Unable to Select or Deploy Models (Empty Dropdown Menu) or Adjust Model Parameters in Microsoft Foundry

Hello Sofia Kovacsova,

Greetings! Thanks for raising this question in the Q&A forum.

Your suspicion about permissions is most likely correct. The Foundry User role (previously named Azure AI User) is a least-privilege role. It gives reader access to the project and the Foundry resource, plus data actions such as working with agents and calling models that are already deployed. It does not allow you to create or change model deployments. Deployments are an Azure Resource Manager (control plane) operation, which needs a manager-level role such as Foundry Account Owner or Foundry Owner on the Foundry resource. That is why you can open your project and agents but the model dropdown is empty. Nothing has been deployed in the project yet, or you cannot see the deployments. Deployment settings such as temperature are applied to a deployed model in the playground or agent, so they are also unavailable until a deployment exists.

Here is how to resolve it:

Check what role you hold and at what scope. In the Azure portal, open your Foundry resource and go to Access control (IAM) > Check access, then search for your own account. Confirm whether you only have Foundry User. You can also check from the CLI: az role assignment list --assignee "<your-email-or-object-id>" --scope "<foundry-resource-id>" --output table

Check whether any deployments exist. In the Foundry portal, go to Models + endpoints (or Deployments) in your project. If the list is empty, the dropdown will also be empty. In the Azure portal you can also look under your Foundry resource at Resource Management > Model deployments.

Ask the resource owner to deploy the three models for you, or to raise your role. If your project belongs to a university or organization, ask an admin to assign you the Foundry Account Owner or Foundry Owner role on the Foundry resource scope. The Foundry Project Manager role is aimed at managing projects and assigning the Foundry User role, so it does not cover deploying models according to the role table in the documentation. Example CLI to assign the role: az role assignment create --assignee "<user-email-or-object-id>" --role "Foundry Account Owner" --scope "<foundry-resource-id>"

Alternatively, ask the admin to create the deployments for you. In the Foundry portal, go to Models + endpoints > Deploy model > Deploy base model, choose each of the three models you want to compare, and give each a deployment name. Once they exist, they will appear in your dropdown with your Foundry User role, and you can adjust temperature and other parameters in the playground or your agent.

Use your own subscription if you do not have an admin. If you have an Azure subscription where you are Owner, you can create your own Foundry resource and project there, and the role is assigned to you automatically. Deploy the models, then continue your comparison there.

Check region and quota if deployment itself fails. Not every model is available in every region, and new or student subscriptions may have limited quota. Check Management center > Quota in the Foundry portal and pick a region that offers all three models. If the model you want is not offered at all, it may be restricted for your subscription type and you may need to request access.

Allow time and refresh after role changes. Role assignments can take several minutes to apply. Sign out and back in, or use a private browser window, then reload the Foundry portal.

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Best Regards,
Jerald Felix