AZ-104 Study Plan: A 10-Week Roadmap From Free Account to Exam Day

9 min read ยท 2026-10-14

This AZ-104 study plan takes 10 weeks. You work through the five domains of the Microsoft Azure Administrator exam in order, practice each skill in a real Azure subscription, and use the last week for practice tests and your weak spots. It assumes about 8 to 10 hours a week. That fits around a full-time job if you already know the basics the official study guide asks for: operating systems, networking, servers and virtualization.

The exam tests what you can do in Azure, so reading alone will not get you there. Every phase below ends with a lab you build yourself and a milestone you can check. The order follows the current skills outline on Microsoft Learn, published in the AZ-104 study guide. The weightings set the priorities: identity and compute weigh the most, so they get two weeks each. Networking also gets two weeks because it has the most labs, and each one builds on the one before.

The roadmap at a glance

Goal: Pass Exam AZ-104 and earn the Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate certification. Duration: 10 weeks, about 8 to 10 hours per week

  1. Baseline and Lab Setup (Week 1)

    See where you stand and set up a safe place to practice before you study any domain.

    • Take the free Microsoft practice assessment once, without studying first, and write down your score for each domain.
    • Open an Azure subscription for practice and create a budget with an alert on day one.
    • Install Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell, and sign in to both from your own machine.
    • Read the full AZ-104 study guide and copy the five domains and their sub skills into a checklist.

    Milestone: A working subscription with a cost alert, both command line tools connected, and a baseline score saved.

  2. Identities and Governance (Weeks 2-3)

    Cover the domain worth 20 to 25% of the exam: Microsoft Entra ID, role based access and governance.

    • Create users and groups in Microsoft Entra ID, invite an external user and turn on self service password reset (SSPR).
    • Assign built in roles at the management group, subscription and resource group scopes, then explain who can do what.
    • Create an Azure Policy that blocks one region, add a delete lock to a resource group and tag every resource you create.
    • Set up a management group and attach a subscription to it.
    • Review your budget alert and open Azure Advisor to read its cost recommendations.

    Milestone: You can look at any role assignment in the portal and say which scope it comes from and what it allows.

  3. Storage (Week 4)

    Cover the storage domain (15 to 20%): accounts, access and data protection.

    • Create a storage account, change its redundancy setting and turn on encryption options.
    • Generate a SAS token, set up a stored access policy and rotate an access key.
    • Create a blob container and an Azure Files share, then move data with AzCopy and Azure Storage Explorer.
    • Turn on soft delete, versioning and a lifecycle rule that moves old blobs to a cooler tier.

    Milestone: You can recover a deleted blob and explain when to use a SAS token instead of an access key.

  4. Compute (Weeks 5-6)

    Cover the compute domain (20 to 25%): virtual machines, templates, containers and App Service.

    • Deploy a virtual machine, resize it, add a data disk and move it to another resource group.
    • Deploy the same VM from an ARM template, then convert that template to a Bicep file and deploy it again.
    • Create a Virtual Machine Scale Set across availability zones.
    • Push an image to Azure Container Registry and run it in Azure Container Instances and in Azure Container Apps.
    • Create an App Service plan and an App Service, then add a deployment slot and swap it.

    Milestone: You can read an unfamiliar ARM template or Bicep file and say what it deploys before you run it.

  5. Networking (Weeks 7-8)

    Cover the networking domain (15 to 20%). It weighs the same as storage, but it gets two weeks because it has the longest chain of labs. It is also often the hardest part for people new to Azure.

    • Build two virtual networks with subnets, peer them and test that traffic flows both ways.
    • Add network security groups and application security groups, then check effective security rules on a VM.
    • Create a user defined route and connect to a VM through Azure Bastion with no public IP.
    • Set up a service endpoint and a private endpoint for a storage account, and compare how they behave.
    • Put two VMs behind an internal load balancer and set up an Azure DNS zone.

    Milestone: You can draw your lab network from memory and fix a broken connection with Network Watcher.

  6. Monitoring and Backup (Week 9)

    Cover the last domain (10 to 15%): Azure Monitor, Azure Backup and Site Recovery.

    • Send VM and storage logs to a Log Analytics workspace and write simple queries against them.
    • Create an alert rule with an action group and an alert processing rule.
    • Create a Recovery Services vault, back up a VM and restore one file from it.
    • Configure Azure Site Recovery for a VM and run a test failover to another region.

    Milestone: A VM you can back up, restore and fail over, with an alert that emails you when CPU runs high.

  7. Final Review and Exam (Week 10)

    Close your gaps and get used to the exam format.

    • Retake the free practice assessment and compare each domain score with week 1.
    • Spend most of the week on your two weakest domains, using labs rather than notes.
    • Open the exam sandbox to learn the interface before test day.
    • Book the exam and clean up your subscription so nothing keeps running.

    Milestone: Practice scores above your target in every domain, and an exam date on your calendar.

Why This Order and This Timing

Time in this plan depends on two things: how much a domain weighs and how much hands-on work it needs.

Identity comes first because you need roles, resource groups, tags and policies before you can deploy anything cleanly. Storage fits in one week because most of its labs are settings on a single storage account.

Networking weighs the same as storage, so its second week has nothing to do with the weighting. It comes from the amount of work. Peering, routes, Bastion, private endpoints, DNS and load balancers each need their own setup, and a mistake in one breaks the next. Networking also comes late on purpose. By week 7 you have VMs, storage accounts and App Services to connect, so each rule you write changes something you can see.

  • Identities and governance: 20 to 25% of the skills outline, 2 weeks in this plan. Top weight, and every later lab depends on it.
  • Storage: 15 to 20% of the skills outline, 1 week in this plan. Fewer labs, mostly settings on one account.
  • Compute: 20 to 25% of the skills outline, 2 weeks in this plan. Top weight, and many services to deploy.
  • Virtual networking: 15 to 20% of the skills outline, 2 weeks in this plan. Longest chain of labs that build on each other.
  • Monitoring and backup: 10 to 15% of the skills outline, 1 week in this plan. Lowest weight, uses resources you already built.

How to Study Each Week

A simple weekly rhythm fits around a full-time job. Spend the first session reading the Microsoft Learn modules for the week's sub skills. Use the middle sessions to build the lab. Keep the last session to break something on purpose and fix it. That last step matters most, because the skills outline asks you to troubleshoot connectivity and load balancing, not just to remember settings.

Here is a sample week for someone studying 9 hours. Do each lab twice, once in the portal and once from the command line. The study guide lists PowerShell, Azure CLI, the Azure portal and ARM templates or Bicep files as experience a candidate should have, so practice with all four.

  • Monday, 1.5 hours: read the Learn modules for the week and note any terms you do not know.
  • Wednesday, 2 hours: build the lab in the portal.
  • Thursday, 2 hours: rebuild the same lab with Azure CLI or PowerShell.
  • Saturday, 2.5 hours: break the lab (wrong role, blocked port, deleted blob) and fix it.
  • Sunday, 1 hour: tick off your checklist and write three questions you still cannot answer.

Keeping Your Practice Subscription Under Control

The biggest risk in a hands-on plan is a resource you forget to delete. Put every lab in its own resource group named after the week, for example "rg-week5-compute". When the lab is done, delete the whole group in one step.

Your budget alert from week 1 is your safety net. It also counts as study time: the skills outline lists "Manage costs by using alerts, budgets, and Azure Advisor recommendations" under governance.

Shut down or deallocate VMs as soon as you finish a session. Delete Bastion hosts, load balancers and Site Recovery setups as soon as you have tested them, because they stay in place until you remove them. Before each session, take a quick look at your costs in the portal so you see where the money goes.

How to Know You Are Ready

Readiness is about every domain, not just your total score. Before you book, check the three points below.

The study guide states that a score of 700 or greater is required to pass. If one domain is still weak at the end of week 10, move the exam back a week and give that week to the weak domain. One extra week is easier than sitting the exam twice.

  • Your practice assessment score is solid in all five domains, with no single domain far behind the others.
  • You can finish every lab in this roadmap without following a tutorial step by step.
  • You can explain out loud why one option is better than another, for example private endpoint vs service endpoint, or availability zone vs availability set.

After You Pass

Microsoft associate certifications expire every year. According to Microsoft's certification renewal page on Microsoft Learn, you renew for free by passing an online assessment before your certification expires. Here is how it works.

Keep your lab notes and checklist, because they become your renewal study material. The renewal page for your certification also lists free modules to help you prepare.

If you want to go further, the same method works for your next Azure exam: map the domains, build a lab each week, and keep time at the end for review.

  • Connect your certification profile to your Microsoft Learn profile.
  • Open the Certifications section of your Learn profile. When you become eligible, a Renew button appears there, and Microsoft sends you an email.
  • You can take the assessment at any time during a six-month window before expiry. It is open book and shorter than the exam, and you can retake it until you pass.
  • Once you pass, your certification is extended one year from its expiration date.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Studying only from videos and notes; build every lab yourself and rebuild it from the command line.
  • Giving every domain the same amount of time; use the weightings to set priorities and add time where the labs are longest, such as networking.
  • Using an old study guide; check that your checklist matches the current skills outline on Microsoft Learn, and look again before you start.
  • Leaving lab resources running; keep one resource group per week and delete it as soon as the lab is done.
  • Skipping the practice assessment until the last week; take it in week 1 as a baseline and again in week 10.
  • Booking the exam on a fixed date no matter what; book only once every domain looks solid.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to study for AZ-104?

This plan assumes 10 weeks at 8 to 10 hours a week, for someone who already knows the basics of operating systems, networking, servers and virtualization. If you manage Azure at work, you may move faster. If networking and servers are new to you, spend some time on those basics before week 1.

Should I take AZ-900 before AZ-104?

It is not required. AZ-900 is a good start if cloud concepts are new to you, but it only covers the basics. If you already work with servers and networks, you can go straight to AZ-104 and use week 1 of this plan to fill small gaps.

Is AZ-104 hard?

It is an associate level exam built around hands-on admin tasks. Networking is often the hardest part for people new to Azure. The best way to make it easier is to build each lab yourself and practice fixing what you break.

What changed in the AZ-104 skills outline in 2026?

The study guide on Microsoft Learn is the reference. Microsoft updates its exams from time to time, so open it before you start and compare your checklist with the version online.

Do I need to pay for Azure to prepare?

You need an Azure subscription to practice. Check the Azure website for the account options open to you. Deleting resources right after each lab, with one resource group per lab and a budget alert, keeps your spending under control.

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