Custom translator fails

Question

Custom translator fails

Søren Printz Christensen 20

When running training I get this:

"Unable to create model

Your current Translator Text API or Cognitive Services subscription is not valid. Please verify in the Azure portal that your subscription still exists and your billing information is up to date, then retry.

"

Søren

Jerald Felix 18,680 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-08-18T16:12:55.91+00:00
Hello Søren Printz Christensen,

Greetings! Thanks for raising this question in the Q&A forum.

This error is a generic validation message that Custom Translator returns whenever it cannot confirm that the Translator (Cognitive Services) resource linked to your workspace is active and properly billed. It is not necessarily about your Azure subscription being cancelled. In most cases it comes down to one of three things: the linked Translator resource is on the F0 free tier (free tier does not support full model training once your data exceeds 2 million characters), the key stored in the Custom Translator workspace no longer matches the resource's current key (for example after a key regeneration), or the underlying Azure subscription has a billing problem such as an expired payment method or a subscription that has moved into a disabled or warned state.

Confirm the resource is active in the Azure portal. Go to portal.azure.com, open your Translator resource, and check that its status shows as Succeeded and not Disabled or Moved. Also check Subscriptions in the portal to make sure the parent subscription itself is Active, not Disabled, Expired, or Past Due.

Check the pricing tier. Open the Translator resource, select Pricing tier, and confirm it is set to S1 or higher (or a paid multi-service C2+ tier). If it shows F0 Free, this is very likely the cause, since free tier resources cannot be used to train a full custom model once your training data goes beyond the free character allowance.

Azure Portal > Translator resource > Pricing tier

Verify billing information on the subscription. Go to Cost Management + Billing in the portal and check that a valid payment method is on file and there are no outstanding invoices. A card expiry or failed payment is a common silent cause of this exact error message.

Re-sync the key in the Custom Translator portal. Sign in to Custom Translator, go to the gear icon in the top right, select Subscriptions, and check the key listed against your workspace's Translator resource.

Regenerate and re-add the key if needed. If the key shown does not match, go back to the Azure portal, open Keys and Endpoint on the Translator resource, regenerate Key1, wait about a minute, then copy the new key back into the Custom Translator Subscriptions page to refresh the association.

Azure Portal > Translator resource > Keys and Endpoint > Regenerate Key1

Recreate the workspace connection if the resource was deleted or recreated. If you deleted and recreated the Translator resource at any point (even with the same name), the workspace is still pointing at the old resource ID internally. In that case add the resource again as a new subscription entry in Custom Translator rather than reusing the old entry, then link your project to it.

Retry training once the tier and key are confirmed correct. If the same error persists after all of the above checks come back clean, open a support request from within the Azure portal on the Translator resource itself (Support + troubleshooting), since at that point it is worth having the backend team check the resource's provisioning state directly. Include the resource ID, region, and the exact timestamp of a failed training attempt.

If this answer helps you kindly accept the answer which will help others who have similar questions.

Best Regards,

Jerald Felix.
Jerald Felix 18,680 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-08-18T16:28:00.0566667+00:00

Hello Søren, thanks for the update.

The gear icon UI I described has been replaced in the current Custom Translator portal. The resource and key are now managed from within the workspace itself rather than a separate top level Subscriptions page, so here is the updated path.

Open your FSBDevTranslations workspace, then look for Workspace settings rather than a gear icon. This is usually reached from a menu option next to the workspace name or from the left navigation panel once you are inside the workspace, not from the top blue bar shown in your screenshot.

On the Workspace settings page, scroll to the section showing the linked Translator resource. This is where the current key and region tied to the workspace are displayed.

If the key shown there does not match the current key on the resource in the Azure portal, that mismatch is the likely cause of the training error, and you can update it from that same settings page rather than needing a separate Subscriptions screen.

If you still cannot find a settings option anywhere inside the workspace, it may be a permissions issue rather than a missing menu. Workspace settings are typically only visible to the account listed as Owner or Admin on the workspace. Check under the Manage users or Workspace access option to confirm which role your account has.

If this gets you to the right screen, let me know what key and region it shows so we can confirm it matches your resource.
Søren Printz Christensen 20 Reputation points

2026-08-18T16:31:11.32+00:00

Seeing this:

Maybe I should re-make the the workspace ?
Søren Printz Christensen 20 Reputation points

2026-08-25T08:06:45.03+00:00

Sorry Thanmayi

I didn't see your reply before today. I was focusing on the private conversation.

Where do I run the curl command. Sorry I have never used it before :)

I see this:

Answer accepted by question author

Thanmayi Godithi 11,825 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Søren Printz Christensen,

Before recreating the FSBDevTranslations workspace, I'd recommend a few checks first. This error typically indicates that Custom Translator cannot validate the Translator resource associated with the workspace, which can occur even when the Azure resource itself appears healthy.

1.Verify the Translator resource outside the portal

Test the Translator resource directly using a simple translation request:

curl -X POST "https://api.cognitive.microsofttranslator.com/translate?api-version=3.0&amp;to=de" </span>
-H "Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key: <your-key>" </span>
-H "Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Region: <your-region>" </span>
-H "Content-Type: application/json" </span>
-d '[{"Text":"Hello"}]'

A successful response confirms that the Translator key and region are valid for API requests.

2.Review the Translator resource configuration

In Azure Portal, verify:

The Translator resource is active and provisioned successfully.
The Azure subscription is active and has no billing restrictions.
Any networking restrictions, firewalls, or private endpoint configurations are compatible with your Custom Translator scenario.

3.Check the pricing tier

Confirm the Translator resource is running on a supported tier. Per Microsoft documentation, the free tier has limitations, including a maximum training limit of 2,000,000 characters.

4.Validate the workspace association

Within the Custom Translator workspace, open Workspace Settings and verify that the linked Translator resource, region, and access key match the values shown under Keys and Endpoint in Azure Portal.

Reference documentation:

As discussed over the call, recreating the workspace and validating the workspace association helped resolve the issue.

Kindly let us know if the above helps or you need further assistance on this issue.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

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Your answer

Jerald Felix 18,680 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-08-18T16:28:00.0566667+00:00

Hello Søren, thanks for the update.

The gear icon UI I described has been replaced in the current Custom Translator portal. The resource and key are now managed from within the workspace itself rather than a separate top level Subscriptions page, so here is the updated path.

Open your FSBDevTranslations workspace, then look for Workspace settings rather than a gear icon. This is usually reached from a menu option next to the workspace name or from the left navigation panel once you are inside the workspace, not from the top blue bar shown in your screenshot.

On the Workspace settings page, scroll to the section showing the linked Translator resource. This is where the current key and region tied to the workspace are displayed.

If the key shown there does not match the current key on the resource in the Azure portal, that mismatch is the likely cause of the training error, and you can update it from that same settings page rather than needing a separate Subscriptions screen.

If you still cannot find a settings option anywhere inside the workspace, it may be a permissions issue rather than a missing menu. Workspace settings are typically only visible to the account listed as Owner or Admin on the workspace. Check under the Manage users or Workspace access option to confirm which role your account has.

If this gets you to the right screen, let me know what key and region it shows so we can confirm it matches your resource.
Søren Printz Christensen 20 Reputation points

2026-08-18T16:31:11.32+00:00

Seeing this:

Maybe I should re-make the the workspace ?
Søren Printz Christensen 20 Reputation points

2026-08-25T08:06:45.03+00:00

Sorry Thanmayi

I didn't see your reply before today. I was focusing on the private conversation.

Where do I run the curl command. Sorry I have never used it before :)

I see this:

Answer 1

Søren Printz Christensen 20

Thanks for the quick answer Jerald.

I don'r see the gear icon: User's image

The resource should be okay.

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