diff --git a/lib/audit.js b/lib/audit.js
index 076ca256b7c72..492fbb214e6a1 100644
--- a/lib/audit.js
+++ b/lib/audit.js
@@ -189,7 +189,10 @@ function auditCmd (args, cb) {
   }).then((auditReport) => {
     return audit.submitForFullReport(auditReport)
   }).catch((err) => {
-    if (err.statusCode === 404 || err.statusCode >= 500) {
+    // Some 3rd Party registries such as Microsoft Azure DevOps do not presently support `npm audit`. As no token is passed for `audit` and the registry may not
+    // have an exception in place for audit, a 401 is returned, which informs the user of an authentication-related issue that really masks a lack of implementation.
+    // Therefore, the custom error message now also triggers for 401s.
+    if (err.statusCode === 401 || err.statusCode === 404 || err.statusCode >= 500) {
       const ne = new Error(`Your configured registry (${opts.registry}) does not support audit requests.`)
       ne.code = 'ENOAUDIT'
       ne.wrapped = err