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AADSTS160021 / Tenant Mismatch Loop - Cannot Activate Azure for Students with Verified Academic Status

Ashil J Thomas 0 Reputation points
2026-04-04T10:19:43.57+00:00

Issue: I have successfully completed the Academic Verification for the Azure for Students offer via the GitHub Student Developer Pack. I received the "Verification Complete" confirmation screen. However, when I attempt to "Activate" the credit to create my subscription, I am trapped in a tenant-switching loop.

Error Code: interaction_required: AADSTS160021: Application requested a user session which does not exist.

Technical Details:

  • User Identity: ******@mec.ac.in (Work/School account).

Tenant Conflict: The login process attempts to authenticate against the 'Microsoft Services' (Personal) tenant, but the academic identity resides in the institutional tenant.

Domain Status: The domain mec.ac.in appears to be "unregistered" in the automated Azure lookup, forcing a manual verification loop despite the successful GitHub handshake.

Symptoms: Even after verification is complete, the "Subscriptions" page remains empty (Filtered 0 of 0) and the "Azure for Students" home tile continues to show a "Start" button instead of the $100 balance.

Steps Taken:

Cleared browser cache/cookies and used Edge InPrivate mode.

Verified academic status successfully on signup.azure.com.

Attempted login via "Sign in with GitHub" to bypass domain checks.

Request: Please manually provision the Azure for Students subscription to my account or resolve the tenant mismatch preventing the credit activation.Issue: I have successfully completed the Academic Verification for the Azure for Students offer via the GitHub Student Developer Pack. I received the "Verification Complete" confirmation screen. However, when I attempt to "Activate" the credit to create my subscription, I am trapped in a tenant-switching loop.

Error Code: interaction_required: AADSTS160021: Application requested a user session which does not exist.

Technical Details:

User Identity: ******@mec.ac.in (Work/School account).

Tenant Conflict: The login process attempts to authenticate against the 'Microsoft Services' (Personal) tenant, but the academic identity resides in the institutional tenant.

Domain Status: The domain mec.ac.in appears to be "unregistered" in the automated Azure lookup, forcing a manual verification loop despite the successful GitHub handshake.

Symptoms: Even after verification is complete, the "Subscriptions" page remains empty (Filtered 0 of 0) and the "Azure for Students" home tile continues to show a "Start" button instead of the $100 balance.

Steps Taken:

Cleared browser cache/cookies and used Edge InPrivate mode.

Verified academic status successfully on signup.azure.com.

Attempted login via "Sign in with GitHub" to bypass domain checks.

Request: Please manually provision the Azure for Students subscription to my account or resolve the tenant mismatch preventing the credit activation.

Azure | Azure Training
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  1. Q&A Assist
    2026-04-04T10:20:05.8866667+00:00
    AI generated content. This question contains an answer created with AI from Q&A Assist. Learn more

    The behavior described (no subscription created, empty Subscriptions blade, “Start” button still shown) means the Azure for Students subscription was never successfully provisioned, despite academic verification completing.

    From the available information, the only supported way to get an Azure for Students subscription created or fixed when self‑signup fails is to work with Microsoft support; manual provisioning cannot be done from the client side.

    Use these steps:

    1. Create a support request for Azure for Students signup
      • Go to the Azure portal and create a support request as described in the Azure for Students documentation: use the “create a support request” entry point referenced for Azure for Students issues.
      • Clearly include:
        • The work/school identity (the @mec.ac.in account).
        • That academic verification via GitHub Student Developer Pack and signup.azure.com succeeded.
        • That no Azure for Students subscription appears under Subscriptions and the offer tile still shows “Start”.
        • The error code interaction_required: AADSTS160021 and that the sign‑in flow is looping between tenants.
    2. Ask support to complete or repair subscription creation
      • Request that support either:
        • Complete the Azure for Students subscription creation for the verified academic account, or
        • Clear any account/tenant flags and reset the Azure for Students signup state so that the offer can be re‑claimed successfully.
    3. If the account is flagged or the subscription creation is stuck
      • Similar to other cases where a Pay‑As‑You‑Go or student subscription never appears after a confirmation email, resolution requires the Azure review/support team to clear the flag and finalize the subscription. This is not something that can be fixed by browser changes or by the user alone.
    4. After support resolves the issue
      • Once support confirms the subscription is created or the block is removed, sign in again with the same academic identity and verify that:
        • The Azure for Students subscription appears under Subscriptions.
        • The Azure for Students tile shows the $100 credit instead of “Start”.

    If the institution also uses Azure Dev Tools for Teaching and there are access issues there, the documented path is to use the dedicated student support page or the Azure Dev Tools for Teaching management/support contacts, but that is separate from the Azure for Students credit itself.

    References:

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