How can I get the Azure DevOps Demo Generator to work?

Question

Hi! The training https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/manage-delivery-plans/4-set-up-environment on MSLearn unfortunately features an instruction which is dependent on this template: https://azuredevopsdemogenerator.azurewebsites.net/?x-ms-routing-name=self&name=deliveryplans - however it seems that this template does not do anything. I have logged in, given access and tried to fill in the form in various orders. It keeps saying it succeeded, and even gives a button to navigate to the resulting Azure DevOps Project, however the project is not created and the url 404's.

This question is related to the following Learning Module

Answer 1

I have found the answer, apparently by default, new organizations do not allow third-party applications to access via OAuth, despite the authentication succeeding and the demo generator giving a succes message. Perhaps a warning or help text stating this could be added to the demo generator and/or the MS learn pages 😊

I fixed it by toggling "On" this setting in Organization settings > Policies:

Answer 2

Hi Thijmen,
Since the Microsoft Q&A community has a policy that the question author cannot accept their own answer. They can only accept answers by others, Summarized and posted the solution that you shared, request you to Accept the answer, it will benefit the community find the answers quickly.

Resolution:

The Azure DevOps Demo Generator requires the "Third-party application access via OAuth" setting to be enabled in your organization's Policies. This is not enabled by default. By default, new organizations do not allow third-party applications to access via OAuth, even though the authentication may succeed and the demo generator may show a success message. This is because it's considered a security best practice to restrict access to sensitive data and resources.

To enable the setting, follow these steps:

1. Go to your Azure DevOps organization settings.
2. Click on Policies.
3. In the Application connection policies section, toggle the Third-party application access via OAuth setting to On.

This will allow the Azure DevOps Demo Generator to access your organization and create the demo project.

Solution shared by Thijmen