---
schema_version: "1"
id: c2fc171bb82e67959eb8b15a310cc3903880b4d36071f385fb44c9c1714f457b
title: Unlock a Sandbox
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/platform/264-0-0/data_sandbox_licenses.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.data_sandbox_licenses.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: d282223b9610bb0d2779e90d29daf8cfedc550af4d3d534f6ebd39232d6a08ed
description: Sandboxes are licensed separately from the Salesforce service and are subject to restrictions. When your sandbox licenses expire, Salesforce decreases the count of available sandbox licenses for the selected sandbox type.
products:
  - Salesforce Platform
release: "264"
---
# Unlock a Sandbox

Sandboxes are licensed separately from the Salesforce service and are subject to restrictions. When your sandbox licenses expire, Salesforce decreases the count of available sandbox licenses for the selected sandbox type.

### Required Editions

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small edition"><colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: both Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience</td></tr><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: <strong>Professional</strong>, <strong>Enterprise</strong>, <strong>Performance</strong>, <strong>Unlimited</strong>, and <strong>Database.com</strong> Editions</td></tr></tbody></table>

If your current license count is lower than the number of your provisioned sandbox orgs, Salesforce removes sandbox services, such as Sandbox org accessibility or Login.

![Important](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-platform-deploy_sandboxes-264-0-0-production-enus/654e51d1-6795-49fe-bd43-b5385950cf4a/images/icon_important.png)

Important When you exceed your sandbox allocations, the appropriate number of sandboxes are locked to restore your license compliance, starting with the least recently used sandboxes. If you do nothing, sandboxes locked for more than 60 days are deleted and can’t be recovered. For more information about license compliance, see [Sandbox License Compliance](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.data_sandbox_license_compliance.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "When you exceed your sandbox allocations, we lock the appropriate number of sandboxes to restore your license compliance, starting with the least recently used sandboxes. After you meet compliance, locked sandboxes are unlocked.").

Here are some scenarios and solutions, based on licensing and usage.

    
| Scenario | Cause | Example | Effect | Resolution |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Unable to refresh a particular type of sandbox | Your org is using more sandboxes than its sandbox licenses permit. | Your org has three Partial Copy sandboxes but only two Partial Copy sandbox licenses. | You can’t refresh any sandbox. When you’re over your limit on any type of sandbox, your org isn’t allowed to refresh any sandboxes. | Delete sandboxes to comply with the number allowed by your org’s sandbox licenses, or purchase more sandbox licenses. |
| All or some sandboxes of a particular type are locked | Your org is using more sandboxes than its sandbox licenses permit. | Your org has three Partial Copy sandboxes but only two Partial Copy sandbox licenses. | You don’t have access to the sandboxes. | Delete sandboxes to comply with the number allowed by your org’s sandbox licenses, or purchase more sandbox licenses. |
| All sandboxes are locked | Your production org is locked. | Your org has one Full sandbox and one Developer sandbox, but you can't log in to either sandbox. | If your production org is locked, all sandboxes associated with the org are locked. | Contact your Salesforce representative to unlock your org. When your production org is unlocked, the sandboxes are unlocked as well. |

#### See Also

- [Create a Sandbox](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.data_sandbox_create.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "When you create a sandbox, Salesforce copies the metadata from your production org to a sandbox org. What data gets copied depends on the sandbox type.")
- [Sandbox Licenses and Storage Limits by Type](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.data_sandbox_environments.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "A sandbox is a copy of your organization in a separate environment that you can use for a variety of purposes, such as testing and training. Sandboxes are completely isolated from your Salesforce production organization. The operations you perform in your sandboxes don’t affect your Salesforce production organization. You can create different sandbox environments for your org, depending on your needs for storage, copy configuration, and frequency of refresh.")
- [Manage Your Sandboxes](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.data_sandbox_manage.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "In Setup, enter Sandboxes in the Quick Find box, then select Sandboxes. Sandboxes displays the available sandboxes that you purchased and a list of your sandboxes in use.")
- [Sandbox Setup Considerations](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.data_sandbox_implementation_tips.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Sandbox behavior is similar to a Salesforce production org, but important differences affect how you configure and test a sandbox org.")