Allocation error on VM

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Allocation error on VM

Eric Stevens 20

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Allocation failed. We do not have sufficient capacity for the requested VM size in this zone. Read more about improving likelihood of allocation success at http://aka.ms/allocation-guidance[Learn more about common virtual machine error codes.](https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2203502"Learn more about common virtual machine error codes.")

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Answer 1

Andreas Baumgarten 123.4K MVP Volunteer Moderator

Hi @Eric Stevens ,

the error message looks like there is no capacity available for the SKU of the VM in the specified Availability Zone on the Azure region.

Is this error showing up during a VM deployment? Or do you get the error message when starting the existing Azure VM?

I am aware of 2 options/workarounds:

Choose a different VM SKU
Choose a different Availability Zone for the Azure VM

(If the reply was helpful please don't forget to upvote and/or accept as answer, thank you)

Regards

Andreas Baumgarten

Eric Stevens 20 Reputation points

2025-06-06T18:50:17.9833333+00:00

Hello Andreas,

I created the VM about 2 weeks ago and it was running fine. I shut it down until I was going to install SQL Server on it today. Then today I received that error message when starting it. I hope that this issue can be resolved without have to create a new vm. Can microsoft fix this?

Thank you,

Eric Stevens
Eric Stevens 20 Reputation points

2025-06-06T20:41:42.0633333+00:00

This error showed up on an existing Azure VM after starting it back up.
Andreas Baumgarten 123.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-06-07T05:10:24.6966667+00:00
Hi @Eric Stevens ,

if it's a capacity issue of the VM SKU in a Availability Zone there are 2 options/workarounds I am aware of:

Resize the VM (choose a different VM SKU): Change the size of a virtual machine

Moving a VM from one Availability Zone to another in the same region isn't supported. But you can there is a workaround for this:

Create a full snapshot of the OS disk

Create a managed disk based on the snapshot in another the availability zone

Select the OS disk and click [create VM]

(If the reply was helpful please don't forget to upvote and/or accept as answer, thank you)

Regards

Andreas Baumgarten
Markapuram Sudheer Reddy 2,050 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-09T02:12:35.94+00:00

Hi Eric Stevens,

I just wanted to check in about Andreas Baumgarten response to your query and hope that your issue has been resolved.

If you have any queries, please do let us know, we will help you.
Eric Stevens 20 Reputation points

2025-06-10T15:19:08.5+00:00

Thank you Andreas. I left the VM running in the "failed" state over the weekend for 3 days. Then on Monday I checked and it is not in a failed state anymore. I believe that Microsoft possibly reallocated the capacity to that VM as it became available again. Is that correct? I have been told that I should not shut down the VM for more than 48 hours or the same issue may happen again. Is that correct?
Andreas Baumgarten 123.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-06-10T17:09:11.9266667+00:00

Hi @Eric Stevens ,

I don't know the exact reason, why capacity is available again but maybe it's because VMs with the same VM SKU got deleted or VM SKU size changed so capacity is available again.

As far as I know there is no "guaranty" capacity is reserved for deallocated VMs no matter how long they were running before. But maybe there is some kind of logic behind the scenes.

(If the reply was helpful please don't forget to upvote and/or accept as answer, thank you)

Regards

Andreas Baumgarten
Eric Stevens 20 Reputation points

2025-06-10T17:15:53.01+00:00

@Andreas Baumgarten Thank you
Andreas Baumgarten 123.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-06-10T17:45:03.56+00:00

Hi @Eric Stevens ,

are there any additional questions to this topic?

If you found the answer helpful, it would be great if you please mark it "Accept as answer". This will help others to find answers in Q&A.

Regards

Andreas Baumgarten

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Allocation error on VM

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