I need help activating the Microsoft Purview Trial

Dear @Michael Stevenson - TSI USA,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

The Microsoft Purview solutions trial is a free and easy way to try risk and compliance capabilities of Microsoft Purview solutions. After a quick setup taking only a couple of minutes, the features of the Microsoft E5 license package are available for you to use for up to 90 days. Microsoft 365 E3, Office 365 E3, and Enterprise Mobility and Security E3 customers who don't already have a Microsoft E5 license package are eligible for the Microsoft Purview solutions trial.

Sign up in the Microsoft Purview portal. When you start a trial, the trial is effective immediately for 90 days. It can take up to two hours for all Microsoft Purview solutions to appear in your left navigation. Sign out and sign back in to see the updates.

• Sign in to the Microsoft Purview portal.
• On the home page, go to the Trials and recommendations section and select View all trials and recommendations.
• In the Purview and Priva trials section, find the Microsoft Purview solutions card and select Try now.

At the hub you can see the status of your trials, sign up for other trials, and view purchase options.

Remember to assign user with one of the roles listed below can start or end a trial:

• Billing Administrator
• Compliance Administrator
• Compliance Data Administrator
• Global Administrator

For more detailed information:

• Learn about risk and compliance capabilities with the Microsoft Purview trial
• User roles for starting Microsoft 365 trials

I hope this information is helpful. If you have any further questions or need clarification, please feel free to reach out.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

I'm looking forward for your reply.

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Dear @Michael Stevenson - TSI USA,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention, and I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you’ve experienced while trying to activate the Microsoft Purview Solutions trial. I completely understand how frustrating it can be when the process doesn’t work as expected, especially when you already have the required licenses in place.

We’ve reviewed the situation, and it appears that the trial option is being blocked due to an eligibility check or a configuration setting in your tenant. This can happen even when you have Microsoft 365 E3 licenses, particularly if self-service trials are disabled or if the system cache hasn’t updated.

First of all, I recommend you try to view license information in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center:

• Go to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center and sign in with your admin credentials.
• Select Billing > Licenses to view all available licenses.
• Alternatively, go to Billing > Your products to see subscriptions and license assignments.
• On the Licenses tab, you’ll see:
  • Products your organization owns.
  • Number of licenses purchased.
  • Number of licenses assigned.
• You can also click on a product to view more details and assign/unassign licenses.

Secondly, make sure you have the corrected roles and permission to start the trial: Starting/ending the Purview trial requires one of these roles: Billing Administrator, Compliance Administrator, Compliance Data Administrator, or Global Administrator. (Global Admin alone is not required, but one of these is.)

Fix: Make sure the account clicking Try now in the Purview portal > Trials and recommendations hold one of those roles (Purview portal > Settings > Roles & scopes). For reference: User roles for starting Microsoft 365 trials

Therefore, based on your description, this can be caused by some reasons.

1) Trials are blocked at the org level

If your tenant disallows user‑started trials, the Purview card will only show “Trial prerequisites” or a “Purchase” path.

Fix (Admin Center):

• Go to Microsoft 365 admin center > Settings > Org settings > Services > User owned apps and services.
• Check the box “Let users start trials on behalf of your organization.”
• Wait ~2–5 minutes, refresh the Purview portal, then try again. You can turn this off after activation.

On the home page, go to the Trials and recommendations section and select View all trials and recommendations. In the Purview and Priva trials section, find the Microsoft Purview solutions card and select Try now. (It can take up to ~2 hours for all Purview experiences to light up; sign out/in to accelerate.

• When that org setting is off, the Trials hub often suppresses the Try now flow and steers you to “purchase.” Enabling it flips the card to the enrollment flow.
• For more detailed information, please refer to Learn about risk and compliance capabilities with the Microsoft Purview trial
• You can also start the trial without adjusting your org settings by going to the Billing > Purchase services page and searching for the Compliance Manager premium assessment trial.

2) Tenant eligibility check is failing

The Microsoft Purview Solutions trial is available to Microsoft 365 E3, Office 365 E3, or EMS E3 customers that don’t already have an E5 license package. It is not offered to Microsoft 365 Government clouds. If the back‑end thinks you’re not eligible, the UI pivots to purchase

Please check again and make sure that:

• Your tenant doesn’t already hold any E5 package (including Microsoft 365 E5 Compliance, E5 full suite, or leftover E5 trials).
• Your tenant is commercial (not GCC/GCC High/DoD). Government tenants aren’t eligible for this trial.

According to my research, there’s an ongoing pattern (since early 2025), many users have reported this issue where eligible E3 tenants see the “Trial prerequisites” banner even when requirements are met; toggling the trials setting or starting from Billing usually resolves it.

Sometimes, technical glitches or delays in the system might prevent the trial from being activated immediately. It might help to sign out and sign back in or wait a couple of hours and try again.

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this.

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions or need further clarification, please feel free to reach out.

I'm looking forward for your reply.

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