MS-900 Is Retired. Microsoft Has Not Named a Replacement — Here Is What Exists Instead

Microsoft retired the MS-900 exam and the Microsoft 365 Certified: Fundamentals certification on 31 March 2026. Microsoft has not named a replacement for it. The closest current credential is AB-900 — the new Copilot and Agent Administration Fundamentals certification in the Microsoft 365 family. If you already hold the old certification, it stays on your transcript.

What happened to MS-900

The certification page for Microsoft 365 Certified: Fundamentals now opens with a warning box. The text is four words: "This certification is retired."

The date comes from Microsoft's Skills Hub blog. Under the heading "Retirement of select Fundamentals Certifications", the post groups the retired credentials by date. One entry sits under 31 March 2026: the Microsoft 365 Certified: Fundamentals certification, earned through Exam MS-900. Two Dynamics 365 fundamentals certifications, MB-910 and MB-920, had gone three months earlier, on 31 December 2025.

The post is clear about the deadline. Candidates, it said, "won't be able to take these exams after this date". That date has passed, so MS-900 can no longer be booked.

Microsoft's credential retirement page records the same March 2026 date in its list of recently retired certifications.

One detail shows how complete the removal is. MS-900 no longer has an exam page of its own. The old /exams/ms-900/ address now redirects to the certification page, and that page is flagged to stay out of search results.

What Microsoft said, and what it did not say

Most pages covering this story write that AB-900 "replaced" MS-900. That word does not come from Microsoft, so we will be exact about the evidence.

The same blog post that retires MS-900 also previews certifications that were coming. One paragraph describes a new fundamentals certification:

"A new Fundamentals Certification to validate foundational AI skills and equip learners to confidently navigate and manage core Microsoft 365 services—including Copilot and agents—while building their understanding of identity, security, and compliance essentials in Microsoft Entra and Microsoft Purview."

That description fits AB-900 closely. AB-900 is a fundamentals certification. Its name begins with Microsoft 365 Certified. Its published skills cover the same ground: core services, Copilot and agents, plus identity, security and compliance work in Microsoft Entra and Microsoft Purview.

Now look at what the paragraph leaves out. There is no certification name, no exam code, and no form of the word "replace". The string "AB-900" does not appear anywhere in that announcement — you can open the post and search it yourself.

Three more absences point the same way:

• The AB-900 certification page never mentions MS-900.
• Neither does the AB-900 study guide, which is where Microsoft documents exam changes.
• Microsoft's credential retirement page lists the old certification with its date, and nothing else. That page carries retirement dates only — it does not send any retired certification to a successor.

The contrast with an exam Microsoft did formally replace is sharp. The AI-900 exam page states it in one sentence: "The AI-900 exam was retired on June 30, 2026, and has been replaced by AI-901." Microsoft wrote no equivalent sentence anywhere for MS-900.

So, as of 1 August 2026: MS-900 is retired, AB-900 exists, and Microsoft has not formally designated a replacement. We recommend AB-900 to anyone who was aiming at MS-900. That is our recommendation, and we would rather label it as one than dress it up as an official pathway.

What AB-900 is

The short version, because our AB-900 exam guide covers the exam properly.

The full credential name is Microsoft 365 Certified: Copilot and Agent Administration Fundamentals, and the exam code is AB-900. Microsoft sums the credential up in one line: supporting an AI-enabled Microsoft 365 environment, and keeping it secure and protected. The exam runs for 45 minutes, sits at beginner level, and is offered in English only at the moment. The study guide points to the usual passing score of 700.

The skills measured, dated 22 July 2026, split three ways:

• Microsoft 365 core features and objects — 30–35%
• Data protection and governance, covering both Microsoft 365 and Copilot — 35–40%
• Basic administration of Copilot and agents — 25–30%

The admin centres named in the exam's audience profile are the ones an MS-900 candidate was already heading towards: Exchange Online, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Entra and Microsoft Purview. What is new is that roughly two thirds of the exam now sits on protecting data and running Copilot and agents day to day.

You already hold the MS-900 certification

Then you have nothing to do.

Microsoft's announcement answers this directly. If you earned the certification, it stays on the transcript in your Microsoft Learn profile, and fundamentals certifications do not expire. The renewal policy repeats the point in five words: "Fundamentals certifications do not expire."

There is no renewal assessment for it, no expiry date, and no action needed from you. A retired exam means new candidates cannot earn the credential any more. It does not touch credentials already earned.

Whether the certification still carries weight with employers is a separate question, and an honest answer is that it will age. It describes a Microsoft 365 estate without Copilot in it. Nobody can take the credential off your transcript, but it will read as a 2025 qualification soon enough.

Were you studying for MS-900?

Some of your work carries over, and some does not.

The parts that survive are the ones about how Microsoft 365 is organised: users and groups, licence assignment, the admin centres, SharePoint sites and libraries, Teams, and the basics of identity. AB-900 tests those, at a similar depth.

The parts that do not survive are the cloud-concepts material and most of the pricing, licensing and support content that MS-900 covered at length. Those areas either shrank or went. In their place sit two subjects MS-900 never covered: Microsoft Purview data protection and governance, and the administration of Copilot and agents.

If you were part way through MS-900 preparation, keep your notes on the admin centres and identity. Then plan real study time for Purview and Copilot administration. Reading about an admin centre is a poor substitute for opening it. Our AB-900 study plan sets out a schedule, and is AB-900 hard? gives an honest read on the difficulty.

Update log

• 1 August 2026 — First published. Every source above was opened and checked on this date. Microsoft still designates no replacement for MS-900. If that changes, the correction lands here first, and the standing detail moves to our AB-900 exam guide.

---

We built our AB-900 practice exams against the 22 July 2026 skills outline, question by question. Every question traces to an official Microsoft page — no dumps, no recycled MS-900 material, because the two exams do not test the same things. Practice questions do not replace the official study guide. They tell you whether it stuck.