We’re just gonna say it: nobody wants to talk about user permissions. It’s not exactly the highlight of your next leadership meeting. But if you’ve ever had to clean up after someone installed “TotallyNotAVirus.exe” with full admin rights, then you already know—endpoint privilege management matters.
Especially if you’re the person everyone calls when someone “just clicked yes and now the printer speaks Russian.”
So, What the Heck Is Endpoint Privilege Management?
Glad you asked! Microsoft Intune’s Endpoint Privilege Management (aka EPM) is part of the Microsoft Intune Suite. It’s designed to let people do their jobs without handing them permanent admin rights and hoping for the best.
With endpoint privilege management with Microsoft Intune, your team runs as a standard user without administrator access. When they hit a wall—like needing to install a tool, run diagnostics, or fix something weird—they can request access for tasks that require elevated privileges. You enable endpoint privilege management once, and the system takes care of the rest: controlled access, logged actions, and no surprises.
Think of it as permission with a seatbelt.
Prerequisites & Licensing
Before configuring EPM, make sure your devices, licenses, and identity environment meet Microsoft’s requirements.
Supported operating systems (64-bit only, including Arm64)
- Windows 11, version 24H2
- Windows 11, version 23H2 — build 22631.2506 or later (KB5031455)
- Windows 11, version 22H2 — build 22621.2215 or later (KB5029351)
- Windows 11, version 21H2 — build 22000.2713 or later (KB5034121)
- Windows 10, version 22H2 — build 19045.3393 or later (KB5030211)
- Windows 10, version 21H2 — build 19044.3393 or later (KB5030211)
Windows 10 reached end of support on October 14, 2025. It’s still an allowed version in Intune, and EPM will technically run on a supported build, but Microsoft no longer guarantees functionality on it—so don’t build your 2026 rollout plan around it.
Virtual platforms: Azure Virtual Desktop (single-session VMs) and Windows 365 are supported. Multi-session AVD is not.
Device Configuration Requirements
- Microsoft Entra joined or Microsoft Entra hybrid joined (Workplace Join doesn’t count)
- Enrolled in Intune, or Configuration Manager co-managed
- Clear line of sight to Microsoft’s EPM endpoints—without SSL inspection. This single item breaks more pilots than any OS build mismatch, so check it early.
Licensing
EPM sits on top of Intune Plan 1—you can’t buy it standalone without Plan 1 underneath it. From there, you have a few paths, covered in detail in the pricing section below: the Intune Suite add-on, the Plan 2 add-on, or a standalone EPM add-on, depending on how Microsoft has your tenant packaged. Licensing structures shifted in 2026, so confirm current SKUs with your Microsoft rep or CSP before you budget.
Role-Based Access
To manage EPM you need an Intune RBAC role with Endpoint Privilege Management permissions. Microsoft ships two purpose-built roles—Endpoint Privilege Manager (full policy authoring plus elevation request handling) and Endpoint Privilege Reader (view-only, including reports). The Endpoint Security Manager and Read Only Operator built-in roles also carry relevant rights if you’d rather not create a custom one.
What Can You Actually Do With It?
Here’s the cheat sheet on how endpoint privilege management works, Intune-style:
- Run with elevated access by right-clicking the app (thanks to the “Run with elevated access” context menu)
- Set rules using file hash, certificate, or path so only the exact approved app gets the green light
- Decide how apps get elevated—automatically, with user confirmation, or via support approval (more on each below)
- Add business justification requirements for sensitive requests
- Define whether elevated files can spawn elevated child processes (you probably don’t want that)
- Everything funnels through the Microsoft Intune Admin Center, where you also manage file elevation requests and track outcomes
You can even go deep and block elevations for specific command-line arguments, or set deny rules for paths like “Program Files\Microsoft EPM” to prevent anything in that directory from ever running elevated.
The enforcement happens on-device through files from the Microsoft EPM agent, a lightweight client that checks everything before giving the green light.
Elevation Types Explained
EPM gives you five distinct elevation behaviors, not three. Picking the right one per app (or per persona) is the difference between a rollout that sticks and one that generates a help desk riot.
- Automatic. EPM elevates the app with zero user input. Fast and invisible, but broad automatic rules widen your attack surface—reserve this for a short list of known-good, low-risk tools (an approved diagnostic utility, a signed internal deployment script).
- User confirmed. The end user right-clicks and selects “Run with elevated access,” optionally re-authenticating or supplying a business justification first. This is the default workhorse for line-of-business apps and installers that need elevation occasionally but aren’t sensitive enough to route through an admin.
- Elevate as current user. The elevated process runs under the signed-in user’s own identity instead of EPM’s isolated virtual account. Use this only when an app breaks under the virtual account model—it preserves user profile paths and settings, but it also widens exposure to user data, so scope it tightly to specific trusted binaries.
- Support approved. The user submits a request; an admin (or helpdesk tier) reviews and approves or denies it before the user can retry. This is the right default for anything you haven’t fully vetted yet, or for shared/kiosk-style devices where “automatic” is too permissive and “user confirmed” doesn’t give you enough oversight.
- Deny. An explicit block. Deny rules always win in a conflict, which makes them the cleanest way to guarantee a known-bad or known-unnecessary file never runs elevated, regardless of what other rules might apply to it.
Decision Matrix
| Situation | Elevation type |
|---|---|
| Known-good internal tool, low risk, high frequency | Automatic |
| Standard installer/app, moderate risk | User confirmed |
| App breaks under isolated elevation | Elevate as current user (scoped tightly) |
| Unvetted app, shared devices, high-sensitivity roles | Support approved |
| Known-bad file or restricted path | Deny |
Microsoft’s own security guidance recommends setting your default elevation response—the behavior for anything with no matching rule—to Require support approval or Deny, not user confirmation. That keeps the door closed by default and opens it only where you’ve explicitly decided to.
Elevation Policies Deep Dive
Two policy types do all the work in EPM, and it’s worth understanding what each one controls before you build anything.
- Elevation settings policy. This is the provisioning policy. It’s what pushes the EPM agent to the device in the first place, sets the default elevation behavior for anything without a matching rule, and turns on the diagnostic reporting that feeds your Elevation report. You typically need one of these per device-targeted persona—think “finance laptops” versus “developer workstations” versus “shared frontline devices.”
- Elevation rules policy. This is where you define which specific binaries can elevate, and how. Rules can be built on file hash (most specific, but breaks on every update), certificate (any app signed by that cert—convenient, but watch out for vendors who sign everything with one certificate), or path/metadata combinations. You can layer in command-line argument restrictions and child-process controls per rule.
- Reusable settings. EPM supports a reusable settings group specifically for storing publisher certificates, so you’re not re-uploading the same cert into every rules policy you build.
Conflict handling worth knowing: Deny always wins. Rules deployed to a user beat rules deployed to a device. A rule with a file hash defined always counts as the most specific match. If everything else ties, the order of precedence is User confirmed → Elevate as current user → Support approved → Automatic.
One security best practice worth calling out explicitly: always specify a file path restriction in your rules, even though it’s technically optional. Pointing a rule at a location standard users can’t write to (a secured system directory, not a user-writable folder) stops someone from swapping in a malicious binary that happens to match your hash or certificate rule.
Step-by-Step: Deploy EPM
Microsoft’s own recommended rollout runs in seven phases:
- License and enable EPM in your tenant. Confirm your subscription covers EPM (see licensing above), then head to Endpoint security → Endpoint Privilege Management in the Intune admin center.
- Create an elevation settings policy and start in audit mode. Enable the EPM client and turn on reporting, but leave your default elevation behavior conservative (Deny or Support approved). This gets the agent onto devices and starts collecting real elevation data without opening the floodgates.
- Identify your personas. Group users by what they need (developers, field technicians, executives, shared kiosk accounts) rather than trying to write one universal policy. This single step is what separates a clean rollout from a support-ticket avalanche.
- Build elevation rules from real data. Let the audit phase run long enough to populate the Elevation report (give it up to 24 hours to start showing data), then create rules for the specific apps each persona elevates. Using file hash, certificate, or path, with the elevation type that fits.
- Assign policies to groups. Target your elevation settings and elevation rules policies at the Entra ID groups that map to your personas, not at “All Devices.”
- Monitor, iterate, and tighten. Watch the Managed elevation report, refine rules as new legitimate scenarios surface, and treat Deny/Support-approved as your steady-state default for anything unrecognized.
- Review standing admin rights. Once EPM is covering the real elevation needs of a persona, use Local Users and Groups policies to pull that persona out of the local Administrators group. This last step is the one orgs skip, and it’s the one that delivers the security benefit. EPM without removing standing admin rights is just a nicer UAC prompt.
If you’re migrating off a third-party PAM tool, Microsoft’s own advice is to resist importing your old rule set wholesale. Start fresh with an audit policy and let Support-approved requests surface what you need.
End-User Experience
This is what your employees see, and it’s worth walking through before you roll anything out, because a confusing prompt is what generates help desk tickets, not the security model itself.
- The trigger: A user tries to run something that needs elevation. If a matching rule exists as User confirmed, they right-click the file or shortcut and choose “Run with elevated access” from the context menu.
- Optional friction, by design: Depending on how the rule is configured, they may be asked to re-authenticate (Windows Authentication) or type a short business justification explaining why they need to run it.
- Support-approved path: If the app falls under a Support-approved rule instead, the user submits the request and sees a pending state. There’s no admin popping up in person; the request routes straight into the admin console.
- The notification: Once an admin approves (or denies) the request, the user gets a notification and can retry the elevation on their device.
- What they never see: A UAC-style admin credential prompt asking for someone else’s password, and (in the default virtual-account mode) no exposure to elevated actions touching their own user profile.
Admin Experience
On the other side of that request is a straightforward queue:
- Elevation requests tab: Pending Support-approved requests land in the Intune admin center under EPM, where an admin (or a delegated helpdesk role) can review the file’s details (hash, publisher, path, requesting user and device) before deciding.
- Approve / deny / revoke: A single click approves or denies. Approved elevations can also be revoked later if something changes.
- Turning a one-off approval into a rule: Instead of approving the same request over and over, admins can generate an elevation rule directly from a report entry or an approved request, closing the loop between “someone asked” and “this is now policy.”
- Reporting dashboard: The Elevation report and Managed elevation report give a rolling view of what’s being elevated, by whom, how often, and under which elevation type. Data can take up to 24 hours to populate after a policy goes live.
- Delegation: Because Endpoint Privilege Management permissions are their own RBAC surface, you can hand elevation-request approval to a tier-2 helpdesk group without giving them broader Intune admin rights.
Reporting & Auditing
EPM’s reporting is built to be the thing you build rules from, not just a dashboard you glance at during an audit.
- Elevation report: Shows every elevation attempt across your fleet, whether it was allowed, denied, or is pending, and which rule (if any) matched.
- Managed elevation report: Narrows the view to elevations EPM facilitated—useful for distinguishing “the system worked as designed” from “someone with standing admin rights ran something elevated the old-fashioned way” (an unmanaged elevation, in Microsoft’s terminology).
- Log Analytics integration: For organizations that centralize logging, EPM data can flow into Log Analytics for longer retention and correlation with other security signals. Very handy if compliance wants elevation history sitting alongside your broader SIEM data rather than siloed in the Intune console.
- Why this matters for audits: Because every elevation is logged with the requesting user, device, file, and outcome, EPM gives you an answer the moment someone asks “who had admin rights on that laptop in March” instead of a shrug.
How Much Is This Gonna Cost Me?
We hear you. Intune endpoint privilege management pricing is simple:
EPM requires Intune Plan 1 as a foundation (roughly $8/user/month, though it’s already included if you’re on Microsoft 365 E3, E5, F1, F3, or Business Premium). On top of that, EPM comes bundled into one of these:
| Option | Approx. cost (add-on to Plan 1) | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Intune Plan 2 | ~$4/user/month | Adds EPM alongside Remote Help, Advanced Endpoint Analytics, and specialty device management (kiosk, AR/VR, shared devices) |
| Standalone EPM add-on | ~$3/user/month | Just EPM, no other Suite capabilities—the right call if EPM is genuinely the only gap you’re filling |
| Full Intune Suite | ~$10/user/month | Everything in Plan 2, plus Enterprise App Management, Microsoft Cloud PKI, and the fuller version of Advanced Analytics |
A few honest caveats: Microsoft has been actively restructuring how these capabilities are packaged in 2026, including folding more Plan 2–level features into certain Microsoft 365 E3/E5 tiers. If you’re already sitting on E5, check whether some of this is already in your entitlement before you buy an add-on you don’t need. There’s also no extra server hardware and no complicated install, just a clean rollout if you’re already using Intune.
And yes, Microsoft Intune Endpoint Privilege Management for FLW (Frontline Workers) is on the roadmap, for organizations managing shared or shift-based devices.
Why Bother? Here’s Why:
1. Zero Trust Isn’t Just for Security Slide Decks
Endpoint privilege management (EPM) helps enforce least privilege access—critical for any Zero Trust architecture. No more users with god-mode access. Even malware hitting a Windows authentication dialog gets nowhere if elevation isn’t allowed.
Pro tip: this works best when paired with strong cybersecurity policies already in place.
2. Insider Risk? Handled.
Not everyone with admin access is a villain—but even good people click bad things. EPM lets you log and audit every elevated action, making it much easier to investigate weird behavior or lock down problematic patterns.
3. Remote Teams Don’t Have Time to Wait
The reality of modern work is hybrid. Whether someone’s in an office or on their couch with a dog in their lap, they still need to complete tasks that require elevated access. Intune EPM makes that possible, securely, wherever they are.
4. Less Help Desk Noise
Once you roll out Microsoft Intune endpoint privilege, users stop calling IT support for every little thing. They get approved apps, elevation when needed, and you get fewer tickets asking how to install the printer driver. Everybody wins.
How Does It Stack Up?
Compared to BeyondTrust or CyberArk, Intune endpoint privilege mgmt isn’t trying to be everything to everyone. It’s designed to fit beautifully into Microsoft-centric orgs who want control without installing yet another portal or agent.
EPM vs. BeyondTrust vs. CyberArk: Full Comparison
| Criteria | Intune EPM | BeyondTrust PMfW | CyberArk EPM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deployment model | Cloud-native (Intune) | On-prem + cloud | On-prem + SaaS |
| OS coverage | Windows only | Windows, Mac, Linux | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Agent required | No (Intune-managed) | Yes (standalone agent) | Yes (standalone agent) |
| Elevation methods | Automatic, user-confirmed, support-approved | Auto, on-demand, helpdesk | Auto, on-demand, JIT |
| Application rules | File hash, certificate, path | File hash, cert, publisher, path, cmdline | File hash, cert, publisher, path |
| Credential handling | No credential exposure (virtual account) | Credential vault integration | Full credential rotation |
| Audit & reporting | Intune reporting + Log Analytics | Dedicated analytics console | Full SIEM integration |
| Mac/Linux support | None | Full | Full |
| Cost (approx.) | $3–$10/user/mo (add-on) | ~$30–70/user/yr (negotiated) | ~$40–80/user/yr (negotiated) |
| Best for | Microsoft-first shops, SMB–mid market | Enterprise, multi-OS, compliance-heavy | Enterprise, PAM-integrated, zero-trust |
If you’re already using Intune, the setup is fast, and it slots into your existing workflow—no extra console, no extra tools. If you’re running a mixed Mac/Linux/Windows fleet or need vault-grade credential rotation and full SIEM depth, BeyondTrust or CyberArk still have the edge; that’s the trade-off you’re making for Intune EPM’s simplicity.
Also worth noting: this fits right into your broader desktop and laptop management best practices strategy.
Why Work With a Partner?
Look, configuring endpoint privilege management well isn’t rocket science—but it is time-consuming. Someone needs to:
- Map out who needs what
- Tune rules that won’t backfire
- Train people so they don’t rage-click the wrong thing
This is where a consulting partner (👋 hi!) saves you from death by rollout chaos. At StrikeWorks, we help you manage elevation requests, build smart policies, and keep it all humming post-rollout. Whether you’re piloting Microsoft Intune endpoint privilege management or managing thousands of endpoints at scale—we’re in your corner with managed IT support that’s built around your needs.
TL;DR — Should You Care?
If you care about security, productivity, and not getting roasted in the next audit report: yes.
If you’re juggling IT projects and can’t afford to babysit permission settings all day: definitely yes.
And if you’re ready to turn admin chaos into structured sanity—without making users miserable—let’s talk about how we can make that happen for your team.
FAQs
Does using EPM slow down the performance of the user's computer?
No, EPM is designed to be invisible to the system's speed. Unlike traditional antivirus software that constantly scans files, EPM only "wakes up" when a user tries to run a specific file that requires higher permissions. It checks the rules you’ve set in the cloud and either allows or denies the action instantly. Because it doesn't run heavy processes in the background, your employees won't notice any lag or battery drain.
Can I use EPM for my employees who use Mac computers?
Currently, Microsoft Intune Endpoint Privilege Management is built specifically for Windows 10 and 11. If your company uses a mix of Windows and Mac, you will need to look at different tools for your Apple users. For Windows fleets, however, it is the most integrated way to handle permissions because it lives directly inside the Windows operating system without needing extra third-party software.
What happens if a user needs to run an app while they are offline?
This is a common concern for travelers. EPM is smart enough to handle "offline" scenarios. Once a computer syncs with Intune, it downloads and stores the elevation rules locally on the hard drive. This means:
A user can still run approved apps with high privileges while on an airplane.
Rules stay active even if the Wi-Fi signal is lost.
The "Elevation Report" (the record of what they did) will be saved and sent to the IT team the next time the computer connects to the internet.
How does EPM help my company meet Cybersecurity Insurance requirements?
Most insurance companies now demand that businesses follow the "Principle of Least Privilege" to lower their premiums. EPM helps you meet these strict requirements by allowing you to:
Remove Local Admin Rights: You can finally take away admin powers from every employee without breaking their workflow.
Audit Every Action: It creates a digital paper trail showing exactly who ran what software and when.
Reduce Ransomware Risk: Since users aren't permanent admins, most malware won't have the permissions it needs to lock down the entire computer.
What are the different ways a user can "ask" for permission through EPM?
Depending on how strict you want to be, you can set up different "Elevation Settings" for different groups of people. You can choose from these options:
Automatic: The app just runs normally with high power, and the user never sees a pop-up.
User Confirmed: The user must click "Yes" and perhaps provide a reason why they need to run the app before it starts.
Support Approved: The user must wait for an IT person to look at the request and click "Approve" from their own dashboard.
Windows Hello: You can require the user to scan their fingerprint or face to prove it is really them before the app opens.
Does EPM work on macOS or Linux?
No. Intune EPM is Windows-only (64-bit, including Arm64). There's currently no public roadmap item for macOS or Linux support, so:
- If you're Windows-only, EPM fits cleanly
- If you're mixed-OS, plan on a separate PAM tool for non-Windows endpoints
- Don't wait on EPM to solve cross-platform privilege management
Can EPM replace BeyondTrust or CyberArk?
For Windows-only, Microsoft-centric shops—often yes. For mixed-OS enterprises or teams needing credential vaulting, full SIEM integration, or JIT access across platforms, probably not yet:
- EPM covers elevation control well
- It doesn't do credential rotation or vaulting
- It won't manage Mac or Linux endpoints
What happens if a user elevates a malicious app?
Elevation isn't a free pass around your other defenses. Microsoft Defender, deny rules, and file-hash/certificate matching still apply, and EPM's virtual-account model limits how far an elevated process can reach into the user's own data—but nothing replaces a tight, audited rule set and a conservative default (Deny or Support approved).
Do users need local admin rights for EPM to work?
No—that's the entire point. Users run as standard, non-admin accounts:
- EPM elevates specific approved actions per request
- Standing admin rights aren't required for day-to-day elevation
- Removing local admin (via Local Users and Groups policy) is the actual security win, not just deploying the agent
Can I use EPM with Conditional Access?
Yes. Because EPM requires Entra-joined or hybrid-joined, Intune-enrolled devices, elevation activity sits inside the same device-trust and compliance signals your Conditional Access policies already evaluate—so it complements CA rather than operating separately from it.
What's the difference between EPM and Windows LAPS?
They solve different problems:
- LAPS randomizes and rotates the password on a local admin account that still exists
- EPM removes the need for a standing local admin account at all, elevating specific tasks instead
- Many orgs run both: LAPS as a break-glass safety net, EPM as the day-to-day elevation model