How can I create a new Azure tenant if I had one expire due to inactivity

Question

How can I create a new Azure tenant if I had one expire due to inactivity

Greg DePasse 30

I had a tenant years ago that I haven't used in a long time, so when I go to the Azure Portal I get the following error: Error message: AADSTS5000225: This tenant has been blocked due to inactivity. To learn more about tenant lifecycle policies, see https://aka.ms/TenantLifecycle

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Contacting support is impossible, because I either need to pay $500 for a one time incident for Cloud or Online Billing support (nope, not going to happen), or if I choose the Azure option, it forces me to the Azure portal where I'm again presented with the error above.

This is a terrible user experience. Why can't I just have the option to delete that inactive tenant and start new? Why force me to go around in circles?

(And forcing me to choose a Child Tag, yet, not have something related to Portal, Tenant, or Access issues is another terrible user experience)

Jerald Felix 9,020

Hi Greg DePasse,

I totally get the frustration with the Azure tenant inactivity block it's a common headache when old tenants linger and block new setups. The error AADSTS5000225 means your tenant has been inactive for over 200 days, leading to a block, and after 20 days in that state, it's permanently deleted (not recoverable). Since yours expired years ago, reactivation isn't an option, but you can easily create a fresh tenant without paid support. Here's how:

Steps to Create a New Azure Tenant

Sign Out and Use Incognito Mode: Open an incognito/private browser window to avoid auto-signing into the old tenant. Sign out of all Microsoft services completely and clear cookies/cache if needed.

Create a New Directory:

Go to the Azure Portal (portal.azure.com) and sign in with your Microsoft account.

  Click your profile picture in the top right, then select "Switch directory" > "Create a new directory" (or Azure AD tenant).

  
     Choose "Azure Active Directory" as the type, fill in the details (like organization name and initial domain), and create it. This sets up a new tenant independent of the old one.

     
     **Access the New Tenant Directly**: Once created, access it via a direct URL to bypass any redirects: **`https://portal.azure.com/<your-new-tenant-name>.onmicrosoft.com`** or **`https://portal.azure.com/<tenant-ID>`** (find the ID in your Azure AD settings).

     
     **Set It as Default**: After logging in, go to Settings > Directory + Subscription, and set the new tenant as your default.
```This should let you start fresh without circling back to the blocked tenant. If you hit snags (e.g., still seeing the error), try a different browser or account, or reach out via the Azure Help + Support page under "Subscription Management > Tenant or Directory Issue" for free assistance mention the error code to skip the loops. No need to pay for support here, as this is a standard lifecycle issue.

If you need help with specific Azure setups post-creation (like VMs or AI services), just let me know happy to dive in!

Best Regards, 

Jerald Felix

Greg DePasse 30 Reputation points

2025-09-29T20:19:49.76+00:00

I signed out, cleared all cookies and used incognito mode in a new browser window (both Edge and Chrome), but then, when I went to portal.azure.com and signed in with my Microsoft account I get Sign-in failed

Error code: AADSTS5000225

Error message: AADSTS5000225: This tenant has been blocked due to inactivity.

This is the entire page. There isn't a profile button or anything else.
K B 5 Reputation points

2025-10-01T01:07:56.31+00:00

I am having the same problem. Did you find a way to solve this?
Saritha Bandaru 1,705 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-01T02:43:53.0333333+00:00
Hello @Greg DePasse

The error message you encountered indicates that your tenant has been inactive for over 200 days past the billing cycle, triggering Microsoft’s effort to remove inactive tenants. When a tenant remains inactive for this period, the OMS commerce system imposes a login block (AADSTS5000225). Twenty days after the login block is applied, the tenant is permanently deleted.

Tenant inaccessible due to inactivity

If you plan to unblock your inactive tenant, it’s essential that it has been blocked for less than 20 days. After the 20-day period, the tenant is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.

If it has been less than 20 days since the block, please provide the following details for further assistance via private message:

Tenant ID

Domain Name

Error Code

Correlation ID from the recent failure

Timestamp from the recent failure

Business impact and justification for restoring the tenant, and an explanation of the impact if the tenant cannot be restored.

Contact email

Note: If it's a test tenant, please re-create a new tenant for testing purposes.

Quickstart: Create a new tenant in Microsoft Entra ID

Do let me know if you have any queries, we are happy to assist you further.
Greg DePasse 30 Reputation points

2025-10-06T18:48:39.4366667+00:00

This is utterly insane. I do not care about the old tenant. I have no idea if I am within the 200-220 day window. No data is given, no notification emails about pending expiration were sent. And honestly I shouldn't need to care - give me the option to either restore it or delete it. It's like MS doesn't want us to use it's service.

All I want to so is create a new tenant, and yet, I'm (and so many others) are faced with this show-stopping full block with zero-chance of navigating around it.

How do I convince someone at MS to just delete my old Azure tenant crap and let me start from scratch?
Greg DePasse 30 Reputation points

2025-10-09T04:00:38.88+00:00

The first step in guide you provided to "Create a new tenant for your organization" starts off with the following sentence:

"After you sign in to the Azure portal, you can create a new tenant for your organization.". The issue I, and others, are having, is that after we sign in to the portal (and have an expired tenant) we are presented with the Azure Blue screen of death error (screenshot in my first post). That's it. There's no way around that error. No links provided to delete the tenant and start over. Just a brick wall.
Saritha Bandaru 1,705 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-09T04:13:40.0066667+00:00

Hello @Greg DePasse If you're trying to sign in to the Azure portal, the issue may be that your email address is linked to an inactive tenant. This causes a redirect to the inactive directory, resulting in the AADSTS5000225 error.

When a tenant is inactive for a certain period, the OMS commerce system blocks logins (AADSTS5000225). After twenty days of this block, the tenant is permanently deleted.

In your situation, please send us your tenant ID in a private message.

We will check on our end to see if unblocking your tenant is possible. If so, we will proceed to unlock it.

Regarding your question, if you want to create a new tenant, please use "sign up" instead of "sign in." For more details, refer to the note section in the document below.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/fundamentals/create-new-tenant

Thanks
Greg DePasse 30 Reputation points

2025-10-09T15:09:51.1833333+00:00

I tried to Sign Up and went through that whole process (enter address, credit card, phone number, etc). Submitted and the next page was the same Blue error above.

Thank you for the help and looking into it!
Saritha Bandaru 1,705 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-10T03:33:57.72+00:00

Hello @Greg DePasse

Could you please look into the private messages? We have provided the details which will help you to login into your account.

Additionally, since you mentioned that you recently created your account but are still seeing the error, it suggests that your login attempt is being directed to the deactivated directory for authentication.

So, please Try login into Azure portal by targeting tenant id

https://portal.azure.com/<Enter_Your_Tenant_ID>

or enter your domain name

Thanks
Blessing Ameye 5 Reputation points

2025-10-15T08:05:06.75+00:00

Hi @Saritha Bandaru I'm having this exact same issue and I've tried the incognito login but still got presented with the Blue Screen of death. Can you please help sort mine to? Thank you
Thomas Lee 5 Reputation points

2025-10-22T06:21:24.0166667+00:00

Did anyone get a resolution? Am I correct that if one created a tenant (now expired) to a personal email account, we have to create a new Microsoft account and then create a new Azure Portal account? There is no way to unlink a personal MSFT email account from an expired tenant? I am having this exact problem described above.
Marco Ortiz 5 Reputation points

2025-10-22T19:11:52.72+00:00

I am having the same issue and seems MS solved it for Greg but no one else??? Why MS is not helping others by standardizing the resolution of this?
Jeffrey Ciesla 0 Reputation points

2025-10-25T20:27:56.9766667+00:00

I'm having the same issue. I guess I tried testing things years ago but let it fall into inactivity and there seems to be no way to recreate a new one.
Stuart Haddow 5 Reputation points

2025-10-30T14:53:20.0833333+00:00

How do you fix this? I've got two MS accounts linked to my two personal email addresses and both have this issue. I can't use an alias on my Google email (i.e. myname+something at my email dot com) to create a new MS account, so it seems my only recourse is to create a whole new email account, and then use that account to sign in to Azure?

This is madness, I don't personally use Azure for anything but need to create a tenant as I want to take my AZ-700 exam. Inevitably this new tenant will end up expiring, so when I come back to practice for another exam at some point I'll be stuck again.

I just need to be able to say "I don't care about the old tenant, create me a new one", why can't I do that?
Mike R 5 Reputation points

2025-10-30T23:28:14.0233333+00:00

@Saritha Bandaru Is there a chance you could help others with this. There is no solution documented anywhere to resolve this issue. Incredibly frustrating and non-sensical.

I have provided my CC number, have added a new pay-as-you-go subscription, received a confirmation email, and am still directed to the blocked tenant using the links in the email.
Mike R 5 Reputation points

2025-10-31T01:31:11.6166667+00:00

For those that have signed up for a pay-as-you-go subscription, but are still being redirected to the old blocked tenant, this may work for you as it did me.

Instead of logging into azure log into Entra https://entra.microsoft.com/ with the same MS account. Once there you should see your new Default Directory with the tenant ID referenced. Use that tenant id to sign into portal.azure.com/<tenant-id>. This corrected the mapping between my MS account and my new Azure tenant.

Subsequent logins to portal.azure.com (without the tenant id) work as expected and the broken reference is resolved.

Your answer

Greg DePasse 30 Reputation points

2025-09-29T20:19:49.76+00:00

I signed out, cleared all cookies and used incognito mode in a new browser window (both Edge and Chrome), but then, when I went to portal.azure.com and signed in with my Microsoft account I get Sign-in failed

Error code: AADSTS5000225

Error message: AADSTS5000225: This tenant has been blocked due to inactivity.

This is the entire page. There isn't a profile button or anything else.
K B 5 Reputation points

2025-10-01T01:07:56.31+00:00

I am having the same problem. Did you find a way to solve this?
Saritha Bandaru 1,705 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-01T02:43:53.0333333+00:00

Hello @Greg DePasse

The error message you encountered indicates that your tenant has been inactive for over 200 days past the billing cycle, triggering Microsoft’s effort to remove inactive tenants. When a tenant remains inactive for this period, the OMS commerce system imposes a login block (AADSTS5000225). Twenty days after the login block is applied, the tenant is permanently deleted.

Tenant inaccessible due to inactivity

If you plan to unblock your inactive tenant, it’s essential that it has been blocked for less than 20 days. After the 20-day period, the tenant is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.

If it has been less than 20 days since the block, please provide the following details for further assistance via private message:

Tenant ID

Domain Name

Error Code

Correlation ID from the recent failure

Timestamp from the recent failure

Business impact and justification for restoring the tenant, and an explanation of the impact if the tenant cannot be restored.

Contact email

Note: If it's a test tenant, please re-create a new tenant for testing purposes.

Quickstart: Create a new tenant in Microsoft Entra ID

Do let me know if you have any queries, we are happy to assist you further.
Greg DePasse 30 Reputation points

2025-10-06T18:48:39.4366667+00:00

This is utterly insane. I do not care about the old tenant. I have no idea if I am within the 200-220 day window. No data is given, no notification emails about pending expiration were sent. And honestly I shouldn't need to care - give me the option to either restore it or delete it. It's like MS doesn't want us to use it's service.

All I want to so is create a new tenant, and yet, I'm (and so many others) are faced with this show-stopping full block with zero-chance of navigating around it.

How do I convince someone at MS to just delete my old Azure tenant crap and let me start from scratch?
Greg DePasse 30 Reputation points

2025-10-09T04:00:38.88+00:00

The first step in guide you provided to "Create a new tenant for your organization" starts off with the following sentence:

"After you sign in to the Azure portal, you can create a new tenant for your organization.". The issue I, and others, are having, is that after we sign in to the portal (and have an expired tenant) we are presented with the Azure Blue screen of death error (screenshot in my first post). That's it. There's no way around that error. No links provided to delete the tenant and start over. Just a brick wall.
Saritha Bandaru 1,705 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-09T04:13:40.0066667+00:00

Hello @Greg DePasse If you're trying to sign in to the Azure portal, the issue may be that your email address is linked to an inactive tenant. This causes a redirect to the inactive directory, resulting in the AADSTS5000225 error.

When a tenant is inactive for a certain period, the OMS commerce system blocks logins (AADSTS5000225). After twenty days of this block, the tenant is permanently deleted.

In your situation, please send us your tenant ID in a private message.

We will check on our end to see if unblocking your tenant is possible. If so, we will proceed to unlock it.

Regarding your question, if you want to create a new tenant, please use "sign up" instead of "sign in." For more details, refer to the note section in the document below.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/fundamentals/create-new-tenant

Thanks
Greg DePasse 30 Reputation points

2025-10-09T15:09:51.1833333+00:00

I tried to Sign Up and went through that whole process (enter address, credit card, phone number, etc). Submitted and the next page was the same Blue error above.

Thank you for the help and looking into it!
Saritha Bandaru 1,705 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-10T03:33:57.72+00:00

Hello @Greg DePasse

Could you please look into the private messages? We have provided the details which will help you to login into your account.

Additionally, since you mentioned that you recently created your account but are still seeing the error, it suggests that your login attempt is being directed to the deactivated directory for authentication.

So, please Try login into Azure portal by targeting tenant id

https://portal.azure.com/<Enter_Your_Tenant_ID>

or enter your domain name

Thanks
Blessing Ameye 5 Reputation points

2025-10-15T08:05:06.75+00:00

Hi @Saritha Bandaru I'm having this exact same issue and I've tried the incognito login but still got presented with the Blue Screen of death. Can you please help sort mine to? Thank you
Thomas Lee 5 Reputation points

2025-10-22T06:21:24.0166667+00:00

Did anyone get a resolution? Am I correct that if one created a tenant (now expired) to a personal email account, we have to create a new Microsoft account and then create a new Azure Portal account? There is no way to unlink a personal MSFT email account from an expired tenant? I am having this exact problem described above.
Marco Ortiz 5 Reputation points

2025-10-22T19:11:52.72+00:00

I am having the same issue and seems MS solved it for Greg but no one else??? Why MS is not helping others by standardizing the resolution of this?
Jeffrey Ciesla 0 Reputation points

2025-10-25T20:27:56.9766667+00:00

I'm having the same issue. I guess I tried testing things years ago but let it fall into inactivity and there seems to be no way to recreate a new one.
Stuart Haddow 5 Reputation points

2025-10-30T14:53:20.0833333+00:00

How do you fix this? I've got two MS accounts linked to my two personal email addresses and both have this issue. I can't use an alias on my Google email (i.e. myname+something at my email dot com) to create a new MS account, so it seems my only recourse is to create a whole new email account, and then use that account to sign in to Azure?

This is madness, I don't personally use Azure for anything but need to create a tenant as I want to take my AZ-700 exam. Inevitably this new tenant will end up expiring, so when I come back to practice for another exam at some point I'll be stuck again.

I just need to be able to say "I don't care about the old tenant, create me a new one", why can't I do that?
Mike R 5 Reputation points

2025-10-30T23:28:14.0233333+00:00

@Saritha Bandaru Is there a chance you could help others with this. There is no solution documented anywhere to resolve this issue. Incredibly frustrating and non-sensical.

I have provided my CC number, have added a new pay-as-you-go subscription, received a confirmation email, and am still directed to the blocked tenant using the links in the email.
Mike R 5 Reputation points

2025-10-31T01:31:11.6166667+00:00

For those that have signed up for a pay-as-you-go subscription, but are still being redirected to the old blocked tenant, this may work for you as it did me.

Instead of logging into azure log into Entra https://entra.microsoft.com/ with the same MS account. Once there you should see your new Default Directory with the tenant ID referenced. Use that tenant id to sign into portal.azure.com/<tenant-id>. This corrected the mapping between my MS account and my new Azure tenant.

Subsequent logins to portal.azure.com (without the tenant id) work as expected and the broken reference is resolved.

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How can I create a new Azure tenant if I had one expire due to inactivity

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