Microsoft App Developer Experience — More Like a Wall Than a Door

[borealoh]

Blocked from registering in Partner Center as a .NET MAUI developer — no explanation, no appeal, no way back in.

1. Context

I’m a developer building and publishing .NET MAUI apps.
A couple of my cross-platform apps are already live on Apple’s App Store and Google Play. I attempted to bring them to Windows through Microsoft Partner Center.

But I was blocked — not during app submission or review — but at the developer account registration stage.

3. What I Did Right

• Registered with real business that has had a DUNS number for a while, as also required by Google and Apple. Make sure the DUNS information used was exactly correct to the 9 digits zip code level.

• Updated my domain’s WHOIS so it wasn't private.

• Tried with multiple Microsoft accounts, to ensure the right kind of account was being used:

  A personal Outlook-based account

  A domain-based business email

  A legacy @live.com account

• Attempted registration from:

  Different browsers, private widndown, cleared caches

  Networks in California and Ohio

• Created and verified an Entra ID tenant (Azure AD) with Global Admin role

I tried clean sessions, alternate accounts, and alternate environments.
The only possible common thread might have been my phone number.

4. Microsoft’s Response

For every attempt the registration attempt failed. Even for an INDIVIDUAL Developer account, after several COMPANY attempts.

AFTER trying to get support from Microsoft (I couldn't even create a ticket), this was their fainal response:

_From: Microsoft Store Report App Team [email protected]
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2025 10:25 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] RE: Partner Center Registration Blocked - Need Assistance with Business Verification

Hello,

Microsoft runs on trust, and therefore we engage in a rigorous set of evaluation and certification processes across third party individuals and organizations. As a result of our internal processes, we are unable to reactivate your access. Please note that this decision cannot be changed by opening a new support case. Thank you for your understanding._

Thank You,
Microsoft Store Certification Team

There was:

No explanation

No document upload prompt

No human review

No recovery path

Even attempts to register as an individual developer resulted in instant rejections.

5. What Might Be Going On

Based on the experience and what little information exists, it appears Microsoft uses a silent trust scoring system that evaluates:

Domain metadata

WHOIS alignment

IP address history

Browser/device fingerprinting

Phone number and 2FA reuse

Prior failed attempts linked to the same identity

Once this system flags your identity, you’re locked out — permanently and silently, regardless of correctness.

5. Final Thoughts
I’ve paused all efforts to bring my apps to Microsoft platforms — not due to technical limitations, but because I was never allowed to register as a developer.

There’s no transparency, no resolution path, and no human review.
This isn’t just frustrating — it undermines trust for developers trying to do things right.

I’m posting this in case others have encountered similar roadblocks — or to help someone avoid running into the same wall I did.

[borealoh]

Finally got through MS Partner Portal.

Not sure what cleared access, but this is all I changed since:

• used a different personal email and setup MFA for it
• logged into Duns and it prompted me for some information it already had. It seems like DUNS has done some changes to their security handling.
• provided a new business phone number.
• waited two weeks for retrying
• posted this entry