Subscriptions not showing during new Entra tenant creation in Azure portal

Question

When I try to create a new Microsoft Entra tenant in the Azure portal, the wizard asks me to select a subscription. However, none of my existing subscriptions are listed — the dropdown is empty.

I currently have two active subscriptions, and I even created a new Pay-As-You-Go subscription for testing, but it still doesn’t appear in the list.

My account has Global Administrator and Tenant Creator roles in my primary directory, so I should have the necessary permissions.

Why are my subscriptions not showing up during tenant creation, and how can I associate a subscription when creating a new tenant?

Answer 1

Hello Ari,

Thanks for posting your question in Microsoft Q&A!

The main reason is that only paid Azure subscriptions are allowed to create new tenants. If your subscriptions are free trial or Pay-As-You-Go that started as a trial, they might still be considered trial subscriptions and won’t show up in the list during tenant creation.

Even having Global Administrator and Tenant Creator roles isn’t enough if your subscriptions aren’t the right type.

1. Go to your Azure portal and click on "Subscriptions"
2. Look at each subscription's details - You'll see information about the subscription type
3. Check if they show things like:
   • "Pay-As-You-Go" that started from a free trial = Won't work for tenant creation
   • "Microsoft Customer Agreement" = Will work for tenant creation
   • "Enterprise Agreement" = Will work for tenant creation

If your subscriptions all started as free trials (even if you're paying now), that's why they're not showing up.

1. Create a new Azure subscription with a different email address
   • Don't use your current email - use a completely fresh one
   • Go directly to the Azure signup page
   • Important: When signing up, immediately provide your credit card and choose to pay right away (don't start with a free trial)
   • This creates what Microsoft calls a "Microsoft Customer Agreement" subscription
2. Once you have this new subscription, you can then transfer it to your main account or use it to create the tenant you need

Use Microsoft 365 Developer Program (Free Alternative)

If you just need a tenant for development or testing:

• Sign up for the Microsoft 365 Developer Program (it's free)
• This gives you a separate tenant automatically with licenses included
• Later, you can connect your Azure subscriptions to this tenant
• This bypasses the tenant creation restrictions because it's designed for developers.

Check Your Portal Settings

Sometimes subscriptions exist but aren't showing because of filter settings:

In the Azure portal, look for a filter icon at the top (it says "Directory + Subscription")

Click on it and make sure "All subscriptions" is selected

• Uncheck any boxes that say "Show only selected subscriptions"
• Try creating the tenant again.

Microsoft Reference Documentation

• Primary Reference: Quickstart: Create a new tenant in Microsoft Entra ID
• Subscription Management: Filter and view subscriptions - Microsoft Cost Management
• Billing Account Setup: Set up billing for Microsoft Customer Agreement - Azure
• Tenant Association: Manage tenants in your Microsoft Customer Agreement billing account
• Troubleshooting: No subscriptions found sign in error for Azure portal

Kindly let us know if the above helps or you need further assistance on this issue.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Answer 2

If your subscriptions are not showing up during the creation of a new Microsoft Entra tenant in the Azure portal, it may be due to a few reasons. First, ensure that your subscriptions are associated with the directory you are currently using. You can check this by following the steps to associate an existing subscription to your tenant, as sometimes subscriptions may not be linked properly.

Additionally, if you have multiple subscriptions, make sure you are selecting the correct directory that contains those subscriptions. If the subscriptions are still not visible, you may need to troubleshoot the subscription linking process or check if there are any restrictions on your account.

To associate a subscription when creating a new tenant, you can follow the instructions provided in the Azure portal, which may include selecting the appropriate subscription from a list or creating a new one if necessary.

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References:

• Create or link to an existing Microsoft Entra B2C tenant in the Azure portal
• Help with accessing Microsoft Entra ID and Azure
• Link a workforce tenant to a subscription