—they must be different.

If adding another group, ensure it doesn’t already include defaultDemoSG2 directly or indirectly.

If your goal is to grant resource access, use Azure RBAC by assigning the group to the resource scope (subscription, resource group, or resource) instead of adding the resource as a member

For more details, please refer to the https://learn.microsoft.com/en-in/graph/api/group-post-members?view=graph-rest-1.0&tabs=http

Kindly let us know if the above comment helps or you need further assistance on this issue.

Please "upvote" if the information helped you. This will help us and others in the community as well.