Microsoft 365 Developer Program - don't qualify for a M365 Dev Prog sandbox subscription.

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Posted on by tomlop

Hi All,

I wanted to enroll in the Microsoft 365 Developer Program to get access to a sandbox subscription, including an E5 Dev subscription. In my organization, PowerPlatform has multiple limitations due to strict governance policies.

It crossed my mind that I could try developing in a sandbox environment to build a showcase that I could use at work to convince decision makers to ease the restrictions. However, when I registered for the Microsoft 365 Developer Program, I received the following message: "Thank you for joining. You don't currently qualify for a Microsoft 365 Developer Program sandbox subscription." I get this on the developer program dashboard.

Does anyone know how I could address this issue to gain access to the sandbox subscription?

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Building Power Apps

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Michael E. Gernaey 53,433 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi @CU04041420-0

Were you trying to sign up with your companies account?

You won't be able to do it if your government access has blocked it(especially in Gov clouds) so my answer is no. this is inherently blocked.

Not only that, but depending on the Tenant License in GOV, you cannot sign up for it, as its not at the level necessary to get to the E5, which is probably what's happening. So unfortunately, there is no solution for you as its intentional

While not a happy answer, that is the Answer, although you can certainly try to open a ticket with Microsoft or your IT to verify it.

As this answers the question I'd be grateful for it being Marked as such, and if you have follow up questions please, feel free to ask.

Cheers

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tomlop 2 on at

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Thank you for your response. I wanted to clarify that I was actually trying to sign up with my personal Microsoft account, not my company account. I was using my private computer at home, completely separate from my work environment or any systems. Also, I am not working for government.

Given this information, do you have any other suggestions for why I might be receiving the message that I "don't currently qualify for a Microsoft 365 Developer Program sandbox subscription"? Is there something else I should check?

I appreciate any additional guidance you can provide.

Thanks

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ronaldwalcott 3,847 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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I had heard that Microsoft was reevaluating the program as people were abusing it. Not sure what the current status is,

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w.p 8,339 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Microsoft have stopped offering free E5 developer accounts.

fyi, this is "Power Up Program" forum.

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Michael E. Gernaey 53,433 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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FYI @tomlop

I moved the post to another forum.

As I read your original post I apologize I thought you were asking about a Gov thing so no you cannot get an E5 now.

Unfortunately, E3 is the highest there is now. (even for subscriptions other than Partner)

I'll be honest @tomlop the best way to get a great way to build apps, test and get some free azure credits is to sign up for a Visual Studio Professional subscription.

now.. its not free.. its an investment, but you will have access to a full Office E3 Tenant with 25 office licenses, Power Platform development with full Premium access, power automate, devops, Github, and a bunch of free software, licenses for cloud stuff including D365.

Its a yearly, tax deductible purchase. Year only is roughly 1,200 and after that 850.

I know its a lot to look at and I have never written this up for anyone as a suggestion, but just go check it out. You get so much out of it (5 licenses for D365), you get dataverse, your own tenant, you can have multiple development environments.

Its getting hard to get a whole package of things. The only other real way is to be a Partner and purchase a Silver level (for you) package.

or go here if you haven't

Create a developer environment with the Power Apps Developer Plan - Power Platform | Microsoft Learn

Cheers.

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