We have time to time Error: unable to get MSAL authorization token for resource manager API: failed to get an oauth token from MSI for user assigned identity from MSI endpoint error msi is not available

Question

We have time to time Error: unable to get MSAL authorization token for resource manager API: failed to get an oauth token from MSI for user assigned identity from MSI endpoint error msi is not available

Ozden Akinci 0

Hi,

Time to time we have the following error on our VM attached with managed identity while running terraform commands:

Error: unable to get MSAL authorization token for resource manager API: failed to get an oauth token from MSI for user assigned identity from MSI endpoint "

What is the root cause of the issue?

Thanks for your support and help

Aditya N 3,890 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-17T14:54:07.47+00:00

Hello Ozden Akinci,

Thank you for reaching out Microsoft Q&A. I understand that you're facing issue with managed identity while running terraform commands.

Could you please provide the terraform command which you're using to generate the token?

Can you please confirm whether user-assigned managed identity (UAMI) is attached to the Azure resource?

Can you please confirm while using MSAL, a client ID is being passed to identify which user-assigned identity is supposed to acquire the token?

Thanks,

Aditya
Aditya N 3,890 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-21T07:02:24.21+00:00

Hello Ozden Akinci,

Please could you provide an update on my above response.
Sridevi Machavarapu 33,820 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-03T18:23:01.3533333+00:00

Hello Ozden Akinci,

This error might occur when the VM briefly can’t connect to the Managed Identity service, which prevents Terraform from getting the token. It usually succeeds when tried again.

Please make sure the correct client ID for the user-assigned identity is set in Terraform and enable retries to handle these short interruptions automatically.

Let us know if any further queries - feel free to reach out!

Your answer

Aditya N 3,890 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-17T14:54:07.47+00:00

Hello Ozden Akinci,

Thank you for reaching out Microsoft Q&A. I understand that you're facing issue with managed identity while running terraform commands.

Could you please provide the terraform command which you're using to generate the token?

Can you please confirm whether user-assigned managed identity (UAMI) is attached to the Azure resource?

Can you please confirm while using MSAL, a client ID is being passed to identify which user-assigned identity is supposed to acquire the token?

Thanks,

Aditya
Aditya N 3,890 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-21T07:02:24.21+00:00

Hello Ozden Akinci,

Please could you provide an update on my above response.
Sridevi Machavarapu 33,820 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-03T18:23:01.3533333+00:00

Hello Ozden Akinci,

This error might occur when the VM briefly can’t connect to the Managed Identity service, which prevents Terraform from getting the token. It usually succeeds when tried again.

Please make sure the correct client ID for the user-assigned identity is set in Terraform and enable retries to handle these short interruptions automatically.

Let us know if any further queries - feel free to reach out!