Issue using Azure AI Video Indexer Trial with Power Automate – INVALID_AUTH_SUBSCRIPTION_KEY error

Upadhyay, Shraddha 5 Reputation points
2026-04-03T11:06:27.14+00:00

We are trying to integrate "Azure AI Video Indexer (Trial account)" with Power Automate to upload and index videos. However, we are consistently encountering the following error:

ErrorType: INVALID_AUTH_SUBSCRIPTION_KEY

Message: Access denied due to invalid subscription key. Make sure to provide a valid key for an active subscription.

Could you please help us understand why this error occurs when using a Trial account and advise on the correct or supported approach for integrating Azure AI Video Indexer Trial with Power Automate?

Azure AI Video Indexer
Azure AI Video Indexer

An Azure video analytics service that uses AI to extract actionable insights from stored videos.

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  1. AI answer

    2026-04-03T11:06:42.1166667+00:00

    The error INVALID_AUTH_SUBSCRIPTION_KEY indicates that the subscription key being sent to the Azure AI Video Indexer endpoint is invalid or not associated with an active subscription for that API. This is an authentication/authorization problem at the API Management layer, not a limitation of the trial minutes themselves.

    From the context, similar 401 errors in Azure API Management occur when:

    • The Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key header contains the wrong value (for example, a hard-coded or outdated key), or
    • No valid subscription key for the product/API is being passed at all.

    In a Power Automate scenario calling Azure AI Video Indexer (including a trial account), the supported approach is:

    1. Ensure a valid Video Indexer subscription key is used
      • In the API Management developer portal for the Video Indexer APIs, verify the active subscription and copy the correct subscription key for the product that exposes the Video Indexer operations.
      • Confirm that the subscription is active and not expired or disabled.
    2. Pass the key correctly from Power Automate
      • In the HTTP action used to call the Video Indexer API, add the header:
        • Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key: <your valid subscription key>
      • Make sure there is no other hard-coded Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key header (for example, copied from a sample or previous environment) that overrides the correct value. The common failure pattern is a wrong hard-coded key in the request definition.
    3. Use the trial account minutes as normal
      • The trial account provides 2,400 free indexing minutes and can be used via both the Video Indexer website and the API. Trial usage is still enforced through the same API Management layer and therefore still requires a valid subscription key.
      • As long as the correct subscription key is used and the trial is active, the API calls from Power Automate are supported and will be billed against the free trial minutes until they are exhausted.

    If the error persists after confirming the correct key and header usage, re‑generate the subscription key in the API portal (if available) and update the Power Automate flow to use the new key, then test again.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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  2. Anshika Varshney 15,625 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-04-06T10:01:28.85+00:00

    Hi Upadhyay, Shraddha,

    I went through this scenario and this is a common limitation when using Azure AI Video Indexer trial with Power Automate.

    The trial account is mainly meant for testing directly from the Video Indexer website. When you try to use it from Power Automate, authentication becomes the main problem. Power Automate requires a stable Azure AD based authentication, but the Video Indexer trial does not fully support service to service authentication. Because of this, calls from Power Automate usually fail even if everything looks correct.

    A few things you can check and understand clearly

    First, the Video Indexer trial does not expose a proper Azure resource with a managed identity. Power Automate connectors need this to securely call APIs. That is why workflows fail even though the same video works fine in the Video Indexer portal.

    Second, make sure you are not using the old API keys. Video Indexer now works with Azure AD authentication only. Trial accounts are limited here and cannot issue the required Azure AD tokens for automation scenarios.

    Third, Power Automate is not officially supported with Video Indexer trial accounts. Microsoft documentation mentions that production integrations should use a paid Azure AI Video Indexer resource.

    What usually works instead

    If you want to integrate Video Indexer with Power Automate, create a proper Azure AI Video Indexer resource under your Azure subscription. Once that is done, you can use Azure AD authentication and call the APIs from Power Automate without issues.

    In short, nothing is wrong with your Power Automate flow. This is a limitation of the Video Indexer trial itself. For automation and integrations, a full Azure resource is required.

    If you try this with a standard Azure AI Video Indexer resource, the same flow should work as expected.

    Hope this helps. Do let me know if you have any further queries.

    Thankyou!

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