Azure DevOps · Access levels · Checked November 5, 2026

Azure DevOps suddenly shows only "Stakeholder" access, with no Repos or pull requests: an expired Visual Studio subscription, and how to give Basic back

Since April 2026, people who used to have full access have found that Azure DevOps lists them as Stakeholder and that Repos has gone from the navigation (a Stack Overflow question seen more than 1,300 times). Microsoft's FAQ explains it: when Azure DevOps no longer detects a user's Visual Studio subscription, it treats the user like a new user, and if nothing else gives them a paid access level, they stay at Stakeholder until an administrator assigns one. Stakeholder does not include Azure Repos.

What it looks like

• Repos and Test Plans are missing from the navigation, and opening a Repos address directly answers 404.
• Boards still work: a Stakeholder can sign in, view and update work items, comment and use dashboards, but cannot view code, clone, push or review pull requests in private repositories.
• For an administrator, Organization settings → Users shows a banner, a warning triangle on each affected user's row, and an access level such as Visual Studio Enterprise subscription (Invalid).
• If the user was a Visual Studio Enterprise subscriber, the organization also loses the free self-hosted parallel job that came with that subscription, so self-hosted pipeline runs may wait longer in the queue.

Why it happens

Microsoft's FAQ on expired Visual Studio subscriptions gives the order. A user whose subscription is no longer detected gets:

1. Basic, if Basic is the organization's default access level;
2. Basic or Basic + Test Plans, if a group rule grants it;
3. GitHub Enterprise, if the user has a GitHub Enterprise license;
4. otherwise Stakeholder, until an administrator assigns a paid access level.

Azure DevOps checks subscriptions when a user signs in for the first time and, for existing users, every 24 hours. In the top answer on the Stack Overflow question, the affected users had the access level "Visual Studio Enterprise subscription".

Giving access back

Only an organization owner or a Project Collection Administrator can change access levels. If you are the affected user, send them this page.

1. Open Organization settings → Users, select the Access level filter and choose an invalid type, such as Visual Studio Enterprise subscription (Invalid).
2. Check All, select More actions → Change access level, choose Basic or Basic + Test Plans and save.

With the Azure CLI, one user at a time (express is the API name of Basic, and advanced of Basic + Test Plans):

az devops user update --user someone@example.com --license-type express --org https://dev.azure.com/YOUR-ORG/

• Each organization has five Basic users free; after that, Basic is US$6 per user per month, and Basic + Test Plans US$52 (Azure DevOps pricing).
• If the subscription was in fact renewed or reassigned, Azure DevOps picks it up at its next check, within 24 hours. Another answer on the same question restored its users by changing them to Basic and back to Visual Studio Enterprise.
• To avoid the next round, make Basic the default access level or add a group rule that grants it, so users who lose a subscription get Basic without anyone stepping in.

Telling it apart

• Repos is still in the navigation, but one repository answers 404: TF401019, a missing repository or a missing permission on it.
• A Microsoft Entra token from az login or Git Credential Manager is refused with "Please sign-in at least once": TF401444, the organization does not know that account.
• The project itself is not found: VS800075.

Azure DevOps pull requests in IntelliJ IDEA and Rider

Azure DevOps Pull Requests, a plugin by Lesstep for JetBrains IDEs 2024.1 or later and Android Studio, reads the organization, project and repository from your git remote and lists the pull requests that wait for your review in an IDE tool window, on Azure DevOps Services and on Azure DevOps Server. It reads them through Azure Repos, so it needs the same access level as the web: Basic, Basic + Test Plans or a Visual Studio subscription. With Stakeholder there are no pull requests for it to list either. The review inbox is free; voting, commenting and completing are Pro, with a 30-day trial.

Get it on JetBrains Marketplace

Azure DevOps, Visual Studio and Microsoft Entra are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation; GitHub is a trademark of GitHub, Inc.; IntelliJ IDEA and Rider are trademarks of JetBrains s.r.o. This page is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft, GitHub, Inc. or JetBrains.

More: TF401444: the organization does not know the account · TF401019: the repository is not there or not readable · 日本語