Microsoft Developer Program did not detect my activity

Question

Hello,

I have a Microsoft Developer Program E5 sandbox subscription. I have been using it to test Microsoft Sentinel and Defender XDR stack, however it has not detected my usage activity and now it's expired.

The followings are the test/development activities I have done in this tenant.

• Created and registered enterprise apps
• Signed in as sample users and generated user activities (Teams messages, emails)
• Onboarded on-prem servers to Azure Arc
• Deployed Microsoft Sentinel
• Created test endpoint security policies in Defender XDR

It would appear none of it were detected by Developer Program and now it's expired. It's still telling me to start using it even though I have been using it.

I have raised a support ticket from the Defender Portal but the support team who got back to me was less than helpful. They didn't understand about the Developer Program and kept telling me to just reactivate the subscription by paying for it.

Then, they told me to contact the partner/reseller or go through the unified support -- the latter didn't work because the unified support link just signs me out. Eventually, this support team just told me Microsoft Developer Program was out of their scope.

So, I don't know what to do. I'd rather not lose the work I've done in this portal if it can be helped. Please help.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Please note that our forum is a public platform, and we will modify your question to hide your personal information in the description. Kindly ensure that you hide any personal or organizational information the next time you post an error or other details to protect personal data. 

Hi @Nay Linn Aung 

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A forum
  
Based on my research, I’m happy to share some insights that may help clarify your situation regarding the inactive Microsoft E5 Developer Program. 

The process of detecting inactivity and extending the subscription is completely automated and handled by the system’s algorithm. That said, as a forum moderator, I’m just an end user like you and unfortunately cannot intervene in this process directly. 

From the image you shared, your account currently shows an “inactive” status. To increase the chances of the system recognizing your account as active and extending your subscription, please continue engaging with the environment such as performing more tests and activities.  

Many users have shared that the process can take anywhere from one week to one month for the system to automatically extend the subscription.  This means I highly recommend backing up your work in case your subscription expires. After expiration, you have 30 days to migrate any data.  

For more details, please refer to: Microsoft 365 Developer Program FAQ | Microsoft Learn 

Regarding the issue where you are signed out when accessing Unified Support, could you confirm if you see a message similar to the one shown in the image below? 

 

If so, please review this article for guidance to complete your registration:  Services Hub sign in FAQs | Microsoft Learn 

I sincerely hope this information helps clarify your situation. Please don’t hesitate to reply if you have any updates.  

Thank you for your understanding.  

---

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Answer 2

@Vergil-V

Just a quick update. Out of the blue, I received an email that my developer subscription has been renewed. I'm not sure why it's just 74 days as opposed to 90 but at least it's been renewed.

Not out of the woods yet though. My Azure subscription in this tenant is still in a 'disabled' state and cannot be reactivated. The error didn't give me any details so I've raised a support request.
Thank you.