How to Convert an Okta User to the Federated Provider Type

Jan 27, 2026

Lifecycle Management

Administration

Okta Classic Engine

Okta Identity Engine

Overview

This article describes how to edit and to Convert an Okta user to the Federated Provider Type.

Applies To

Solution

To convert a user to a federated user, use the Reset Password API, passing the FEDERATION as the provider parameter.

Request example:

POST /api/v1/users/<USER_ID>/lifecycle/reset_password?provider=FEDERATION&sendEmail=false

Output example:

Output example

After that, the user shows as FEDERATED. This can be reviewed using the GET user information API Call.

Federated User

NOTE:

This API may fail if the conversion occurs for an existing account that was previously converted (for example, from ACTIVE_DIRECTORY to OKTA), resulting in an HTTP 400 error and a message similar to the following:

Cannot convert user from OKTA to FEDERATION credential provider

In such a circumstance, please open a case with Okta Support referencing this article.

To convert a federated User back to an Okta user, use the default API call, for example:
```
POST /api/v1/users/<USER_ID>/lifecycle/reset_password?sendEmail=true
```

Related References