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This guide walks you through getting your service-provider organization up and running on ContraForce. By the end, you’ll be ready to pre-onboard your first customer.
Who is this for?
  • MSP/MSSP partners setting up your parent tenant before onboarding customers
  • Internal security teams deploying ContraForce for your own organization
This is Part 1 of onboarding. To see how it connects to your customer’s part, read the Onboarding Workspaces overview. If a teammate gets stuck at sign-in, jump to Troubleshooting: Sign-in failed.

Prerequisites

If your tenant has a “Do not allow user consent” policy, the consent must be completed by a Global Administrator. Non-admin users will see a Sign In Failed page. See Troubleshooting: Sign-in failed below.

Step 1: Grant ContraForce Access to Your Tenant

Before anyone in your organization can sign in, a Microsoft Entra admin has to grant ContraForce permission to read security data from your tenant — a Global Administrator, Privileged Role Administrator, Application Administrator, or Cloud Application Administrator. This is a one-time approval.
1

Open the ContraForce sign-up link

Use the link your account team shared with you.
2

Sign in with Microsoft

You’ll be redirected to Microsoft. Sign in with your Global Admin credentials.
3

Review the requested permissions

Microsoft displays a consent screen listing the permissions ContraForce needs. Review the list and click Next. To see what each ContraForce app does and why it asks for these permissions, see Platform Permissions and Consent.
Microsoft consent dialog showing ContraForce Portal permissions

Initial Microsoft consent screen

4

Accept the second consent

Microsoft may ask you to consent a second time: the first prompt covers the ContraForce Portal, and this one covers the ContraForce API. Check Consent on behalf of your organization and click Accept.
Microsoft Permissions requested (2 of 2 apps) screen for ContraForce API with Consent on behalf of your organization checked

Second Microsoft consent: ContraForce API, with Consent on behalf of your organization checked


Step 2: Sign In for the First Time

Once consent is granted, create a workspace for your organization.
Create a Workspace for your organization card with a Start Your Trial Now button

Create a Workspace for your organization card

The platform detects that this is a brand-new tenant and creates your account automatically. You’ll land on the Command page.
Command page with the Get started with ContraForce checklist: Create your account checked and three Start buttons

Command Dashboard on Getting Started


Step 3: The Get Started Checklist

The Get started with ContraForce panel is your home base for setup. It lists the activities your organization still needs to complete. Each unchecked item has a Start button on the right that takes you straight to the relevant page. You can dismiss the panel at any time using the ✕ in the top right; it will also self-hide once every item is complete.

Step 4: Set Up Your Agent Center

Click Start next to Setup agent center. This is where you choose how the ContraForce automation engine runs for your organization.
Agent Center Overview tab with a Welcome to your Agent Center banner, Get Started highlighted, and a What gets deployed list

Agent Center setup page

You can either deploy your agent here or skip it and continue with the other items. If you deploy an agent, the Setup agent center item shows a green checkmark when you return to the Command Dashboard.

Agent Center Deployment Reference

Detailed Agent Center setup, requirements, and configuration options

Step 5: Connect Detection Sources to Your Own Workspace

Click Start next to Connect sources. This jumps you straight to the detection-source picker for your own workspace.
Workspace Modules tab with the Detection Module Connection panel listing Sentinel, Defender XDR, CrowdStrike and SentinelOne

Detection-source picker for your own workspace

Select the security tools your team uses, then follow the prompts to authorize ContraForce to read from each one. Once at least one detection source is connected, the Connect sources item on the checklist will check off.
Connecting Microsoft Sentinel triggers ContraForce to deploy the supporting Azure infrastructure in your subscription automatically. You don’t need a separate Azure deployment step. Provisioning runs in the background after you grant consent.

Step 6: Add a Customer Workspace

Click Start next to Add customer workspaces. You’ll land on the Workspace Center with the Onboarding tab active and the Add workspace rail panel already open on the right.
Add a workspace panel, step 1 of 2, with Workspace name, a verified Tenant ID and Customer admin email filled in

Workspace Center with Add workspace rail open

Fill in the customer details:
Choose modules panel, step 2 of 2, with detection and response module tiles to select and a Send Invite button

Detection and response module pre-selection in the rail

Click Send Invite. ContraForce sends an invite email to the customer admin email you entered, and the new workspace appears as a card in the Onboarding tab with a Pending customer setup badge.
Onboarding tab with a pre-onboarded workspace card and its Setup progress panel, module and agent status, and invite link

New customer workspace card on the Onboarding tab

Repeat this step for every customer you want to manage. To add many customers at once, use Onboarding Workspaces at Scale to import them from a CSV file.
When the customer admin finishes onboarding their workspace, you’ll receive a real-time notification in the portal so you know their workspace is live.

Customer Workspace Onboarding

What your customer sees on their side after they receive the invite email

Troubleshooting: Sign-in Failed

If a teammate sees the Sign In Failed page after trying to log in, it usually means one of three things:
  • The Microsoft admin consent step was skipped
  • A non-admin user tried to sign in before consent was granted
  • A previous sign-in session is stuck
Microsoft Need admin approval page for ContraForce Portal, with a Return to the application without granting consent link

Microsoft Need admin approval page

What to do, in order

1

Click Return to the application without granting consent

This bounces you back to a clean state without applying a half-completed consent.
2

Send the admin consent link to your admin

Copy the admin consent link from the page and forward it to your Global Admin.
ContraForce Sign In Failed page with the Admin Consent Link copy button highlighted and an Email Your Admin button

Admin consent link to forward

3

Have your admin complete the consent flow

Your admin clicks the link, signs in as a Global Administrator, and walks through the Microsoft consent prompts.
Microsoft Permissions requested screen for ContraForce API, listing Azure Resource Manager, profile, RBAC and app reads

Admin consent: first permissions screen

Microsoft Permissions requested (1 of 2 apps) screen for the ContraForce Portal app with a Next button

Admin consent: second permissions screen

Microsoft Permissions requested (2 of 2 apps) screen for the ContraForce API app with an Accept button

Admin consent: third permissions screen

ContraForce Permissions Approved confirmation telling the admin the team can continue setup and the tab can be closed

Admin consent: Permissions Approved card

Wait until your admin reaches the Permissions Approved card before you try again.
4

Try sign-in again

Once consent is approved, you can sign in normally and proceed to create your workspace.
ContraForce Sign In Failed page with the Try Again button highlighted

Sign In Failed page with Try Again highlighted

Create a Workspace for your organization card with a Start Your Trial Now button

Workspace creation continues

If sign-in still fails after your admin has approved consent, submit a support ticket so our team can help.

Next Steps

User & Group Management

Set up groups before onboarding customers

Customer Workspace Onboarding

What your customer sees on their side

Multi-Tenant Features

Manage multiple customers efficiently

Roles & Permissions Reference

Plan role assignments for your team

Workspace Profiles

Set access, modules, and notifications once, then apply them to many workspaces

Shared Teams Channel

Set up a shared Microsoft Teams channel with the ContraForce Success Team

Questions about platform onboarding? Contact us at support@contraforce.com.
Last modified on October 8, 2026