Access Issue – Innovation Studio Site Returning 404 After Successful Invite Acceptance

[CarnegieJ]

Subject: Access Issue – Innovation Studio Site Returning 404 After Successful Invite Acceptance

Hi @MatthewCalder-msft,

I hope you're doing well! I'm reaching out regarding an issue I'm currently experiencing with the Innovation Studio site (https://innovationstudio.microsoft.com/hackathons/Innovation-Challenge-June-2025). I had previously accepted the official invitation to join the Innovation Studio platform and was able to successfully log in and view the posted challenges last week.

However, as of today, when I attempt to access the site, I consistently receive the following error message:

Innovation Studio - 404 Error
The page you are looking for cannot be found.

Here are the steps I’ve taken to troubleshoot the issue:

1. Authentication Consistency: I am using the same credentials that I used when I initially accepted the invite and accessed the platform successfully.
2. Browser Testing: I’ve tested across multiple browsers (Opera, Firefox, and Chrome) and also used private/incognito sessions to rule out caching or session-related issues.
3. URL Verification: I’ve confirmed that the URL I’m using is the same as the one provided in the original invitation and matches the one listed on the GitHub repo.
4. Session Validity: I ensured that my login session is active and that I’m not being redirected to a login page or receiving any authentication errors—just the 404 page.

Given that I had access previously and nothing has changed on my end in terms of credentials or device, I’m wondering if there are any updated authentication requirements, access control changes, or site maintenance activities that might be affecting invited participants’ ability to access the Innovation Studio portal.

Could you please confirm:

• Whether the site is currently undergoing maintenance or restructuring?
• If there have been any changes to participant access permissions or login requirements?
• If there’s a recommended troubleshooting path or contact for resolving access issues like this?

I’ve also posted this in the Issues section earlier today (#33 (comment)), but I noticed most of the activity and responses are happening here in Discussions, so I wanted to follow up here as well.

Thanks so much for your time and support—I’m really looking forward to continuing with the challenge!

Best regards,
@CarnegieJ

[Ogechifaith-analytics]

Same here, I got an error message saying" the selected user account does not exist in tenant Microsoft and cannot access theapplication... "

[MatthewCalder-msft]

Sorry for the hassles. The site seems to be up now, but based on communications over the past couple days there may have been an issue we had to fix. Feel free to send mail to me directly at msdev@microsoft.com or macalde@microsoft.com if you continue to have trouble accessing the site.

[CarnegieJ]

A moment ago, I tried the same troubleshooting steps noted here with same error result. See Figure 1.

I will share this thread via email to the alias msdev@microsoft.com

[MatthewCalder-msft]

Thank you, please send mail. I haven't seen this before and we will want to follow up with the platform team.

[CarnegieJ]

✅ [Resolved] 404 Error on Innovation Studio Site – Login Fix for Participants

Hi everyone,

Sharing a resolution from @MatthewCalder-msft and @msusdev that worked for me in case others are still encountering the 404 error or similar when trying to access the Innovation Studio site for the June 2025 Innovation Challenge.

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🧩 Issue Summary

When visiting the standard event URL:
https://innovationstudio.microsoft.com/hackathons/Innovation-Challenge-June-2025

I was receiving a 404 Error:

"Innovation Studio - 404 Error; The page you are looking for cannot be found."

This happened even though I had previously accepted the official invite and successfully logged in using the same credentials.

---

🔍 Root Cause

The issue appears to be related to Azure Active Directory (AAD) tenant scoping. The Innovation Studio platform is hosted under Microsoft’s AAD tenant, and if the tenant context is not explicitly provided in the URL, users may experience the issue especially those using Azure Active Directory (AAD) work accounts or hybrid accounts—may be denied access or encounter a 404.

---

✅ Solution

Use the following URL, which includes the correct hostingTenantId parameter:

https://innovationstudio.microsoft.com/hackathons/Innovation-Challenge-June-2025/?hostingTenantId=72f988bf-86f1-41af-91ab-2d7cd011db47

This explicitly scopes the login to Microsoft’s tenant (72f988bf-86f1-41af-91ab-2d7cd011db47) and resolved the issue for me immediately.

---

🔐 Authentication Note for MSA Users

If you're using a personal Microsoft account (e.g., Outlook.com, Hotmail.com, or a personal domain registered with Microsoft), you may see a confirmation prompt like:

"Confirm sign in? Only confirm this sign-in if you are using your personal Microsoft account."

This is expected behavior. It’s a security measure to ensure you’re intentionally using a personal account to access an enterprise-hosted application. If you recognize the sign-in and are using your MSA, it’s safe to click Confirm.

---

🧪 Troubleshooting Tips

• Use a private/incognito browser session to avoid cached credentials.
• Ensure you're using the same account you used to accept the original invite.
• If you're still having trouble, try logging out of all Microsoft accounts and logging in fresh using the corrected URL above.

---

Hope this helps others who might run into the same issue. Feel free to reply here if you have questions or if this solution worked for you too!

Best,
@CarnegieJ

---

References:

• Microsoft Identity Platform – OAuth 2.0 Authorization Code Flow
  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/develop/v2-oauth2-auth-code-flow
• Microsoft Account vs Work/School Account
  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/fundamentals/active-directory-whatis
• Azure AD Federation with MSA
  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/develop/msal-authentication-flows
• Microsoft Tenant ID Reference
  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/users/directory-tenant-id

[Ogechifaith-analytics]

Thanks for this, but I now encounter another challenge, the one below:

Request Id: 99ea01cf-0f3c-4cf9-8975-1d0bd6ae5c00
Correlation Id: 01977beb-1276-740a-bc31-6752aa655a14
Timestamp: 2025-06-17T03:25:44Z
Message: AADSTS500200: User account 'zeofaith@gmail.com' is a personal Microsoft account. Personal Microsoft accounts are not supported for this application unless explicitly invited to an organization. Try signing out and signing back in with an organizational account.

[CarnegieJ]

Yes, technically this is a new issue. Thus, create a new Discussion thread. I will follow and reply to your new discussion.

[aupetit-ms]

I have 404 issue too. I tried the different solutions but still have the issue:

[aupetit-ms]

I don't know how, but it seems to be fixed now. Thanks.

[rachelledong-m]

Seems to be down again :"(