Does turning off Boot Diagnostics deletes the VM data that was put in the managed storage account?

Question

What happen to the VM Boot Diagnostics managed storage account when it is disabled?

Answer 1

I'd certainly expect so. That's the customer data - it's subject to privacy laws - and there are obvious security implications of not properly disposing of it.

---

If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin

Answer 2

@Suparich2017 Boot Diagnostic Storage only contains serial log information and screenshots. a .bmp (a screenshot) and a plain text file (text/plain) of the serial console log.

The VMs Disk content isn't stored via boot diagnostics.

When you disable Boot Diagnostics, it stops capturing screenshots and logs from the VM during boot and shutdown. The container and blobs get deleted. The storage account is completely disassociated with the VM and/or deleted.

Because this is a "managed" storage account, it is managed by Microsoft and not visible to customers. The only way to control the access to the boot diagnostics data is, through this RBAC action: Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/retrieveBootDiagnosticsData/action
It retrieves boot diagnostic logs blob URIs.

Virtual Machines - Retrieve Boot Diagnostics Data

Also, note that users can't configure a retention period for Managed Boot Diagnostics. The logs are overwritten when the total size crosses 1 GB.

---

If you have questions, please let me know in the "comments" and we would be happy to help you. Comment is the fastest way of notifying the experts.

Please don’t forget to "Accept Answer" and hit Yes for "was this answer helpful" wherever the information provided helps you, this can be beneficial to other community members for remediation for similar issues.