About Exam AZ-800: Format, Scoring & the September 2026 Retirement
Key Takeaways
- AZ-800 requires a scaled score of 700 to pass; 700 is a scaled value on a 1000-point range, not 70% of the questions answered correctly.
- Microsoft has announced that AZ-800 and AZ-801 retire on September 30, 2026, at 5:00 PM Central Standard Time, so the exam must be passed before that deadline to count toward certification.
- Exam AZ-802 replaces the two-exam route as Microsoft evolves and renames the existing certification to Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Administrator Associate; current holders need no action.
- Microsoft publishes no official question count and no exam duration for AZ-800, so any prep source quoting an exact figure is unverified.
- Skill area 1 (AD DS in on-premises and cloud environments) carries 30–35% of the exam — more weight than any other area.
About Exam AZ-800
Exam AZ-800: Administering Windows Server Hybrid Core Infrastructure is Microsoft's associate-tier certification exam for administrators who run Windows Server as a workload across on-premises, Azure IaaS, and hybrid environments. It is one of the two exams behind the Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate credential; the companion exam is AZ-801: Configuring Windows Server Hybrid Advanced Services.
Read this section before anything else. It fixes the two things that most often derail AZ-800 preparation: studying against a stale objective list, and not realising the exam has a hard end date.
1. The Retirement Date Changes Your Study Plan
[!IMPORTANT] Microsoft has announced that AZ-800 and AZ-801 retire on September 30, 2026, at 5:00 PM Central Standard Time. You must sit and pass the exam before that deadline for it to count toward the Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification.
The replacement is Exam AZ-802: Administering Windows Server, a single exam that consolidates the scope previously split across AZ-800 and AZ-801. Microsoft says it is evolving—not retiring—the existing certification and renaming it Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Administrator Associate. Current holders need no action; their certification will reflect the new name after AZ-802 goes live.
Practical consequences:
| Your situation | Recommended path |
|---|---|
| You can sit both AZ-800 and AZ-801 before September 30, 2026 | Finish the AZ-800 + AZ-801 route; Microsoft says the certification will reflect the new name after the transition |
| You have already passed AZ-801 only | Sit AZ-800 before the deadline to complete the pairing |
| You are starting from zero late in 2026 | Compare the AZ-802 objective list before committing, since one exam replaces two |
| You already hold the certification | Renew through the free annual Microsoft Learn assessment rather than re-sitting an exam |
AZ-802 also carries the seven-area structure (it adds dedicated Secure Windows Server infrastructure and Monitor and troubleshoot areas), so a large share of what you learn for AZ-800 transfers directly.
2. Skills Measured: The January 21, 2026 Objective Refresh
The English-language version of AZ-800 was updated on January 21, 2026. Localized versions follow roughly eight weeks later. Any study material written against the older objective list is out of date — verify the "Skills measured as of" line on Microsoft's official study guide before trusting a third-party outline.
The current five skill areas and their official weights:
| # | Skill area | Weight | Chapters in this guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deploy and manage Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) in on-premises and cloud environments | 30–35% | 1–4 |
| 2 | Manage Windows Servers and workloads in a hybrid environment | 10–15% | 5–6 |
| 3 | Manage virtual machines and containers | 15–20% | 7–9 |
| 4 | Implement and manage an on-premises and hybrid networking infrastructure | 15–20% | 10–12 |
| 5 | Manage storage and file services | 15–20% | 13–14 |
Skill area 1 is worth roughly a third of the exam on its own — more than any other area — and it is the area most candidates under-prepare because they treat Active Directory as background knowledge rather than tested content. Budget your study time against the weights, not against your comfort level.
Microsoft states the bullets under each skill are illustrative of how a skill is assessed, and that related topics may also appear. It also notes that most questions cover generally available features, though preview features may appear when they are commonly used in the field.
3. Scoring, Format, and What Microsoft Does Not Publish
| Item | Official position |
|---|---|
| Passing score | 700 on a scaled range that tops out at 1000 |
| Is 700 a percentage? | No. It is a scaled score. You cannot infer "70% of questions correct" from it |
| Number of questions | Microsoft does not publish an item count for AZ-800 |
| Exam duration | Microsoft does not publish a duration on the current exam page |
| Item types | Microsoft does not identify AZ-800-specific formats in advance; the exam sandbox demonstrates possible interface patterns only |
| Delivery | Pearson VUE test centre or OnVUE online proctoring |
| Languages | English, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), German, French, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil) |
| Renewal | Free annual online assessment on Microsoft Learn |
Treat any prep site that quotes an exact question count or a precise minute figure as unverified. Microsoft removed those values from role-based exam pages; the trustworthy anchors are the passing score of 700 and the skills-measured list.
Microsoft's exam sandbox demonstrates several possible interface patterns, but Microsoft says those examples do not identify the actual question types or length of AZ-800. Use the sandbox to learn navigation and review controls, not to predict which formats will appear.
4. How to Use This Guide
The 14 chapters that follow are ordered by skill area, and each section maps to one or more official sub-topics. The most productive sequence is:
- Read the chapter, then attempt the section quizzes without looking back. Every quiz explanation states why the correct behaviour is correct, so a wrong answer is more useful than a right guess.
- Build a lab. AZ-800 is heavily command-oriented. An evaluation copy of Windows Server plus an Azure free-tier subscription is enough to practise nearly every PowerShell cmdlet in this guide.
- Take Microsoft's free official Practice Assessment once you have finished the guide. It is written against the same objective list and calibrates your readiness better than any third-party bank.
- Weight your revision. Spend roughly a third of your remaining time on Chapters 1–4 (AD DS and hybrid identity), because that is what the blueprint weights demand.
A candidate reads a third-party AZ-800 prep site stating the exam is '100 minutes with 60 questions and a 70% pass mark.' Which part of that claim is verifiable against Microsoft's official exam documentation?
An administrator holds a passing AZ-801 score and plans to complete the Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification. What is the deadline-driven constraint they must plan around?
Given the official AZ-800 skill-area weights, which area should receive the largest share of a candidate's study time?