Find E5 Users Without Microsoft 365 Copilot Licenses

Microsoft 365 Copilot is a separate add-on SKU that must be explicitly assigned on top of a base license such as Microsoft 365 E5. As organizations roll out Copilot in phases, admins frequently need to answer two questions:

• Who already has E5 but hasn't been provisioned Copilot yet? (rollout planning, waitlist management)
• Are we missing revenue/productivity opportunities by leaving E5 seats without Copilot when budget exists?

This recipe produces a reliable, reproducible list of every user assigned an E5 SKU (SPE_E5 or equivalent) who does not have a Microsoft 365 Copilot SKU (Microsoft_365_Copilot) on their account. It also flags disabled accounts and service accounts so they can be excluded from Copilot assignment planning.

When to run this

• Before each wave of a phased Copilot rollout
• Quarterly license true-up or renewal planning
• After bulk onboarding events to verify add-on license parity
• When Finance requests a gap analysis between base and add-on SKUs

After running this recipe you will have:

• A complete CSV report of every user with an E5 license but no Copilot license, including display name, UPN, account enabled status, department, job title, and the specific E5 SKU assigned
• Summary counts: total E5 users, users with Copilot, users without Copilot
• An inventory of all E5 and Copilot SKUs found in the tenant (part numbers vary: SPE_E5, ENTERPRISEPREMIUM, Microsoft_365_Copilot)
• A sorted, department-grouped list ready to hand to business owners for prioritization
• Clear separation of service/admin accounts (usually no department or job title) from human users

Things to watch out for

• SKU part numbers vary across tenants and regions. Microsoft occasionally ships new E5 variants (e.g., SPE_E5_CALLINGMINUTES, ENTERPRISEPREMIUM_NOPSTNCONF). Always inspect /subscribedSkus output first to confirm which SKUs exist in your tenant.
• Group-based licensing: Users may receive E5 via a license-assignment group rather than direct assignment. Both show up in assignedLicenses, but the remediation path (add/remove) differs.
• Disabled and service accounts will appear in results. Filter these out before using the list for Copilot provisioning to avoid wasting a paid add-on seat.
• Do not bulk-assign Copilot based on this list without business approval — Copilot is a premium paid add-on ($30/user/month list price) and assignment should be driven by rollout plan, not license symmetry.
• Shared mailboxes sometimes carry an E5 license inappropriately. This report will surface that — treat it as a finding for license reclamation.
• Privacy: The CSV contains UPNs, departments, and job titles. Treat it as internal HR-adjacent data and store accordingly.