Microsoft Defender for Identity

Microsoft Defender for Identity sensor v2.x prerequisites | Microsoft Defender for Identity

4 September 2026Doc update+5 / −2 lines

In brief

The prerequisites page now recommends sensor v3.x for Windows Server 2019 or later and clarifies that CPU, memory, and disk requirements are additional to resources used by the operating system and domain controller services.

What Defender admins need to know

Review deployment planning and capacity calculations; no required change is stated.

Summaries are generated from the documentation change itself.

Documentation change

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Licensing requirements

Deploying Defender for Identity requires one of the following Microsoft 365 licenses:

Prerequisite / Recommendation	Description
Specifications	~~Make sure to install~~The Defender for Identity ~~on Windows version 2016 or higher, on a~~sensor requires the following resources beyond those already used by the operating system and domain controller ~~server with a minimum of:~~services: - two cores - 6 GB of RAM - 6 GB of disk space required, 10 GB recommended, including space for Defender for Identity binaries and logs Defender for Identity supports read-only domain controllers (RODC).
Performance	For optimal performance, set the Power Option of the machine running the Defender for Identity sensor to High Performance.
Network interface configuration	If you're using VMware virtual machines, make sure the virtual machine's NIC configuration has Large Send Offload (LSO) disabled. For more information, see VMware virtual machine sensor issue for more details.
Maintenance window	We recommend scheduling a maintenance window for your domain controllers, as a restart might be required if the installation runs and a restart is already pending, or if .NET Framework needs to be installed. If .NET Framework version 4.7 or later isn't already found on the system, .NET Framework version 4.7 is installed, and might require a restart.

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@ --- title: Microsoft Defender for Identity sensor v2.x prerequisites | Microsoft Defender for Identity description: Learn the prerequisites for installing the Microsoft Defender for Identity sensor v2.x on domain controllers and identity servers.-ms.date: 06/18/2025+ms.date: 06/08/2026 ms.topic: install-set-up-deploy ms.reviewer: rlitinsky ---@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@ The Defender for Identity sensor v2.x has the following requirements. The v2.x s > [!TIP] > For domain controllers running Windows Server 2019 or later, we recommend deploying the [sensor v3.x](deploy-sensor-v3.md) instead. +> [!TIP]+> For servers running Windows Server 2019 or later, we recommend deploying the [Defender for Identity sensor v3.x](deploy-sensor-v3.md) instead.+ ## Licensing requirements  Deploying Defender for Identity requires one of the following Microsoft 365 licenses:@@ -46,7 +49,7 @@ The following table summarizes the server requirements and recommendations for t  | Prerequisite / Recommendation |Description  | |---------|---------|-|Specifications  |  Make sure to install Defender for Identity on Windows version 2016 or higher, on a domain controller server with a minimum of:<br><br>- two cores<br>- 6 GB of RAM<br>- 6 GB of disk space required, 10 GB recommended, including space for Defender for Identity binaries and logs <br><br>Defender for Identity supports read-only domain controllers (RODC).     |+|Specifications  |  The Defender for Identity sensor requires the following resources beyond those already used by the operating system and domain controller services:<br><br>- two cores<br>- 6 GB of RAM<br>- 6 GB of disk space required, 10 GB recommended, including space for Defender for Identity binaries and logs <br><br>Defender for Identity supports read-only domain controllers (RODC).     | |Performance   | For optimal performance, set the **Power Option** of the machine running the Defender for Identity sensor to **High Performance**.        | |Network interface configuration | If you're using VMware virtual machines, make sure the virtual machine's NIC configuration has Large Send Offload (LSO) disabled. For more information, see [VMware virtual machine sensor issue](../troubleshooting-known-issues.md#vmware-virtual-machine-sensor-issue) for more details.| |Maintenance window|   We recommend scheduling a maintenance window for your domain controllers, as a restart might be required if the installation runs and a restart is already pending, or if .NET Framework needs to be installed. <br><br>If .NET Framework version 4.7 or later isn't already found on the system, .NET Framework version 4.7 is installed, and might require a restart.      |