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Visual Studio Subscription Support
Frequently asked questions
Search the FAQ to find answers to common support questions about subscriptions, accounts, and billing. Use the buttons on the right to switch between subscriber and administrator.
The administrator webpage has all your updates, videos and important links. Then, written guidance on being an administrator is in our documentation.
If you are a Super Admin you can add or remove other Super Admins or Administrators. Administrators can only add or remove subscribers and will not see the Manage Administrators tab in the .
To manage administrators:
- Select the tab at the top of the page on .
- To add, select Add and type the name and email address of the person you would like to add, select the appropriate agreement from the drop down menu, select the language that they should receive their welcome email in, and select Super Admin.
- To remove, simply select the person you would like to remove and select Delete.
Cloud subscriptions are managed by administrators who are assigned to the Azure subscription used to purchase the cloud subscriptions. The owner of the subscription is automatically assigned as the first administrator.
To assign more administrators:
- Connect to the Azure Portal at
- Sign in with the account you used to purchase the Visual Studio Cloud subscriptions.
- In the left navigation pane, scroll down to Cost Management + Billing.
- In the My subscriptions list, choose the Azure subscription that you used to make the purchase.
- Click Access control, which is located near the top of the list in the left navigation pane.
- Click the Add tab at the top of the page.
- In the fly-out pane on the right, click on the name of the subscriber you wish to make an administrator.
- Click on the Role drop-down at the top of the pane, scroll down, and select User Access Administrator.
- Click Save.
Learn more about administration of cloud subscriptions.
You can assign subscriptions to your end users one at a time, or using the Bulk add feature to quickly and easily upload a larger number of subscribers at a time.
To assign subscriptions individually:
- Select the at the top of the page on
- Select Add and type the name and email address of the user you'd like to assign a subscription to.
- If your organization is using Azure Active Directory the name field will search to find people in your current directory. You can select from the search results, or add someone manually.
- If you want the subscriber to have access to software downloads when they sign into the , make sure to leave the downloads toggle enabled in the Download settings section.
- Complete the Communication Preferences section so that we know what language to send your subscribers assignment email in.
- If you'd like to add any notes associated with the assignment, please use the Reference selection.
- Select Add at the bottom of the fly-out panel to complete your subscription assignment. Your subscriber will receive an email and can begin using their Visual Studio subscription immediately (there is no activation needed from your subscriber).
To Bulk assign subscriptions:
- Select the at the top of the page on .
- Select Bulk add, download the Excel template, and save a local copy.
- All fields are required, with the exception of the Reference field.
- Ensure that none of the form fields contain commas.
- Remove spaces before and after form fields.
- Ensure names do not contain extra spaces between two-part first or last names (for example, if a person has a two-part first name such as 'Maggie May', it should be typed as 'MaggieMay').
- Return to , select Bulk add, and upload your saved copy of the Excel template.
- When the upload is successful you will see a confirmation page, and your subscriber list populated with your new subscribers. Your subscribers will receive an email and can begin using their Visual Studio subscription immediately (there is no activation needed from your subscribers).
Read more information about assigning subscriptions in the Visual Studio Subscriptions Administrator portal to learn more about quickly and easily assigning subscriptions. Learn more about managing Visual Studio subscriptions with GitHub Enterprise.
What is the GitHub Enterprise setup process?
GitHub Enterprise is set up and managed separately from Visual Studio subscriptions. Following a Visual Studio subscription with GitHub Enterprise purchase, a GitHub Enterprise account setup process is initiated in parallel with (but separate from) establishing an agreement in manage.visualstudio.com. Establishing this GitHub Enterprise account may take some time.
After your company has set up a GitHub Enterprise account, subscribers who have been assigned Visual Studio subscriptions with GitHub Enterprise will receive an email from GitHub notifying them that their Visual Studio subscriptions have been linked. After subscribers receive this email, they can reach out to their GitHub organization administrator to receive an invitation to the appropriate organization.
Read more about managing Visual Studio subscriptions with GitHub Enterprise. Reference subscriber documentation for additional details on the GitHub Enterprise set up process.
Individuals who are assigned a subscription will receive periodic communications from the Visual Studio team, including an email letting them know they have been assigned a subscription. If these emails should be sent to a separate email address than that which they should sign into the or VS IDE you can add a notification email address when adding a subscriber, or when editing an existing subscriber.
You can export your subscribers from your previous agreement and add them to your new agreement using the Bulk add button.
Note: your subscribers will receive an email when the new subscription is assigned to them. Learn more about exporting subscribers and using the Bulk add feature. If you have more than 200 subscribers on your previous agreement our support team can assist you. Select Account, Subscription, and Billing Support and select your country/region. Depending on your location, support may be available via email, chat, or phone.
If you're not seeing the correct number of subscriptions for your agreement, you may have the wrong agreement selected in the portal. Click on the drop-down in the top left to see all available agreements. If you are still seeing an incorrect number of subscriptions our support team can assist you. Select Account, Subscription, and Billing Support and select your country/region. Depending on your location, support may be available via email, chat, or phone.
Subscriptions are always assigned using the best available end date. For example, if your agreement has orders with an end date of 6/20/2020 and another one with an end date of 6/20/2021 the first subscription to be assigned from those two available will end on 6/20/2021. If you have a trusted agreement in an overallocated state, the end date will be 3 years from the date the subscription was assigned.
SLP and MPSA agreements don't expire, however our portal currently requires an end date when provisioning the agreement. We currently use an end date of 20+ years in the future for each order under your SLP. If you have multiple orders under your SLP agreement from different days, they will have different end dates.
GitHub Enterprise is set up and managed separately from Visual Studio subscriptions. Following a Visual Studio subscriptions with GitHub Enterprise purchase, a GitHub Enterprise account setup process is initiated in parallel with (but separate from) establishing an agreement in manage.visualstudio.com. Establishing this GitHub Enterprise account may take some time.
After your company has set up a GitHub Enterprise account, subscribers who have been assigned Visual Studio subscriptions with GitHub Enterprise will receive an email from GitHub notifying them that their Visual Studio subscriptions have been linked. After subscribers receive this email, they can reach out to their GitHub organization administrator to receive an invitation to the appropriate organization.
Read more about managing Visual Studio subscriptions with GitHub Enterprise. Reference subscriber documentation for additional details on the GitHub Enterprise set up process.
If you are logged into and do not see an agreement you manage:
- Check if you’re signed in with the correct email address and tenant in the upper right-hand corner of the portal page header.
- Contact the super admin who added you as an admin to see what alias you should be using, if you were removed, or if the agreement has expired. If none of these simple solutions solves the issue, contact support to determine if you are in fact an admin on an agreement.
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The subscription is active and can be used as soon as it has been assigned from within the . Your subscriber can sign into the or VS IDE right away, and will receive a welcome email letting them know the subscription has been assigned.
The Visual Studio Subscription benefits page allows you to see and compare the full list of benefits and software downloads included with a Visual Studio Subscription, based on subscription level.
The developers' assigned subscription levels identify which level of the Visual Studio IDE they have access to. For example, a Visual Studio Professional subscription does not have access to Visual Studio Enterprise. Make sure that you have assigned the correct level.
For the latest release
- Have your subscribers sign into the subscriptions portal at .
- Locate the Visual Studio IDE tile in the Tools section and click on the Download link at the bottom of the benefit tile.
- They’ll be redirected to the Download Results page for Visual Studio to download the IDE.
- Follow the download and set up instructions.
- Using the email their subscription is assigned to, they’ll be able to immediately sign into the IDE after installation; no product key is required. Learn how to claim a product key for use in an offline environment.
Find older versions
Your subscribers can also search and download previous versions from the in the subscriptions portal at .
Depending on what product your subscriber has downloaded it can either be activated by logging in using the email address tied to the subscription, or subscribers can activate it by claiming a product key from the Visual Studio Subscriber portal.
If your organization has an Enterprise Agreement for Azure, your subscribers can receive discounted Azure dev/test rates for various Azure services, enabling cost-efficient development and testing. For details on how to enable the Dev/Test pricing option for your developers, check out the video Help your subscribers get the most out of Azure.
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A Microsoft Account (MSA) is a personal email account owned by an individual to access Microsoft services when an organization is not using a managed tenant for Microsoft 365 or Azure Active Directory. A work account is one owned by the organization that issues it and is used to access services on Microsoft 365 or Azure Active Directory tenants. For complete information about the differences between MSAs and work accounts, see 'Learn about the differences in using MSAs (Microsoft Accounts) vs. Work Accounts (Azure Active Directory or Microsoft 365) and how this may impact your organization'.
Adding an alternate account allows your developers to access some of their Visual Studio subscription benefits (VS IDE, Azure DevOps, and Azure) with a different identity than that which the subscription is assigned to. An alternate ID doesn't provide a copy of the subscription to the other account; it only provides access to the two benefits with the alternate account. Read more about Visual Studio Subscription identities.
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Visual Studio subscriptions are available for purchase through a variety of channels, including Volume Licensing, the , and Microsoft Store.
Compare subscription benefits and pricing to understand the benefits of each Visual Studio subscription. Check out the subscription benefits page for more help deciding which subscription is right for you.
Microsoft Store
Retail Visual Studio subscriptions available through the Microsoft Store include:
Each of these subscriptions offers the option to make an initial purchase or to renew an existing subscription. Renewal pricing reflects a significant discount and is only available for existing subscriptions. To qualify to renew subscriptions at the discounted renewal price, subscriptions should be renewed before they expire.
If you’re looking to make a one-time purchase of Visual Studio without a subscription or any of the benefits that are included with a subscription, visit the Microsoft Store for Visual Studio Professional 2019.
Visual Studio Marketplace
With monthly subscriptions, you can rent Visual Studio and Azure DevOps without a long-term contract. Billing is handled through your Microsoft Azure subscription. If you don’t have an Azure subscription yet—it’s free to set up and you can do this while you make your first purchase.
- - monthly subscription
- - monthly subscription
Read more about monthly Visual Studio Subscriptions billing.
Volume Licensing
Volume Licensing subscriptions are available when an organization needs to purchase a large number of subscriptions. Read more about purchasing through Volume Licensing.
Monthly Visual Studio subscriptions (and annual subscriptions if purchased before December 2018) are billed through Azure and you can find your bill in the .
To view your Visual Studio subscriptions invoice:
- Sign in to the .
- Click on the Cost Management + Billing blade in the menu to find an overview, list of subscriptions, and invoices.
You can acquire Visual Studio subscriptions in several ways, and the process for renewing existing subscriptions depends on how you acquired them.
How to renew retail subscriptions
If you currently have a retail subscription, there are two ways to renew:
-
Connect to the on the and click on the 'Renew' link.
-
Visit the Microsoft Store and search for 'Visual Studio subscription' to see the available renewal opportunities. Here are some quick links:
How to renew cloud subscriptions
Cloud subscriptions are those purchased through the . Both monthly and annual cloud subscriptions renew until you cancel them, so there's no action needed to renew them.
How to renew subscriptions purchased through Volume Licensing
If your subscription is provided to you by your work, it is probably purchased and renewed through your company's Volume License agreement. You can reach out to your admin using the Contact my admin button at the top right of the .
To cancel monthly and annual subscriptions purchased from the , you need to sign in to the and set the number of subscriptions for your agreement to zero.
Follow these steps to reduce the number of subscriptions:
- Sign in to https://manage.visualstudio.com
- If you are an admin on more than one agreement, choose the desired agreement from the drop-down list.
- Select the Overview icon at the top left to display information about your subscriptions.
- Locate the entry for the subscriptions you wish to cancel, and select Change quantity. This will take you the Visual Studio Marketplace where you will be able to update your purchase quantity.
- Set the quantity to zero (0). Your subscriptions will remain in place until their scheduled billing date, but will not renew when the billing date is reached.
All Visual Studio subscriptions are licensed on a per-user basis. Each licensed user may install and use the software on any number of devices to design, develop, test, and demonstrate their programs. Visual Studio subscriptions also allow the licensed user to evaluate the software and to simulate customer environments in order to diagnose issues related to your programs. Each additional person who uses the software in this way must also have a license.
For more details, view the Microsoft Visual Studio Licensing white paper.
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To access a subscription, you should sign in with the email address to which the subscription is assigned. In most cases the subscription was assigned by your work or school, so you will want to use your work or school email and credentials to sign in to the .
If you're not sure what your work email or AAD credentials are, you should reach out to your network administrator. For privacy reasons, Microsoft is unable to provide information about credentials.
If your subscription was provided to you by your work or school, you can reach out to the administrator(s) on the agreement for assistance. You can use the form directly from the . For more information, check out our Contact your subscriptions administrator article.
Information about your subscription is available in the . Connect to to see a list of your subscriptions and to view information such as expiration dates and support information. For retail subscriptions, you can also renew your subscription from that page.
Cloud subscriptions purchased through the Visual Studio Marketplace renew automatically, so if you're using a monthly or annual cloud subscription, you don't have to worry about it expiring until you cancel it.
Adding an alternate account to your Visual Studio subscription allows you to access the subscription benefits, like Azure DevOps and Azure, with a different identity than that which the subscription is assigned to. In the past, this functionality was available only if your Visual Studio (VS) subscription was assigned to a Microsoft Account (MSA). We have extended this functionality for work or school accounts in Azure Active Directory (Azure AD).
This doesn't provide a copy of subscription to the other account; it only provides the ability to access the two benefits with the alternate account.
For all subscriptions, you can add a 'work or school account' so you can use that account with your benefits that require a login (VS IDE, Azure DevOps, and Azure).
Adding an alternate ID is easy. Connect to , click on 'Add alternate account', enter the email address and click 'Add'. For more information on using alternate identities, check out our Alternate identities article.
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The software downloads available depends on the subscription(s) you have. If you have more than one subscription, the downloads for the highest level subscription are visible from within all of your subscriptions. This makes it easy to get the downloads you want without switching between subscriptions.
Check out this list of the downloads available by subscription level. For more information about downloads, see the following articles:
Activation isn't always required for a product. In some cases, a single key can be used multiple times. In general, if a product key is required, you'll be asked to enter it during the installation process or on first use.
You can obtain product keys in two places:
- When you a product you can click on the 'Get Key' link listed next to the product you're downloading.
- You can also find keys on the page in the .
For more information about obtaining and using product keys, please see these articles:
To have access to your product keys after your subscription expires, you need to export your claimed keys before the subscription expires. After it expires you will not be able to retrieve your keys.
To export your keys, simply click on the Export all keys link at the far right of the page. An .xml file entitled KeysExport.xml will be created, and you'll have the option to open or save the file. You will need to open the file with an application capable of handling .xml files. For example, you can open the file as a read-only workbook in Excel. The file will contain any keys you've claimed, as well as any 'static' keys that are automatically claimed for you.
If you're looking for previous releases of Visual Studio 2019 specifically, you can find download links to the releases as well as instructions in the Visual Studio 2019 Releases article.
If you need earlier versions of Visual Studio, such as Visual Studio 2017, see Visual Studio Older Downloads.
A list of the product keys available with your Visual Studio subscription is accessible in the subscriptions portal under the Product Keys tab at .
If you have a question about Visual Studio, several resources are available to assist you.
Visual Studio IDE technical support
Visual Studio IDE technical issues or questions should be directed to Visual Studio technical support. Before using the limited Visual Studio technical support incidents that may be included with your Visual Studio subscription, we suggest trying some other online resources.
- For Visual Studio installation issues, see Troubleshoot Visual Studio installation and upgrade issues for step-by-step guidance. You can also try the installation chat (English only) support option.
- Review tutorials, troubleshooting guides, and helpful resources within Visual Studio IDE documentation.
- Search the online and get expert answers via a community supported forum. You can search keywords and read, vote, comment all without logging in. If you don’t find what you need with a search, you can suggest a feature or report a problem from the navigation menu. To submit a feature request, you’ll need to sign in to fill out the report and post. To report a problem or bug, a running instance of Visual Studio is required to report feedback.
- Search the Stack Overflow to get answers to already asked questions or sign up for an account and ask a new question.
Technical support incidents
If you’ve exhausted the options above and still don’t have an answer, activate a Visual Studio technical support ticket by visiting the and clicking on the Technical Support benefit tile in the Support tab. Read more about the Technical Support benefit. (Technical support is not available with all subscriptions. Compare Visual Studio subscription benefits to find out what is included with your subscription.)
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The types of benefits vary. So do the methods for activating and using them. For example, many of our benefits are provided by partners. The processes for setting up accounts, installing software, and using online resources vary widely.
For each benefit available in the subscriber portal, we've provided information such as which subscriptions include them, and steps to activate the benefits.
Check out our documentation to learn more (click on 'Subscriptions' in the left nav pane, and choose 'Benefits').
Available benefits vary by subscription level and are subject to change. To see which benefits are included for each paid subscription level, please visit https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/benefits/. You can select the subscription you're interested in, and then see which benefits are available in the various categories - Tools, Azure, Software and Downloads, Services, Training, and Support.
Visual Studio subscriptions with GitHub Enterprise are managed in two parts:
- The Visual Studio subscription (Enterprise or Professional)
- GitHub Enterprise
When you are assigned a Visual Studio subscription with GitHub, you'll receive an email letting you know that your Visual Studio Subscriptions administrator has assigned a subscription to you. At that point, you are able to view available subscription benefits at . This includes the GitHub Enterprise benefit.
GitHub Enterprise is managed by a GitHub administrator, separately from Visual Studio subscriptions. When your company has set up a GitHub Enterprise account, you will receive an email from GitHub notifying you that your Visual Studio subscription has been linked and the benefit tile will update. Setting up this account may take some time and is dependent on your company completing the setup process. After you receive the email, you can reach out to the appropriate GitHub organization administrator to request an invitation to their organization and/or repo.
When an invitation is sent from your GitHub org administrator, you will receive an email from GitHub and the benefit tile will update again.
After you accept the GitHub org invitation, the appearance of the benefit tile at will change from “Pending” to “Activated” and you can now start using GitHub Enterprise.
Read more details on the GitHub Enterprise set up process.
Your subscription level identifies which level of the Visual Studio IDE you have access to. For example, a Visual Studio Professional subscription does not have access to Visual Studio Enterprise. If you’re not sure which level you're using, see the subscriptions available to you by checking the in the portal.
How to download and activate
- Sign in to the subscriptions portal.
- For the latest release, locate the Visual Studio IDE tile in the Tools section and click on the Download link at the bottom of the benefit tile.
- You’ll be redirected to the Download Results page for Visual Studio, where you’ll have the opportunity to download the IDE.
- Follow the download and set up instructions.
- Using the email your subscription is assigned to, you’ll be able to immediately sign into the IDE after installation, no product key is required. Learn how to claim a product key so you can use the IDE when you're offline.
Find an older version
You can also search and download previous versions from the in the subscriptions portal.
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Visual Studio subscriptions are available for purchase through a variety of channels, including Volume Licensing, the , and Microsoft Store.
Compare subscription benefits and pricing to understand the benefits of each Visual Studio subscription. Check out the subscription benefits page for more help deciding which subscription is right for you.
Microsoft Store
Retail Visual Studio subscriptions available through the Microsoft Store include:
Each of these subscriptions offers the option to make an initial purchase or to renew an existing subscription. Renewal pricing reflects a significant discount and is only available for existing subscriptions. To qualify to renew subscriptions at the discounted renewal price, subscriptions should be renewed before they expire.
If you’re looking to make a one-time purchase of Visual Studio without a subscription or any of the benefits that are included with a subscription, visit the Microsoft Store for Visual Studio Professional 2019.
Visual Studio Marketplace
With monthly subscriptions, you can rent Visual Studio and Azure DevOps without a long-term contract. Billing is handled through your Microsoft Azure subscription. If you don’t have an Azure subscription yet—it’s free to set up and you can do this while you make your first purchase.
- - monthly subscription
- - monthly subscription
Read more about monthly Visual Studio Subscriptions billing.
Volume Licensing
Volume Licensing subscriptions are available when an organization needs to purchase a large number of subscriptions. Read more about purchasing through Volume Licensing.
You can acquire Visual Studio subscriptions in several ways, and the process for renewing existing subscriptions depends on how you acquired them.
How to renew retail subscriptions
If you currently have a retail subscription, there are two ways to renew:
-
Connect to the on the and click on the 'Renew' link.
-
Visit the Microsoft Store and search for 'Visual Studio subscription' to see the available renewal opportunities. Here are some quick links:
[!Note] You must renew your subscription within 30 days after the expiry to qualify for renewal pricing. If you renew through the Microsoft Store, be sure to activate your renewal with the 5x5 key that you receive or your subscription will not have an updated end date or be renewed.
How to renew cloud subscriptions
Cloud subscriptions are those purchased through the . Both monthly and annual cloud subscriptions renew until you cancel them, so there's no action needed to renew them.
How to renew subscriptions purchased through Volume Licensing
If your subscription is provided to you by your work, it is probably purchased and renewed through your company's Volume License agreement. You can reach out to your admin using the Contact my admin button at the top right of the .
All Visual Studio subscriptions are licensed on a per-user basis. Each licensed user may install and use the software on any number of devices to design, develop, test, and demonstrate their programs. Visual Studio subscriptions also allow the licensed user to evaluate the software and to simulate customer environments in order to diagnose issues related to your programs. Each additional person who uses the software in this way must also have a license.
For more details, view the Microsoft Visual Studio Licensing white paper.
Monthly Visual Studio subscriptions (and annual subscriptions if purchased before December 2018) are billed through Azure and you can find your bill in the .
To view your Visual Studio subscriptions invoice:
- Sign in to the .
- Click on the Cost Management + Billing blade in the menu to find an overview, list of subscriptions, and invoices.
To cancel monthly and annual subscriptions purchased from the , you need to sign in to the and set the number of subscriptions for your agreement to zero.
Follow these steps to reduce the number of subscriptions:
- Sign in to https://manage.visualstudio.com
- If you are an admin on more than one agreement, choose the desired agreement from the drop-down list.
- Select the Overview icon at the top left to display information about your subscriptions.
- Locate the entry for the subscriptions you wish to cancel, and select Change quantity. This will take you the Visual Studio Marketplace where you will be able to update your purchase quantity.
- Set the quantity to zero (0). Your subscriptions will remain in place until their scheduled billing date, but will not renew when the billing date is reached.
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Azure monthly credits provide you with the ability to explore and try various Azure services at no cost. Examples include:
- Host a static website
- Publish an ASP.NET site to Azure
- Deploy a containerized website
- Deploy a website to a virtual machine
- Integrate your data and services using serverless backend
- Deploy a Python web app
For more information about how you can use Azure credits, visit Monthly Azure credits for Visual Studio subscribers
There is no cost to use these credits. They are included in your Visual Studio subscription. When you run out of the credit that's allotted for the month, you won't be able to continue using it until it resets the next month.
To learn how to set up your Azure credits, please see the 'Activation steps' section of our Azure credit article.
Monthly Azure credits for Visual Studio subscribers are specifically for individual dev/test usage only. To run production workloads, you'll need to upgrade to a paid Azure subscription, such as pay-as-you-go pricing.
You must activate the credits using the email associated with your Visual Studio subscription, or your alternate account (for more information on using alternate identities, check out our Alternate identities article).
Azure subscriptions created via the Visual Studio Subscriptions benefit may be impacted by restrictions that aren't imposed on paid subscriptions. Certain geographies may not be available for creating VMs and Azure services, and certain service types may not be available. There may be a lower default quota than on paid subscriptions.
Credit pooling is not available. This benefit is intended for personal use by the Visual Studio subscriber.
The monthly Azure credit for Visual Studio subscribers is for development and testing only and does not carry a financially backed SLA. We reserve the right to suspend any instance (VM or cloud service) that runs continuously for more than 120 hours or if we determine that the instance is being used for production. We are making this capacity available to Visual Studio subscribers on a best-effort basis; there is no guarantee of capacity availability.
The monthly credit does not apply toward purchase of the following services:
- Support plans
- Application Insights
- Visual Studio subscriptions
- Azure DevOps
- Visual Studio App Center
- Third-party branded products
- Products sold through the
- Products otherwise sold separately from Azure (for example, Azure Active Directory Premium)
To purchase these services, you'll need to remove your spending limit and provide a credit card for billing.
You can learn more about how your Azure credits work by visiting our Monthly Azure credits for Visual Studio subscribers page.
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