This article addresses the situation where there is a need to edit a deactivated profile attribute for an Okta user with a Deactivated user status without user reactivation being attempted first. By default, if an Okta Admin attempts to edit Deactivated user profiles manually via Okta Admin Console or programmatically via Okta Public API, it will fail with an error:
This operation is not allowed in the user's current status.
The same error is seen in Postman when running the Update User API call:
- Manage Deactivated/Deprovisioned Okta User Profile
- Okta Admin Console
- Okta User API
- User Lifecycle Management
- Allow edit deactivated/deprovisioned user profiles
To resolve this, enable the Allow updates to deactivated users option by navigating to the Okta Admin Console > Directory > People > More actions > Edit Deactivated User Profile Updates.
With the option enabled, when rerunning the Update User POST API call programmatically, it successfully returns 200 OK.
Manual Admin Console User profile (user.middleName in this example) was updated successfully without error.
