We’re excited to announce that one of our most-requested features is officially in Public Preview: You can now create Dev Boxes on behalf of your developers. Waiting around to get started is a thing of the past. 

Whether you’re onboarding a new hire, running a hackathon, or setting up for a customer demo, this feature makes it easy for admins to set developers up for success. No “how do I do this?” required. 

✨ Why We Built It 

From Ignite sessions to customer labs to hallway chats, the feedback was clear. You needed a faster, more flexible way to spin up Dev Boxes for your team. 

Here are just a few real-world scenarios we heard: 

• “I’m running a workshop and need 30 Dev Boxes ready to go.” 

• “My new hire starts tomorrow and hasn’t used Azure before.” 

• “The setup delay is slowing down our demos.” 

We built a better way. Now, admins handle the setup, and developers get straight to work with zero friction. 

🔐 Roles, Permissions, and Secure Setup 

With great power comes great permission design. We made sure the Create On-Behalf feature is both quick to use and secure by design. 

🚦 Required Permissions 

To enable this feature, your admin must assign a custom role at the subscription level with the following permissions: 

• Create On-Behalf Permission 

• • Name: Microsoft.DevCenter/projects/users/devboxes/CreateOnBehalf 

• • Display Name (UI): Other : Projects_Users_DevBoxes_CreateOnBehalf 

• Dev Box Approval Permission 

• • Name: Microsoft.DevCenter/projects/users/devboxes/Approve 

• • Display Name (UI): Other : Projects_Users_DevBoxes_Approve 

🔑 Role Assignment 

• Project Admins need the CreateOnBehalf permission to initiate Dev Box creation for others. 

• Managers need the Approve permission to approve Dev Boxes created for their team. 

🔨How to Grant Permissions 

1. Go to the Azure portal. 
2. Navigate to Access Control (IAM) for your subscription. 
3. Create or edit a custom role. 
4. Under Data Actions, add the two permissions listed above. 
5. Save the role and assign it to the appropriate users. 

Once assigned, Project Admins can use the Create On-Behalf API, and Managers can use the Approve API to complete provisioning. 

🧭 Best Practices for On-Behalf Creation 

To make the most of this capability, we recommend the following: 

• ✅ Communicate with developers and managers before creating Dev Boxes on their behalf. 

• 🔒 Audit roles and permissions regularly to ensure only the right people have elevated access. 

• 📊 Monitor usage and align with your team’s Dev Box allocation policies. 

🧪 Try It Out and Share Your Feedback 

The feature is now live via API. We’d love for you to put it to the test. 

Here’s how you can help: 

• 🚀 Try it out with your team 

• 💬 Share your feedback (we want the good, the bad, and the brilliant) 

• 🎯 Help us refine the experience before general availability 

Use the built-in Azure feedback tool or reach out to us directly. We’re listening. 

🙌 Thank You to Our Early Testers 

A huge thank you to everyone who tested early versions of this feature and provided feedback that shaped what you see today. 

We’re excited to see how you use On-Behalf Creation to streamline onboarding, accelerate workshops, and simplify Dev Box setup across your organization. 

Have feedback or want to help shape what’s next? We’re listening. Drop your ideas and let’s improve Dev Box together. 💬 

Interested in trying out Microsoft Dev Box? Start here!