AZ-104 renewal and retake rules

The Azure Administrator Associate credential you earn by passing AZ-104 is valid for one year from the day you complete all requirements, and you renew it for free by passing an unproctored online assessment on Microsoft Learn during the six months before it expires. If you fail the exam itself, you can retake it after 24 hours, then after 14 days between later attempts, with a cap of five tries in twelve months. Miss the renewal deadline and the credential cannot be renewed any more: you sit AZ-104 again. Careers context is on the career page; the exam mechanics are in exam format.

The year-long clock

Microsoft’s credential expiration policy says role-based credentials, meaning associate and expert, are valid for one year counted from the date you complete all requirements. The certification page for Azure Administrator Associate shows the same thing as a “Renewal Frequency” of 12 months.

Two consequences are easy to miss:

• The clock starts at the pass, not at the end of the calendar year or when you receive the badge.
• Fundamentals certifications such as AZ-900 never expire, so people who move from AZ-900 to AZ-104 often find that the first renewal is a new habit.

How the six-month window works

You cannot renew early. The assessment only becomes available six months before the expiry date, and Microsoft states that expiration dates and times are in UTC. Do not plan to finish on the last evening in your own time zone.

When the window opens, the Renew button appears on the certification in your Microsoft Learn profile, and Microsoft sends a reminder email if your profile has an email address and you agreed to its communication terms. The renewal page also offers free learning modules that cover recent changes.

Passing does not reset the clock to today. Microsoft says the certification is extended one year from the existing expiration date, so taking the assessment in month seven instead of month twelve costs you nothing. Passing is also reflected on your Learn profile immediately.

Alternatives that do not count

The FAQ is blunt: you cannot renew by passing a beta exam or by retaking the exam before expiry. The only route is the renewal assessment, and Microsoft says there are no exceptions. Re-sitting AZ-104 early would therefore cost a fee and still leave the old expiry date in place.

If you miss the date

After expiry you can no longer renew that certification. You must earn it again by passing the required exam, which for this credential is AZ-104 alone. That is the moment the retake rule below applies in its simplest form: Microsoft also says you cannot retake an exam you have passed unless your certification has expired, so an expired credential is what reopens the exam to you.

Retakes of the exam itself

Microsoft’s retake policy for role-based, specialty and fundamentals exams, as published on its support page, reads as follows:

If you fail five times, you can try again twelve months after the date of your first attempt. A retake costs the exam fee again, if a fee applies where you live; AZ-104 is priced by country or region at booking, so quote a figure only from the booking screen.

A waiting period can be waived only when you had an internet connectivity problem or equipment failure during the exam and Pearson VUE opened a case. The request to Microsoft training and certification support must include the case number. Microsoft says no other reason qualifies.

Microsoft publishes the retake policy for exams in general rather than for AZ-104 specifically, so these numbers are the same as for the other role-based exams. Nothing published for AZ-104 changes them. Unlike the exam, the renewal assessment has its own much looser rules, as the table above shows. The site-wide exam-day guide covers the practicalities, and certification costs lists what other vendors do differently.

Version changes and retirement

The skills outline for AZ-104 was last updated on April 17, 2026, and Microsoft’s page carries no retirement notice for the exam. Microsoft says renewal assessments follow the same update cadence as the exams, so the content tested at renewal shifts as the product does. The exam changes page tracks outline updates across exams.

If Microsoft ever retires a renewable certification, the FAQ says renewal reminders for it are suppressed, and the renewal window may be shortened depending on your anniversary date. A retirement date that falls before your expiry date means you are told to renew before the retirement. Microsoft has not announced this for AZ-104.

How it interacts with AZ-305 and AZ-400

Microsoft requires the Azure Administrator Associate credential for the Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305). The DevOps Engineer Expert (AZ-400) page lists it as one of its two accepted prerequisites. What happens if AZ-104 lapses is covered by a specific FAQ answer: an expert-level certification does not automatically expire when its associate prerequisite expires, and each certification is renewed separately by passing its own assessment.

Microsoft’s pages do not say whether the prerequisite must still be active on the day you pass the expert exam, so confirm in your Learn profile before booking if your AZ-104 is close to expiry. The cheap way to avoid the question is to renew AZ-104 first. The Azure administrator and architect path shows the order.

Sources checked

• Azure Administrator Associate certification page
• Renewal FAQ
• Exam retake policy