Web Search tool is not enabled for this organization

Question

Hello

I have deployed gpt-4o-mini to AI Foundry. When I try to call Responses API with "web-search" tool, I am getting "Web Search tool is not enabled for this organization" error. I can't seem to find any information on how to enable Web Search tool.

Here is my code:

const client = new AzureOpenAI({
    apiKey,
    apiVersion: '2025-01-01-preview',
    endpoint,
});

const response = await client.responses.create({
   model:  'gpt-4o-mini',
   input: 'What is the temperature of New York city today',
   max_output_tokens: 5000,
   tools: [ {
              type: 'web_search_preview'
            }
          ]
   )

Answer 1

Hi Wenjun Che,

I could not find any form named "Apply for access to GPTs with tools" from internal resources.

Could you use "Grounding with Bing search from Agents (AI foundry) "instead to find real time weather data.

Here are the steps

1. You need to register "Microsoft.Bing" name space in Resource provider prior.
2. Please create Azure AI foundry hub then Azure AI project
3. Go to agents and create a deployment to create an agent.
4. Select "Grounding with Bing search resource" from knowledge section to create a new "Grounding with Bing search resource" then interact with your agent.

Attached relevant doc and reference code

Please don’t forget to Accept Answer and Yes for "was this answer helpful" wherever the information provided helps you, this can be beneficial to other community members.

Thank you.

Answer 2

Hi Wenjun Che,

The error "Web Search tool is not enabled for this organization" indicates that your Azure OpenAI deployment does not have the Web Search tool enabled. The Web Search tool is in preview and requires explicit activation by Microsoft.

Steps to Resolve:

Check if Web Search is Available in Your Region

The Web Search tool is currently in preview and might not be available in all Azure regions.

Run the following command in Azure CLI to check available features:

az feature list --query "[?contains(name, 'OpenAI')].{Name:name, State:properties.state}" --output table

If the feature is not listed, your organization might not have access.

Verify That Web Search is Enabled for Your Subscription

You need to ensure that your Azure OpenAI resource has the Web Search tool enabled.

Go to Azure OpenAI Studio → Manage Deployments → Check if Web Search is listed.

If Web Search is not visible, you may need to request access from Microsoft.

Request Access from Microsoft

Microsoft is selectively enabling Web Search for certain organizations.

You need to submit a request via the Azure OpenAI access request form:

Go to: Azure OpenAI Access Request

Select "Web Search Tooling" and submit your request.

Check Your API Version

You are using "Api Version": "2025-01-01-preview". Ensure that this version supports Web Search Preview.

Try an older version like "2024-02-01-preview" to see if the issue persists.

Hope above steps help to resolve your issue, if you still have any queries don't hesitate to reach out to me here.

Thank you!

Answer 3

Finally I got it working by deploying gpt-4o to US West 3 with Global Standard