Unable to reactivating my MSDN/Visual Studio or move its resources

Question

I moved my MSDN/Visual Studio subscription to another tenant belonging to a company I work for. I was assuming this will keep it active. However, the subscription was deactivated anyway. I would need to either re-activate or just move its resources to another subscription in the same tenant.

I am facing a following Catch-22:

1. I am not able to move resources to another subscription: "The subscription '...' is disabled and therefore marked as read only. You cannot perform any write actions on this subscription until it is re-enabled."
2. I am trying to re-enable the subscription by adding a payment method. But I cannot, because I am not logged in as the "Account admin" user.
3. I am not able to login as "Account admin" user, because the "Account admin" user is not the owner of the subscription, nor has any role in the subscription (I moved the subscription between directories).
4. I am not able to assign the "Account admin" user as a user in IAM as Owner because: "The subscription '...' is disabled and therefore marked as read only. You cannot perform any write actions on this subscription until it is re-enabled"
5. I am not able to re-enable/reactivate my subscription because: "Contact Azure Support to reactivate your subscription. MSDN subscriptions can't be reactivated. For more information, contact Azure Support."
6. I am not able to contact support, as there is no option to open a ticket directly from Microsoft Azure portal

Is there a way to resolve this, please? I am grateful for any advice.

Answer 1

Hello Pavol Bujnak

Once a Visual Studio / MSDN Azure subscription becomes Disabled, it is placed into a read‑only state by design.

In this state, Azure does not allow resource moves, role assignments, offer changes, or billing updates.

Visual Studio / MSDN subscriptions cannot be reactivated after expiration, and Microsoft Support does not have a manual override to temporarily enable them or move resources.

The only supported path is to create a new Azure subscription and redeploy resources manually using backups or templates.

You can contact Visual Studio Subscription Support, but note:

• They can help with subscription assignment or renewal
• They cannot re‑enable or unlock Azure resources

Support entry point: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/subscriptions/support/

Thanks,

Suchitra.

Answer 2

MSDN/Visual Studio-based Azure subscriptions that have been disabled cannot be reactivated as MSDN credit subscriptions. Once disabled, the supported options are:

1. Convert the disabled subscription to pay-as-you-go (if still allowed)
   • A disabled Visual Studio credit subscription can be reenabled as a pay-as-you-go subscription by following the documented steps to switch the Azure offer: see switch-azure-offer.
   • This requires the billing “Account admin” for that subscription. If that identity is in a different tenant or not accessible, portal operations on that subscription are effectively blocked.
2. Use another active subscription and move resources there (only if done before disablement)
   • To preserve resources with dev/test credit, resources must be transferred to another Azure subscription that includes the Azure dev/test individual credit before the original subscription is disabled.
   • After disablement, the subscription is read-only and resource moves are blocked, which matches the errors being seen.
3. Maintain access going forward
   • To continue using monthly Azure credit from Visual Studio, maintain an active Visual Studio subscription (renew, purchase a new one, or obtain one from the organization’s Visual Studio subscription admin) and then create a new Azure credit subscription under that entitlement.
4. When stuck in the current state
   • MSDN/Visual Studio credit subscriptions cannot be reactivated as such once disabled; the official guidance is to either:
     • Reenable as pay-as-you-go (if the Account admin can access billing and the offer supports it), or
     • Use a different subscription and recreate or restore resources there.
   • If the portal does not allow support ticket creation from the disabled subscription, support must be reached via the generic Azure support entry point rather than from within the subscription blade.

Given the described Catch-22 and the statement “MSDN subscriptions can't be reactivated,” there is no supported way to:

• Reactivate that subscription as an MSDN/Visual Studio credit subscription, or
• Move resources out of it after it has become disabled/read-only.

The only supported paths are:

• Reenable as pay-as-you-go via the billing Account admin (if possible), then move resources; or
• Create/obtain another subscription and rebuild or restore resources there.

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References:

• Maintain a Visual Studio subscription for Azure credit access
• Renew an expired subscription, purchase a new one, or transfer your Azure resources
• Change Directory Tenants with your Azure Subscriptions
• Visual Studio subscriptions in a Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (MPSA)
• Which support portal should I use?