Can we add machines with individual logins to a Power Automate Machine Group

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Posted on 26 Feb 2024 00:48:34 by csajal

Hi,

We have a requirement where we are re-platforming an automation to Power Automate and the existing automation uses are large number of individual robot VDIs each with it's own login, because the automation deals with applications which need SSO. In order to convert to Power Automate As-Is, we would need to create individual Cloud Flows to connect to the individual Desktop Flows with the individual VDIs using their own Credentials. Is there a way we can create a Machine Group of these VDIs, so that we can use just one Cloud Flow to call the Machine Group and the Machine Group manages the individual machine login? We can write a custom code to achieve this, but we want to avoid this and use any out of the box solution approach and recommendation.

Warm Regards,

Sajal

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Answers (1)

csajal 26 on 23 Apr 2025 at 19:46:33

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Can we add machines with individual logins to a Power Automate Machine Group

Hi @IshaS161,

Thanks for suggesting the feature. My biggest gripe with the Power Platform for RPA feature set is that, even the basic features have taken and are still taking so long for release. It's like the entire product team is clueless about how Enterprise Automations are envisaged, designed and delivered. Features like these should have been part of the first release, because it's that basic. UiPath had these features since it's inception (my company was the first Enterprise customer of UiPath worldwide and then I joined UiPath and was part of multiple products and deliveries). Microsoft should have been 7 years ahead of UiPath, but it's still 7 years behind.

Hoping to see things change quickly for Power Platform.
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IshaS161 28 on 23 Apr 2025 at 10:26:01

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Can we add machines with individual logins to a Power Automate Machine Group

Good that you were able to find a solution @csajal.

Others checking out this thread can also review a new feature called 'Machine Mapping' (currently in preview; GA: June 2025) to see if it can help. Using Machine Mapping, you can define for each machine which user account must be used to sign in for a machine group with multiple machines. The credential mapping will not be managed by the machine group, rather by this feature.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/desktop-flows/create-machine-mapping
csajal 26 on 22 Apr 2025 at 19:49:38

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Can we add machines with individual logins to a Power Automate Machine Group

Hi @ColonelNivlag,

So, we ended up creating our own orchestration solution, using which you can register any number of machines with their own credential and the orchestration, based on multiple different parameters like Machine to Process binding, availability, schedule etc. would instantiate the available machine for the required process using the stored credentials. The Orchestration is basically a Model Driven App.

Hope this helps.

Warm Regards,

Sajal
ColonelNivlag 19 on 22 Apr 2025 at 13:26:24

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Can we add machines with individual logins to a Power Automate Machine Group

Hi @csajal,

How did you approach this in the end? We have the same issue & it's beginning to cause us problems. The ability to support different logins for the machines in a group would be very useful.

Thanks,

Matt.
KŠ-31070744-0 10 on 04 Nov 2024 at 14:10:09

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Can we add machines with individual logins to a Power Automate Machine Group

I recently tried to create a machine group so that I can have a pool of virtual machines, so that I can reduce queued processes on one and the same machine. In this way, I would have a better process redistribution on several machines. Unfortunately, this is not possible, considering that each machine has its own Windows account and its own assigned user. It's a shame.

Hope that MS do something about this.

Kind regards,

Krešimir
Venkat_Vattem 19 on 11 Jul 2024 at 12:31:19

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Re: Can we add machines with individual logins to a Power Automate Machine Group

@csajal @Deenuji any recent update from Microsoft on this?
csajal 26 on 26 Feb 2024 at 20:19:45

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Re: Can we add machines with individual logins to a Power Automate Machine Group

Hi @Deenuji ,
Thank you so much for looking into this. Currently there are no plans for moving into hosted RPA, but that's something I have already flagged with the team as a roadmap item. However, the way the current Machine Group works, I think it would be same with hosted RPA too. It baffles me to think that while other RPA platforms like UiPath had this feature from the very beginning, Microsoft is still not thinking to implement this basic requirement around Machine Groups.

Hi @Agnius ,
Thank you so much for your response. I am not able to follow your solution. It would be really very helpful if you could explain it a bit more. The "users" here are Service Accounts that the VDIs would be using to create a login session into a VDI to run the un-attended Desktop Flow. The Cloud Flow would be basically scheduling the Desktop flow.

Warm Regards,
Sajal
Agnius Bartninkas Most Valuable Professional on 26 Feb 2024 at 09:48:30

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Re: Can we add machines with individual logins to a Power Automate Machine Group

You could also have different Power Automate user accounts running the flows on each machine. Create the flow itself in a Solution in Power Automate with a connection reference to a single machine, and share it to as many users as you need (one for each machine). When a Solution with a connection reference is run on a different user, they'll need to have their own connection set up. So, set up one connection per user and have as single flow shared with all of them.
Deenuji_Loganathan_ 6,204 Super User 2025 Season 2 on 26 Feb 2024 at 06:18:03

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Re: Can we add machines with individual logins to a Power Automate Machine Group

@csajal
To my knowledge, Microsoft's pipeline does not include such a feature.

You can also refer power platform release portal for the same -
https://releaseplans.microsoft.com/en-US/?app=Power+Automate&status=coming-soon

Have you investigated Power Automate's hosted RPA for scalability? It can offer substantial cost savings on VM expenses.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/desktop-flows/hosted-rpa-overview

Thanks,
Deenuji Loganathan

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csajal 26 on 26 Feb 2024 at 06:00:32

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Re: Can we add machines with individual logins to a Power Automate Machine Group

@Deenuji Thanks for your detailed response. This gives me a clear picture. It's kinda bummer as it's a critical consideration from an RPA scalability standpoint. Would you happen to know there's something in the pipeline around this feature?