VM Operating System property disparity

Question

VM Operating System property disparity

Ehlert, Erik 20

When one looks at the properties of a VM on the overview page for a specific VM the Operating System is detailed such as Windows (Windows Server 2022 Datacenter). But when you view the same VM in a list view the column labeled "Operating System" shows only Windows, and I found no other column with detailed OS information. Why? Are these actually different properties? I'm looking to get the property value onto the list view so I can export it to CSV.

Michael Taylor 60,161 Reputation points

2024-02-08T15:31:46.47+00:00

Please clarify what overview page you're talking about and what listview you want updated.
Ehlert, Erik 20 Reputation points

2024-02-09T16:18:54.29+00:00

When you search and fine a virtual machine in the portal, on the left side pane, the first option is "overview". When selected the screen to the right splits into "essentials" and below that, a tab - like UI with Properties, Monitoring, Capabiltiies, Recommendations, Tutorials. The detailed OS info is depicted next to Operating System on both the essentials section and the properties tab. The listview is the default listview when you use the hamburger menu and select "Virtual Machines"

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Michael Taylor 60,161 Reputation points

2024-02-08T15:31:46.47+00:00

Please clarify what overview page you're talking about and what listview you want updated.
Ehlert, Erik 20 Reputation points

2024-02-09T16:18:54.29+00:00

When you search and fine a virtual machine in the portal, on the left side pane, the first option is "overview". When selected the screen to the right splits into "essentials" and below that, a tab - like UI with Properties, Monitoring, Capabiltiies, Recommendations, Tutorials. The detailed OS info is depicted next to Operating System on both the essentials section and the properties tab. The listview is the default listview when you use the hamburger menu and select "Virtual Machines"

Answer 1

Prrudram-MSFT 28,201 Moderator

Hi @Ehlert, Erik

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A platform.

I had an exact need some time back, so the reason why the "Operating System" column in the list view of Azure VMs shows only the generic name of the operating system (e.g. "Windows") is because this is the default behavior of the Azure portal. The list view is designed to show a summary of the VM properties, and the detailed OS information is not included by default.

I just thought of this workaround, If you need to have the detailed OS information, you can customize it using tags, at the time of creation of VM and even for the existing VMs, you can add a tag with its OS type and add it as a column in the list view from Manage Vire->Edit columns.

Another workaround is to use PowerShell to get a list of VMs along with its OS details but will be a bit of work.

If I have answered your query, please click "Accept as answer" as a token of appreciation

Ehlert, Erik 20 Reputation points

2024-02-09T16:08:38.67+00:00

I'll accept the answer, but it's a silly design. If MS displays an Azure VM's property (not a tag) when looking at a specific VM details, why would MS make it so a list view cannot display that same property?
Prrudram-MSFT 28,201 Reputation points Moderator

2024-02-23T05:58:47.64+00:00

Ehlert, Erik I understand this is a design limitation on azure portal. We have a way to submit feature enhancement request through azure feedback channel and I already found one in their, please add your comments and upvote the same.

https://feedback.azure.com/d365community/idea/554cc6c0-bfcc-ed11-a81b-6045bd79fc6e

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VM Operating System property disparity

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