I am unable to get access to our company devops account ( account is not orphan - current org owner is unable to help)

@azflx

Thank you for using Q&A platform

This is a classic permissions and identity issue, likely stemming from a misconfiguration or conflict with Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory). The fact that the owner can't access the account and gets an error when trying to add you points to a problem at the tenant level, not just within DevOps. Your "DevOps admin" and "Global admin" roles are likely for a different scope than the specific DevOps organization, or there's an identity mismatch.

What is Likely Happening

• Identity Mismatch: The most common cause is that the DevOps organization is linked to a Microsoft Entra ID tenant, but the owner's account and your account have a conflict. This can happen if:

   * One or both of you are logging in with a personal Microsoft account instead of your work/school account, or vice-versa.

   * One of you is a guest user in the Entra ID tenant, and a setting is preventing guest users from performing certain actions.

   * There's an issue with the Entra ID user's state, such as a corrupted user account or a sync error.

• Entra ID Discrepancy: Your "Global admin" role gives you broad permissions within the Entra ID tenant, but it doesn't automatically grant you access to every service or resource linked to it, especially if there's a specific access policy in place for Azure DevOps. The DevOps organization owner has a similar issue, as their "owner" role is tied to a user account that has a problem in the underlying identity system.

Steps to Resolve the Issue

Since you have Global Admin and DevOps Admin roles, you have a strong position to fix this. You'll need to work with the owner to verify and correct the identity information in Entra ID.

• Check User Accounts in Entra ID:

   * Go to the Azure Portal and navigate to Microsoft Entra ID.

   * Go to the Users blade.

   * Search for both your user account and the DevOps owner's user account.

   * Verify the User type. If one of you is listed as a "Guest," this could be the source of the problem. If so, a solution might involve an Entra ID admin removing and re-adding the user as a "Member."

   * Check for any unusual properties or account states.

• Access the DevOps Organization Directly (Incognito Mode):

   * Open an incognito or private browsing window.

   * Go to the direct URL for the Azure DevOps organization (e.g., https://dev.azure.com/{YourOrganization}).

   * When prompted to sign in, ensure you use the correct work/school account that is tied to the Microsoft Entra ID tenant. Sometimes, a browser's cache or stored cookies can cause it to use the wrong identity.

• Use the Entra ID Connection Settings in DevOps:

   * Since the owner can't access the account, this step may be difficult, but if the owner can get to the organization settings, have them check the "Microsoft Entra ID" section.

   * In there, they can click a button to "Resolve users" if there are any identity mismatches between Entra ID and DevOps. This is a common and often effective fix.

• Last Resort: Contact Microsoft Support:

   * If the above steps don't work, this is a clear case for Microsoft Support.

   * As a Global Admin, you are authorized to open a support ticket.

   * Provide them with the following information:

     * The URL of the Azure DevOps organization.

     * The name of your user account and the owner's account.

     * A detailed description of the error the owner is receiving.

     * The fact that neither of you can access the account despite your high-level admin roles.

This situation requires an explicit correction to the identity link between the Azure DevOps organization and the Microsoft Entra ID tenant. Simply having the admin roles isn't enough if the underlying user account is in a bad state.

I hope this helps in resolving the issue, do let me know if you have any further questions on this

@azflx Just checking to see if you have a chance to check my previous response and helped, do let me know if you have any further questions on this. 

Thank you Harish Badijana

I am afraid I have to go with "   * If the above steps don't work, this is a clear case for Microsoft Support." as I have done everything else.

However, they are not willing to escalate or even work on it claiming I need a support contract :(

Like if paying $10K/mo for our azure subscriptions it not enough.

Anyway, we can escalate this ticket to a different group?

TrackingID#2508250040010376

@azflx If the above steps don't work, you can escalate this to different group

@azflx Just checking to see if you have a chance to check my previous response and helped, do let me know if you have any further questions on this. Sorry for missing mentioning you in the answer