Azure portal doesn't display subscription "free"

Hello Tahir.

Thank you for reaching out. I understand the confusion—when you create an Azure Free account, it’s natural to expect the subscription to appear as “Free” while creating a virtual machine. Let me clarify how this works and how you can resolve the issue.

What’s Happening and Why

When you sign up for an Azure Free Account, the subscription is successfully created in the backend, but in some cases it does not immediately appear in the Azure portal UI. This behavior is typically related to one of the following Microsoft‑documented scenarios:

• The subscription was created under a different Microsoft Entra (Azure AD) directory
• The subscription is filtered or hidden in the portal view
• The subscription provisioning is still in progress (this can take some time for free accounts)
• The browser session or portal cache is preventing the subscription from displaying correctly

Because of this, the Subscription field appears empty during VM creation, which blocks you from proceeding.

Recommended Microsoft‑Supported Actions

Please try the following steps in order, as recommended by Microsoft:

1. Switch Directory (Tenant)
   • In the Azure portal, select your profile (top‑right corner)
     • Choose Switch directory
       • Select each available directory and check whether the subscription appears

Check Subscription Filters

• Go to Subscriptions in the Azure portal
  • Select Filter
  • Ensure:
    Ensure:
    • Directory = All
    • Subscription state = All
    • Hidden subscriptions are shown
• Allow Time for Provisioning
  • For newly created Free subscriptions, visibility can take additional time
  • Sign out, wait, sign back in, and refresh the portal
• Verify Using Azure CLI (Optional Validation)
  • If the subscription appears in CLI but not in the portal, this confirms a portal display issue:

az account list --output table

Try a Private/Incognito Browser Session

• This avoids cached portal data that can hide newly created subscriptions

These steps have resolved the issue for many customers with Azure Free accounts.

If the subscription still does not appear after completing the above steps, there may be a backend provisioning or directory association issue.

Please add a comment in the Comments section, and we’ll be happy to review your case and guide you further.

The subscription for an Azure free account does not appear as a subscription literally named "free". A normal subscription (for example a pay-as-you-go type created as part of the free offer) must exist and be visible under Subscriptions before a virtual machine can be created.

If no subscription is available when trying to create a VM, the account is either:

• Signed into the wrong directory, or
• Lacking permissions on the subscription, or
• The subscription was never fully created/activated.

Use these steps to troubleshoot:

1. Verify the correct directory and subscription
   • Sign in to the Azure portal.
   • In the top-right corner, select the account name and choose Switch directory.
   • Select the directory that contains the Azure free account.
   • Go to Subscriptions in the left navigation.
   • If the subscription list is empty and an error like No subscriptions found appears, follow the next step.
2. Fix "No subscriptions found" / missing subscription
   • Confirm the correct directory is selected as above.
   • If the correct directory is already selected and the subscription still does not appear, an account with sufficient permissions (for example, Owner) must assign the appropriate role to the user on that subscription. See assign the Owner role to your account.
3. Check for view filters hiding the subscription
   • In the Azure portal, go to Subscriptions.
   • At the top of the list, select the Subscriptions filter.
   • In the filter box, select All, and clear Show only subscriptions selected in the global subscriptions filter.
   • Select Apply to refresh the list. This ensures the subscription is not hidden by filters.
4. If a subscription truly does not exist or is blocked
   • For issues where the subscription was not created correctly, is disabled, or there are billing/activation flags, a support request is required.
   • If the portal allows it, use Help + support → New support request to contact Azure support.
   • If the portal does not allow support ticket creation due to subscription issues, use the guidance from the welcome or confirmation emails to complete or fix subscription activation, or use the global support channels referenced in the documentation.

Once a valid, active subscription is visible under Subscriptions, it will appear in the Subscription dropdown when creating a virtual machine, and deployment can proceed. The free benefits (credits and free-tier quotas) are tied to that subscription; they are not shown as a separate subscription named "free".

References:

• No subscriptions found sign in error for Azure portal
• Create an Enterprise Agreement subscription
• Create services included with Azure free account
• Avoid charges with your Azure free account
• Quickstart: Create a Windows virtual machine in the Azure portal