Account locked out due to free trial credit being exhausted

Question

Account locked out due to free trial credit being exhausted

Kane 20

I used up my free trial credits and my Azure account is now in a locked state. When I try to upgrade to pay as you go I get an error message. None of the help docs have provided a solution that I could get to work. Currently my whole system is shut down and I am locked out from fixing it. I have been trying for hours to fix it or get support with no luck.

Siva shunmugam Nadessin 8,085 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-31T09:41:26.12+00:00
Hello Kane,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A forum.

When investigated it sounds like your subscription was disabled because the free-trial credit ran out, and now you’re blocked from upgrading to Pay-As-You-Go. Here’s what usually kicks things back to life:

Confirm you’re signed in as the Account Administrator

Only the Account Admin (the person who originally signed up for Azure) can upgrade or re-activate the subscription.

· If you have multiple Azure AD tenants, make sure you’re in the directory where the free-trial was created (click your account name in the portal and switch directories).

Go through the portal upgrade flow

In the Azure portal, search for Subscriptions and pick your free-trial subscription.

Click Upgrade subscription (or the upgrade banner at the top).

Add a valid payment method (credit/debit card—not prepaid) and verify your phone if prompted.

Choose a support plan and hit Upgrade.

Wait for re-activation (can take up to 24 hours)

Once you pay the balance/remove the spending limit, Azure will queue your subscription to be re-enabled.

Your VMs will start up and storage will go from read-only back to normal.

If you still see an error when you click Upgrade, we’ll need a bit more detail to troubleshoot. Could you let us know:

The exact error message or code you’re getting when you try to upgrade Which Azure user/email you’re signed in as (confirm it’s the Account Admin) Whether you’ve already added a valid credit/debit card and completed phone verification If you see any banners or notifications under Cost Management + Billing that mention directory issues

Once we have that info, we can pinpoint whether it’s a directory-mismatch, payment-method issue, or something else. Hang in there—we’ll get your subscription back online!

Reference docs:

Upgrade your Azure free account: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/cost-management-billing/manage/upgrade-azure-subscription

Reactivate a disabled subscription: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/cost-management-billing/manage/subscription-disabled

Remove spending limit/remove balance: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/cost-management-billing/manage/spending-limit#remove

Let me know the answers to those questions and we’ll take it from there!
Kane 20 Reputation points

2026-03-31T09:53:37.63+00:00
Hi Siva,

Confirm you’re signed in as the Account Administrator Confirmed that I am the account admin

Only the Account Admin (the person who originally signed up for Azure) can upgrade or re-activate the subscription. Thats me, I am the only one with an azure account. I am also on the Default Directory

In the Azure portal, search for Subscriptions and pick your free-trial subscription. When I do this I get the message "You've used all your free credit. Upgrade to keep going with your account."

Click Upgrade subscription (or the upgrade banner at the top). This is where I get the error. I am blocked at this step and can not proceed further.

Add a valid payment method (credit/debit card—not prepaid) and verify your phone if prompted. I am not able to get to this step

Choose a support plan and hit Upgrade. I am not able to get to this step

See attached screenshots...

I get the upgrade message

No matter what link I follow every path leads me to this error. I can not get past it.

These are the console log errors that I get on this page. I am not sure if they are related. I have no other error information.

Is there something you can do on your end to get me out of this situation? I am completed blocked from fixing this myself. I have spent many hours trying to fix this and have had no luck.
Kane 20 Reputation points

2026-03-31T09:54:36.3733333+00:00

Is there information I can provide in a private message to expedite getting this fixed?

Answer accepted by question author

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Your answer

Kane 20 Reputation points

2026-03-31T09:53:37.63+00:00

Hi Siva,

Confirm you’re signed in as the Account Administrator Confirmed that I am the account admin

Only the Account Admin (the person who originally signed up for Azure) can upgrade or re-activate the subscription. Thats me, I am the only one with an azure account. I am also on the Default Directory

In the Azure portal, search for Subscriptions and pick your free-trial subscription. When I do this I get the message "You've used all your free credit. Upgrade to keep going with your account."

Click Upgrade subscription (or the upgrade banner at the top). This is where I get the error. I am blocked at this step and can not proceed further.

Add a valid payment method (credit/debit card—not prepaid) and verify your phone if prompted. I am not able to get to this step

Choose a support plan and hit Upgrade. I am not able to get to this step

See attached screenshots...

I get the upgrade message

No matter what link I follow every path leads me to this error. I can not get past it.

These are the console log errors that I get on this page. I am not sure if they are related. I have no other error information.

Is there something you can do on your end to get me out of this situation? I am completed blocked from fixing this myself. I have spent many hours trying to fix this and have had no luck.
Kane 20 Reputation points

2026-03-31T09:54:36.3733333+00:00

Is there information I can provide in a private message to expedite getting this fixed?

Answer 1

When free trial or student credits are exhausted, Azure disables the subscription and stops services. To get the environment running again, the subscription must be reactivated or upgraded; this can’t be fixed from within the locked subscription alone if the self-service upgrade path is failing.

For exhausted/expired credits (including Azure for Students):

Confirm that the subscription is disabled because credit is used or expired.
- If it is an Azure for Students subscription, sign in to the Microsoft Azure Sponsorships portal with the same account and check the remaining balance and expiration date.
If the credit is used up or expired, the documented path to continue using services is to upgrade to a pay-as-you-go subscription by contacting Azure support from the portal:
- Go to the Azure portal and open Help + support.
- Create a support request for Billing / Subscription management and request upgrade to pay-as-you-go.
If the subscription was accidentally canceled, it can also be reactivated only by contacting Azure support via Help + support in the portal.

If the portal upgrade flow itself is failing or blocking access, and self-service steps do not work, the only supported resolution in the documentation is to open a billing/subscription support request so that Azure support can manually reactivate or upgrade the subscription. Billing and subscription support is included at no extra cost for these scenarios.

If the account is a startup/sponsorship or student-type offer, use the included support plan (Basic or Developer, depending on the offer) to open a support ticket from the Azure portal and have support correct the subscription state so services can be brought back online.

References:

Kane 20 Reputation points

2026-03-31T06:38:28.68+00:00

This answer does not address my problem. None of the solutions mentioned work.
Kane 20 Reputation points

2026-03-31T06:40:03.7+00:00

Specifically when I click on the Upgrade button I get the error in the attached image.

and it has been like this for an extended period of time.

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Account locked out due to free trial credit being exhausted

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