How to reset a vm completely.

Question

Someone just injected malware into my VM. I need to reset it to a clean, new state completely. I tried redeploying and reapplying the VM, but my data remains. I want a fresh start.

Answer 1

Hi @Alex Advent

There is no way to wipe the virtual machine with just the machine's native resources, if the machine is powering on you can try using an antivirus or Microsoft Defender, but the easiest process to get the machine back on is Restoring your VM from a backup or snapshot taken before infection is one of the most effective ways to return to a clean state

Get in touch if you need more help with this issue.

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Answer 2

Hello, @Alex Advent !

How do I redeploy my VM with a clean slate?

I'd like to second what @Jackson Martins has recommended as VM restore points were designed with this scenario in mind.

If you are unable to use restore points and simply want a recreation of your VM when it was first deployed, you can leverage Automation > Export template. This offers the option to Deploy using original values or with changes to the configuration. While there are some limitations to using Deploy, the information from the template or even the JSON from the resource overview will give you information you can use for a clean deployment.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-resource-manager/templates/export-template-portal

Export template from the resource group with the Deploy option

JSON view from the resource Overview

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