Disabled Subscription

Question

My Visual Studio Enterprise Subscription has been disabled several months ago. I was told that it's because I consumed all my credits. However, I never exceeded or even came close to it since I became an MVP in 2017. I was just renewed as an MVP for 2026-2027 and would like to have the Visual studio subscription reactivated.  What am I supposed to do?  The only reason that I have a Pay-As-You-Go subscription is that I was trying something out with Copilot that needed that type of subscription, but I never really used it.

Answer 1

Hello Haniel, it sounds like your Visual Studio Enterprise benefit is still active, but the Azure subscription it granted got disabled (most likely by the spending limit kicking in or an accidental cancellation). Here’s how to get it back up and running:

1. Check your subscription status in the Azure portal
   • Sign in at portal.azure.com → All services → Subscriptions.
   • If you see your VS Enterprise subscription marked “Disabled,” click into it and look for a Reactivate button. Confirm reactivation and wait a few minutes for your resources to come back online.
2. Remove the spending limit (if it was disabled due to credit exhaustion)
   • In the portal go to Cost Management + Billing → Subscriptions → select your VS Enterprise subscription.
   • At the top you’ll see a banner about the spending limit. Click Remove spending limit, then choose to remove it indefinitely (so it won’t auto-disable again) or just for the current billing period.
3. Activate your Azure credit benefit again through Visual Studio portal (if needed)
   • Visit https://my.visualstudio.com/benefits and sign in with your MVP account.
   • Find the Azure tile and click Activate. This steps you through creating or linking an Azure subscription under the right directory.
4. If it still won’t come back online, open a free Subscription Management support case
   • In the Azure portal go to Help + support → Create a support request.
   • For Issue type select Subscription management, then Re-enable my subscription as the problem subtype. Submit—an engineer will re-enable your subscription within one business day.
   Here are the steps you can follow to create support requests:
   • Go to Azure portal > Search for Help + Support or https://portal.azure.com/#view/Microsoft_Azure_Support/HelpAndSupportBlade/~/overview
   • Click on Create a Support Request.
   • On right-side panel, enter Subscription management and click Go > select the issue with "Subscription management" > select your Subscription then click Next.
   • Do not click on any suggested articles instead click on the Create support request on top of the panel.
   • Select the Issue type as Subscription management and, select the summary, problem type and problem subtype as per your issue like below > then click on Next.
   • Do not click on any recommendation solution/article, instead click on the Return to support request then click Next.
   • Fill all the required information and provide a clear description of your issue and click Next.
   • Review and create as submit the support request.
   • You should receive an automated email within a few minutes and then be contacted by support team.
   Kindly check the below documentation for more details: How to create an Azure support request - Azure supportability | Microsoft Learn

Once your subscription is reactivated, monitor the monthly credit on the Benefits page in the portal to ensure it renews (it typically follows PST time). Hope this helps get you back to building with Copilot in no time!

References:

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

https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/cost-management-billing/manage/spending-limit

https://learn.microsoft.com/visualstudio/subscriptions/vscloud-billing-faq

Answer 2

For a Visual Studio subscription that was disabled and did not reactivate through normal self-service, the supported path is to open a free Azure Subscription Management support request and ask for Re-enable my subscription.

Use this path in Azure portal:

1. Open Help + support.
2. Select Create a support request.
3. If the AI assistant view appears, switch to the older support request experience.
4. Search for re-enable subscription.
5. Choose Subscription management.
6. Select the affected subscription.
7. Create the request with:
   • Problem type: Re-enable my subscription
   • Problem subtype: Could not reactivate by self-service
8. Complete the remaining details and submit the case.

This is the recommended route when a subscription remains disabled and needs manual re-enablement by support.

If the original Visual Studio benefit subscription expired or was removed, the available options are:

• renew or purchase a Visual Studio subscription
• use another eligible active Visual Studio subscription to set up a new Azure credit subscription
• transfer Azure resources to another eligible Azure subscription
• convert the disabled subscription to pay-as-you-go by removing the spending limit

Important: if Azure resources still exist in the disabled subscription, transfer them before the subscription is disabled long enough to lose access to data.

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References:

• Renew an expired subscription, purchase a new one, or transfer your Azure resources
• Maintain a Visual Studio subscription for Azure credit access
• How to reeanable an azure suscription - Microsoft Q&A
• Azure for Visual Studio subscribers