AZ-802 prerequisites: what you need first
AZ-802 has no prerequisite exam or certification on Microsoft’s exam page or on the certification page for Windows Server Administrator Associate; neither lists one. What the exam page does state is an experience expectation: candidates “should have experience administering Windows Server” with a named set of tools, and should be “familiar with Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS)”. That is the real entry barrier, and it is high for someone who has never run a server.
What Microsoft says
The exam page describes a candidate responsible for “deploying, implementing, managing, and troubleshooting Windows Server as a workload in on-premises, cloud, or hybrid environments”. The tools named for the experience requirement are Windows Admin Center, Hyper-V, PowerShell, Azure Arc, Azure Monitor, Azure Update Manager and Microsoft Defender for Cloud. AD DS is listed separately, as a familiarity requirement.
A note on sources: the separate certification page for the credential still carries older text, written for the retired two-exam version, that mentions several years of experience with Windows Server. The exam page is the current description for AZ-802, and it gives no number of years. I have not seen a published minimum.
The background that helps
Windows Server administration
Roles and features, services, local and domain accounts, event logs, updates and backups. If you have installed Windows Server and managed it for a while, most of the vocabulary is familiar. The AD DS guide is the largest topic on the exam, so start by checking that background.
Active Directory fundamentals
Domains, forests, organizational units, domain controllers, Group Policy, DNS integration and replication. These are not optional: AD DS is the biggest skill area.
PowerShell
Questions use cmdlets, so you should know the verb-noun pattern, piping, and how to find a command with Get-Command and Get-Help. Practise by doing a task once in the console and once in PowerShell.
Networking
IP addressing, subnetting, DNS, DHCP and routing. See the networking guide.
Virtualisation and storage
Hyper-V, virtual switches and checkpoints; disks, volumes, file shares and permissions. See virtual machines and storage and file services.
Azure basics
You do not need Azure administration depth, but you should know what an Azure VM, a resource group and a virtual network are, because hybrid management with Azure Arc and Azure Monitor builds on them.
If you have only used the graphical tools
Many administrators manage servers almost entirely through consoles. That works in the real world, but the exam reads cmdlets, and the hybrid topics, Azure Arc and Azure Update Manager, are rarely met on a purely on-premises team. Do each lab twice: once in Windows Admin Center or the usual consoles, once in PowerShell. A small lab of two virtual machines, one domain controller and one member server, covers most of what the first domains need, and costs little. Add an Azure Arc connection later to see the hybrid side.
What you do not need
| Not needed | Why |
|---|---|
| AZ-800 or AZ-801 | Both retire on 30 September 2026; AZ-802 stands alone |
| AZ-104 or AZ-900 | Not listed by Microsoft |
| Cloud-only experience | The exam is about Windows Server, wherever it runs |
| Programming | PowerShell reading is enough |
| Deep Linux knowledge | Not part of the outline |
Self-check
- Can you promote a server to a domain controller and say what changes?
- What is the difference between a Group Policy Object linked to a site and one linked to an OU?
- Which PowerShell command lists the roles installed on a server?
- How would you create a virtual machine in Hyper-V without the graphical tool?
- What does Azure Arc add to a server that runs outside Azure?
Two or more gaps: build a small lab with a domain controller and a member server before the study plan.
Where it leads
AZ-802 is the single exam for the credential. See AZ-802 versus AZ-800 and AZ-801, the exam format, and how hard AZ-802 is.