Unable to login to Azure Portal and other Azure services at all

Question

Unable to login to Azure Portal and other Azure services at all

Abhishek Marik 0

Hi,

I have a Azure Portal account using my gmail id <PII REMOVED>. While working with Azure Databricks, I was trying to create Unity Catalog, for which I need to check few details in Microsoft Entra. There was a account in my name something like <PII REMOVED> or equivalent (can't remember the whole name). During some checking, I, by mistake, tried to convert it as an internal account. This was blunder as after that, I am unable to login to Azure portal and any Azure service at all using my email id <PII REMOVED>. It is saying that the identity provider doesn't exist at all. I have attached the error screenshot.

Now I researched a bit on this, but couldn't get any headsup how to resolve this issue. I am in immediate need to fix this for my work and learning. Please someone help on this how to resolve it. I am unable to raise support ticket as well as I am unable to login. I tried to call helpdesk but no luck. I posted in Twitter as well if I can get any help.

Shubham Sharma 17,930 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-12T03:38:27.18+00:00
Abhishek Marik

Based on your description, it appears that you have created a Microsoft personal account, not an Azure work or school account. This is why you’re encountering errors when trying to access the Azure Portal.

Issue: When users try to login to Azure portal using their personal Microsoft Account (Outlook, Hotmail..) they are getting AADSTS160021 or AADSTS16000 or AADSTS50020 errors.

Reason: When signing in to the Azure portal with a personal Microsoft account, you are automatically connected to the Microsoft Services tenant (Tenant ID: f8cdef31-a31e-4b4a-93e4-5f571e91255a).

You can verify this by navigating to Microsoft Entra ID > Overview, where you’ll see this Tenant ID.

This default tenant does not have a directory associated with it, which you can confirm by going to the Settings blade. As a result, you cannot perform administrative actions such as:

Creating users or groups

Registering enterprise applications

Managing resources

In short, it’s a system tenant with restricted capabilities, and administrative access is not granted by default.

Solution: To fully utilize the Azure portal, you need to create your own tenant instead of relying on the Microsoft Services tenant.

Follow these steps:

Open an in-private/incognito browser window (to avoid automatic sign-in via SSO).

Navigate to https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/ to sign up for a free Azure account.

During the setup, you’ll be prompted to create a new directory (tenant). Once completed, you will become the Global Administrator of this new tenant, giving you full access to manage Azure resources.

If the answer is helpful, kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".
Abhishek Marik 0 Reputation points

2026-05-12T04:16:53.7366667+00:00

Thanks Shubham for the detailed information. This is helpful.

However, I wish to use this account because there are resources already created under this account. I have been using this for almost 1 year. Today morning as well, it was working fantastically. However, while activating Unity Catalog for Azure Databricks, I was exploring how to do that. In the Entra, I found my external tenant id, something using my gmail id and EXT key word in it. I was trying reset the password of it, but couldn't do it. Then I noticed on that same page, there is a option to convert External id to Internal ID. I tried that and it ended in error. Since then I am facing this issue. :(

Is there anyway to add this email to my tenant? I am unable to raise a support ticket from Azure portal at all. Not sure how I can reach out to sort this issue asap.
Shubham Sharma 17,930 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-13T09:32:49.13+00:00

Abhishek Marik

Thank you for your reply.

I am checking with the internal team and i will get back to you shortly.
Shubham Sharma 17,930 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-14T07:41:35.3033333+00:00

Abhishek Marik

Could you please provide an update in to private message?

1 answer

Your answer

Shubham Sharma 17,930 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-12T03:38:27.18+00:00

Abhishek Marik

Based on your description, it appears that you have created a Microsoft personal account, not an Azure work or school account. This is why you’re encountering errors when trying to access the Azure Portal.

Issue: When users try to login to Azure portal using their personal Microsoft Account (Outlook, Hotmail..) they are getting AADSTS160021 or AADSTS16000 or AADSTS50020 errors.

Reason: When signing in to the Azure portal with a personal Microsoft account, you are automatically connected to the Microsoft Services tenant (Tenant ID: f8cdef31-a31e-4b4a-93e4-5f571e91255a).

You can verify this by navigating to Microsoft Entra ID > Overview, where you’ll see this Tenant ID.

This default tenant does not have a directory associated with it, which you can confirm by going to the Settings blade. As a result, you cannot perform administrative actions such as:

Creating users or groups

Registering enterprise applications

Managing resources

In short, it’s a system tenant with restricted capabilities, and administrative access is not granted by default.

Solution: To fully utilize the Azure portal, you need to create your own tenant instead of relying on the Microsoft Services tenant.

Follow these steps:

Open an in-private/incognito browser window (to avoid automatic sign-in via SSO).

Navigate to https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/ to sign up for a free Azure account.

During the setup, you’ll be prompted to create a new directory (tenant). Once completed, you will become the Global Administrator of this new tenant, giving you full access to manage Azure resources.

If the answer is helpful, kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".
Abhishek Marik 0 Reputation points

2026-05-12T04:16:53.7366667+00:00

Thanks Shubham for the detailed information. This is helpful.

However, I wish to use this account because there are resources already created under this account. I have been using this for almost 1 year. Today morning as well, it was working fantastically. However, while activating Unity Catalog for Azure Databricks, I was exploring how to do that. In the Entra, I found my external tenant id, something using my gmail id and EXT key word in it. I was trying reset the password of it, but couldn't do it. Then I noticed on that same page, there is a option to convert External id to Internal ID. I tried that and it ended in error. Since then I am facing this issue. :(

Is there anyway to add this email to my tenant? I am unable to raise a support ticket from Azure portal at all. Not sure how I can reach out to sort this issue asap.
Shubham Sharma 17,930 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-13T09:32:49.13+00:00

Abhishek Marik

Thank you for your reply.

I am checking with the internal team and i will get back to you shortly.
Shubham Sharma 17,930 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-14T07:41:35.3033333+00:00

Abhishek Marik

Could you please provide an update in to private message?

Answer 1

The error message shown is AADSTS50020: User account '...@gmail.com' from identity provider 'live.com' does not exist in tenant 'Microsoft Services' and cannot access the application ... The account needs to be added as an external user in the tenant first.

This means the Gmail-based Microsoft account is trying to sign in to the wrong Microsoft Entra tenant ("Microsoft Services"), where that account doesn’t exist as a user. The account itself is not deleted; it just has no presence in that tenant.

To regain access to Azure Portal and Entra:

Sign out of all Microsoft sessions in the browser.
Start a new private/incognito browser session.
Go directly to the Azure portal using the tenant where the Azure subscription and directory were created, not the "Microsoft Services" tenant. Use one of these URL patterns with the correct tenant identifier:
- https://portal.azure.com/<TenantId>
- https://portal.azure.com/<yourTenantName>.onmicrosoft.com
When prompted, sign in with the same Gmail-based Microsoft account that owns the subscription.
If the correct tenant is selected, the sign-in should succeed because the account exists in that tenant. If needed, after sign-in, switch directories from the account menu in the top-right of the portal and choose the directory that contains the subscription.

If the account still lands in the wrong tenant and cannot access Azure resources, contact Microsoft support so the tenant that actually holds the subscription can be identified and the account can be added or corrected there.

References: