Urgent Help Needed: SharePoint Tenant Locked After E3 Developer Subscription Deprecation

Question

Urgent Help Needed: SharePoint Tenant Locked After E3 Developer Subscription Deprecation

Dimitri 35

Hi all,

I’m reaching out with an urgent and complex issue related to a SharePoint tenant that was originally provisioned under the Office 365 E3 Developer Program.

As many of you may know, the E3 Developer subscription has been deprecated, and Microsoft now recommends transitioning to the E5 Developer Program via Visual Studio benefits. However, we are facing the following critical challenges:

Screenshot 2025-07-08 at 09.07.00

Issue Summary:

We never received prior information that our Tenant will be locked or that we need to initiate migration
We are at Risk to loosing our Data based on the Warning Notice on the Sharepoint on the 16th July 2025
Our SharePoint tenant is currently farm-locked. We are unable to edit documents for the last 2 weeks, and Sharepoint Support Team has not been the most helpful or been able to resovle the issue.
As a result, we cannot perform backups
Microsoft support has advised us to create a new tenant, but that’s not an option due to the lock and also haven't been clear to us on How to do it.
We've been in contact with support for over 10 days, but haven’t received a workable resolution.
How do we go about creating a new sharepoint tenant linked to all our current communication and env with same Entra Tenant?

Context:

This tenant is part of a larger environment with multiple tenants interconnected, including a shared Entra ID configuration.

Our Azure tenant runs services for a major client and all environments are linked. Creating a fresh tenant would break critical integrations.

What We Need:

We’re looking for help to:

Unlock or gain access to the current SharePoint tenant, or

Facilitate the migration from E3 Developer to E5 Developer without data loss or downtime.

Has anyone experienced a similar issue with locked developer tenants, or does anyone know someone at Microsoft who can escalate this properly?

Any advice or direction would be greatly appreciated, we’re running out of time and options.

Mariusz Kaszewiak 95 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2025-07-09T13:34:53.5566667+00:00

Hi Michael Neobi,

The Open Specifications tags are related to Open Specifications documentation issues.

The Open Specifications can be found at: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/main/ms-openspeclp/3589baea-5b22-48f2-9d43-f5bea4960ddb .

Your question does not appear to be related to the Open Specifications documentation set.

I've changed the Open Specifications tag and added SharePoint Development to provide better assistance.
Michael Neobi 40 Reputation points

2025-07-09T22:55:03.56+00:00

We're facing the exact same issue. I have reached out to 3 different departments and even had our ISV customer rep escalate. No warning or clear upgrade path to move away from E3 and we're seeing the same errors about losing our data. We've been with MS for 5 years building this environment and we can't operate business or automations anymore. The instructions they gave in the banner are completely useless and even after purchasing new licenses, they are not available in our admin center to assign.

Somebody from Microsoft please advise on the path forward because this is extremely unprofessional and an abrupt lock on the tenant is unacceptable and you have put our business and revenue at risk by this unexpected action.
Michael Neobi 40 Reputation points

2025-07-09T22:56:55.9833333+00:00

@Mariusz Kaszewiak this has nothing to do with the OP question. You say "your question does not appear to be related to the Open Specifications documentation set". So why even post this. Just like other Microsoft departments you are giving the run around
Andrea Aiello 5 Reputation points

2025-07-11T11:06:51.0166667+00:00

We are in the same situation. Microsoft should find a solution. Data loss is very bad for us
Daniel Stoelzner 5 Reputation points

2025-07-13T04:32:41.7966667+00:00

Same situation here.
Michael Neobi 40 Reputation points

2025-07-13T05:59:33.2566667+00:00

I started migrating and backing up everything just in case they delete it all. Happy to help the community with migration suggestions because you won't get them from MS
MS 10 Reputation points

2025-07-15T13:40:26.5733333+00:00

We, too, We're facing the same issue.

It's so awful.
Michael Neobi 40 Reputation points

2025-09-26T20:54:07.1333333+00:00

So today it happened! We've been locked out of all Sharepoint and Onedrive sites. Everything blocked, employess, customers, products, revenue. We migrated all of our E3 Developer licenses in June and support told us our data would not be affected because of that. I've been on the phone all week with different support teams and nobody has helped. Please Microsoft advise on this very urgent issue. Access Denied

This page has been blocked as it violates the Acceptable Use Policy located in the Terms of Use. If you believe this is a mistake, please contact our Support team using M365 Admin Center for further assistance.
Juan Carlos Puerto 36 Reputation points

2025-09-27T14:27:29.1+00:00

@Michael Neobi same thing for me. I was told to ignore that message and now I have the Access Denied as well. I'm still using and paying for the Office 365 E3 Developer subscription.
Vivek Bavishi 15 Reputation points

2025-09-29T18:09:10.7866667+00:00

I am in the same situation. Tried going through Microsoft support and after a couple of days, they told me to raise the concern with Developer Program Team. And for some reason, I am not able to log in to my developer dashboard due to some other issue they had a while back.

I also tried to use eDiscovery in Purview to download my data, but that process just gets stuck.

I tried assigning Microsoft 365 business standard license, waited for 24 hours and still nothing.

This is unacceptable to block access for paid developer license subscribers to just not have a reasonable amount of time to be able to backup their data.

If someone is able to find a solution, please share.
Michael Neobi 40 Reputation points

2025-09-29T18:25:58.0533333+00:00

Here is the latest from MS Support when asking why it isn't showing in admin portal:

In reference regarding the SharePoint incident with reference SP1162081. I completely understand how important it is to have clarity and access to relevant information when dealing with technical issues, and I sincerely apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused.

After looking into it, I’ve confirmed that the reference number that I shared with you is part of Microsoft’s internal support system and unfortunately, it’s not accessible through public documentation or external resources. I realize this might be frustrating, and I want to reassure you that your issue is currently being reviewed by our back-end team.

For your reference, you may monitor the status and progress of this incident directly via the Microsoft 365 Service Health Dashboard at:

https://admin.microsoft.com/AdminPortal/Home#/servicehealth Rest assured, updates will continue to be posted on the Service Health Dashboard via your admin center as they become available. Let us know if you still have any other concerns, otherwise we will proceed in closing the case
Dimitri 35 Reputation points

2025-10-03T07:24:29.47+00:00

Unfortunately, the situation has now worsen significantly.

Our entire tenant has been completely blocked for two weeks, leaving my entire company without access to our work or files. This has caused major disruption and financial damage to our business—we have already missed multiple deadlines, and our team has been forced to rely on inefficient workarounds just to continue operations. In addition, over 10 years of company data is now inaccessible.

We received no prior notice that the tenant would be blocked, and despite upgrading to E5 licenses, we remain fully locked out. Multiple support tickets have been raised, yet no resolution has been provided. If this continues, Microsoft will have caused a tremendous and lasting impact on our business.

I must also raise concern over the lack of responsiveness. On one ticket, I have not heard from the assigned engineer for over a week, with no feedback or updates. Given the critical nature of this issue, it is unacceptable for support to take eight hours or more to respond.

Why is the Microsoft Support Team unable to resolve this issue or recognize the critical business impact? I urgently request immediate escalation and a resolution to restore access without further delay.
Juan Carlos Puerto 36 Reputation points

2026-04-21T16:30:21.79+00:00

After 7 months with my data kidnapped and being charge for it every month, finally they were able to unlock my OneDrive/Sharepoint files. It took a lot of back and forth with Microsoft but they did have a way to solve it. So my paid Office 365 E3 Developer subscription still good. At least for now. I kept paying because I had no issues with Outlook for my custom email.
Vivek Bavishi 15 Reputation points

2026-04-21T16:54:06.8233333+00:00

@Juan Carlos Puerto Anything specific that you had to ask them to finally unlock your OneDrive/SharePoint. At this stage, I just want a way to get access for a day to download everything and say goodbye to the developer plan. All of this hassle doesn't seem worth it.
Juan Carlos Puerto 36 Reputation points

2026-04-21T17:02:40.2066667+00:00

@Vivek Bavishi , the first ticket took months and it was closed without a solution. I created another one and it seems I was lucky with more efficient people. The ticket number that solved it is 2604010010012302 if you want to reference it for the same solution they did for me.

I'd like to move out of the Developer plan but there's too many things linked to the tenant.
Vivek Bavishi 15 Reputation points

2026-04-21T17:09:19.41+00:00

@Juan Carlos Puerto Thank you so much for the quick response and sharing the ticket number. Hopefully that will help things move in the right direction.

2 answers

Your answer

Mariusz Kaszewiak 95 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2025-07-09T13:34:53.5566667+00:00

Hi Michael Neobi,

The Open Specifications tags are related to Open Specifications documentation issues.

The Open Specifications can be found at: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/main/ms-openspeclp/3589baea-5b22-48f2-9d43-f5bea4960ddb .

Your question does not appear to be related to the Open Specifications documentation set.

I've changed the Open Specifications tag and added SharePoint Development to provide better assistance.
Michael Neobi 40 Reputation points

2025-07-09T22:55:03.56+00:00

We're facing the exact same issue. I have reached out to 3 different departments and even had our ISV customer rep escalate. No warning or clear upgrade path to move away from E3 and we're seeing the same errors about losing our data. We've been with MS for 5 years building this environment and we can't operate business or automations anymore. The instructions they gave in the banner are completely useless and even after purchasing new licenses, they are not available in our admin center to assign.

Somebody from Microsoft please advise on the path forward because this is extremely unprofessional and an abrupt lock on the tenant is unacceptable and you have put our business and revenue at risk by this unexpected action.
Michael Neobi 40 Reputation points

2025-07-09T22:56:55.9833333+00:00

@Mariusz Kaszewiak this has nothing to do with the OP question. You say "your question does not appear to be related to the Open Specifications documentation set". So why even post this. Just like other Microsoft departments you are giving the run around
Andrea Aiello 5 Reputation points

2025-07-11T11:06:51.0166667+00:00

We are in the same situation. Microsoft should find a solution. Data loss is very bad for us
Daniel Stoelzner 5 Reputation points

2025-07-13T04:32:41.7966667+00:00

Same situation here.
Michael Neobi 40 Reputation points

2025-07-13T05:59:33.2566667+00:00

I started migrating and backing up everything just in case they delete it all. Happy to help the community with migration suggestions because you won't get them from MS
MS 10 Reputation points

2025-07-15T13:40:26.5733333+00:00

We, too, We're facing the same issue.

It's so awful.
Michael Neobi 40 Reputation points

2025-09-26T20:54:07.1333333+00:00

So today it happened! We've been locked out of all Sharepoint and Onedrive sites. Everything blocked, employess, customers, products, revenue. We migrated all of our E3 Developer licenses in June and support told us our data would not be affected because of that. I've been on the phone all week with different support teams and nobody has helped. Please Microsoft advise on this very urgent issue. Access Denied

This page has been blocked as it violates the Acceptable Use Policy located in the Terms of Use. If you believe this is a mistake, please contact our Support team using M365 Admin Center for further assistance.
Juan Carlos Puerto 36 Reputation points

2025-09-27T14:27:29.1+00:00

@Michael Neobi same thing for me. I was told to ignore that message and now I have the Access Denied as well. I'm still using and paying for the Office 365 E3 Developer subscription.
Vivek Bavishi 15 Reputation points

2025-09-29T18:09:10.7866667+00:00

I am in the same situation. Tried going through Microsoft support and after a couple of days, they told me to raise the concern with Developer Program Team. And for some reason, I am not able to log in to my developer dashboard due to some other issue they had a while back.

I also tried to use eDiscovery in Purview to download my data, but that process just gets stuck.

I tried assigning Microsoft 365 business standard license, waited for 24 hours and still nothing.

This is unacceptable to block access for paid developer license subscribers to just not have a reasonable amount of time to be able to backup their data.

If someone is able to find a solution, please share.
Michael Neobi 40 Reputation points

2025-09-29T18:25:58.0533333+00:00

Here is the latest from MS Support when asking why it isn't showing in admin portal:

In reference regarding the SharePoint incident with reference SP1162081. I completely understand how important it is to have clarity and access to relevant information when dealing with technical issues, and I sincerely apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused.

After looking into it, I’ve confirmed that the reference number that I shared with you is part of Microsoft’s internal support system and unfortunately, it’s not accessible through public documentation or external resources. I realize this might be frustrating, and I want to reassure you that your issue is currently being reviewed by our back-end team.

For your reference, you may monitor the status and progress of this incident directly via the Microsoft 365 Service Health Dashboard at:

https://admin.microsoft.com/AdminPortal/Home#/servicehealth Rest assured, updates will continue to be posted on the Service Health Dashboard via your admin center as they become available. Let us know if you still have any other concerns, otherwise we will proceed in closing the case
Dimitri 35 Reputation points

2025-10-03T07:24:29.47+00:00

Unfortunately, the situation has now worsen significantly.

Our entire tenant has been completely blocked for two weeks, leaving my entire company without access to our work or files. This has caused major disruption and financial damage to our business—we have already missed multiple deadlines, and our team has been forced to rely on inefficient workarounds just to continue operations. In addition, over 10 years of company data is now inaccessible.

We received no prior notice that the tenant would be blocked, and despite upgrading to E5 licenses, we remain fully locked out. Multiple support tickets have been raised, yet no resolution has been provided. If this continues, Microsoft will have caused a tremendous and lasting impact on our business.

I must also raise concern over the lack of responsiveness. On one ticket, I have not heard from the assigned engineer for over a week, with no feedback or updates. Given the critical nature of this issue, it is unacceptable for support to take eight hours or more to respond.

Why is the Microsoft Support Team unable to resolve this issue or recognize the critical business impact? I urgently request immediate escalation and a resolution to restore access without further delay.
Juan Carlos Puerto 36 Reputation points

2026-04-21T16:30:21.79+00:00

After 7 months with my data kidnapped and being charge for it every month, finally they were able to unlock my OneDrive/Sharepoint files. It took a lot of back and forth with Microsoft but they did have a way to solve it. So my paid Office 365 E3 Developer subscription still good. At least for now. I kept paying because I had no issues with Outlook for my custom email.
Vivek Bavishi 15 Reputation points

2026-04-21T16:54:06.8233333+00:00

@Juan Carlos Puerto Anything specific that you had to ask them to finally unlock your OneDrive/SharePoint. At this stage, I just want a way to get access for a day to download everything and say goodbye to the developer plan. All of this hassle doesn't seem worth it.
Juan Carlos Puerto 36 Reputation points

2026-04-21T17:02:40.2066667+00:00

@Vivek Bavishi , the first ticket took months and it was closed without a solution. I created another one and it seems I was lucky with more efficient people. The ticket number that solved it is 2604010010012302 if you want to reference it for the same solution they did for me.

I'd like to move out of the Developer plan but there's too many things linked to the tenant.
Vivek Bavishi 15 Reputation points

2026-04-21T17:09:19.41+00:00

@Juan Carlos Puerto Thank you so much for the quick response and sharing the ticket number. Hopefully that will help things move in the right direction.

Answer 1

Juan Carlos Puerto 36

I had the same read-only problem and after dealing with different people at Microsoft what actually helped me unlock the site is in this page: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-ca/troubleshoot/sharepoint/sites/site-is-read-only. Just click the "Run Tests: Locked Site" and follow the instructions. You need admin access for this of course.

And for the September 23rd date even though I pay for that subscription every month, I have no idea what´s going to happen.

Daniel Stoelzner 5 Reputation points

2025-08-24T14:10:02.31+00:00

That worked for me. Thank you!
Michael Neobi 40 Reputation points

2025-09-29T18:27:35.0833333+00:00

I had to run powershell to unlock all my sites. Now, it doesn't matter because every site is locked.
Dimitri 35 Reputation points

2025-10-03T07:27:40.27+00:00

We wrote a single powershell script to unlock all sites in go. But our situation worsen. Now our tenant is fully blocked.
Michael Neobi 40 Reputation points

2025-10-03T16:15:56.47+00:00

Sounds like we're in the exact same scenario, I wonder how many others are experience this 'mistake'. Are you locked out of other things besides SharePoint? This shines a light on how vulnerable your business is when you trust Microsoft. For the amount of time and investment we have into this platform just to be given the run around and have support gaslight you is absolutely insane.

Answer 2

Steven-N 25,305 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Dimitri

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A forum support.

First of all, I’m truly sorry to hear that you’re facing such a challenging situation. I understand how stressful and urgent this must be, especially when critical data and services are involved.

As a forum moderator, my role is primarily to help guide discussions and share insights based on Microsoft documentation and community knowledge. Unfortunately, I have limited access to internal tools and resources, so I’m unable to provide a definitive solution to this specific issue.

I’ve looked into this matter and, currently, Microsoft has not released any official documentation addressing the exact scenario of a SharePoint tenant being locked following the deprecation of the E3 Developer Program. I realize this may not be ideal, and I sincerely wish I could offer more direct assistance.

That said, I strongly encourage you to continue engaging with Microsoft Support and, if possible, request an escalation and if any new information or workaround becomes available, we’ll do our best to share it promptly.

Wishing you the best in resolving this issue quickly.

Best Regards

Dimitri 35 Reputation points

2025-10-03T07:25:34.5666667+00:00

Unfortunately, the situation has now worsen significantly.

Our entire tenant has been completely blocked for two weeks, leaving my entire company without access to our work or files. This has caused major disruption and financial damage to our business—we have already missed multiple deadlines, and our team has been forced to rely on inefficient workarounds just to continue operations. In addition, over 10 years of company data is now inaccessible.

We received no prior notice that the tenant would be blocked, and despite upgrading to E5 licenses, we remain fully locked out. Multiple support tickets have been raised, yet no resolution has been provided. If this continues, Microsoft will have caused a tremendous and lasting impact on our business.

I must also raise concern over the lack of responsiveness. On one ticket, I have not heard from the assigned engineer for over a week, with no feedback or updates. Given the critical nature of this issue, it is unacceptable for support to take eight hours or more to respond.

Why is the Microsoft Support Team unable to resolve this issue or recognize the critical business impact? I urgently request immediate escalation and a resolution to restore access without further delay.
Michael Neobi 40 Reputation points

2025-10-03T16:20:04.3+00:00

This is the problem with your support; nobody has access to anything and you all work in little silos so when a real problem emerges, your best customers can't even get the support or attention they need. It's just non-technical L1 teams that won't even take the time to read the ticket history. The "Illusion" of support is having a very real impact on our business.

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Urgent Help Needed: SharePoint Tenant Locked After E3 Developer Subscription Deprecation

2 answers

Your answer