data recovery

Question

Hello,

I have a problem because my Azure subscription has expired, and unfortunately, I forgot to back up the data stored on my virtual machine.

I no longer plan to use Azure services, and I don't want to renew or pay for a new subscription just to recover this data.

Is it possible to receive the contents of the virtual machine's disk as a .vhd file, or could the subscription be temporarily reactivated (even for one day) so I can back up my data?

I would be very grateful for any help in retrieving my files.

Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

Hello kub1xonek

Thanks for your question

Unfortunately, no you cannot without reactivating the subscription. Basically when disabled, VMs stop; disks remain intact & read-only.
However, do note that after 90 days, these become permanently purged.

Reactivating the subscription (even briefly) is the only supported way to regain access to your VM disks so you can:

1.	Start the VM long enough to copy data, or

2.	Export each managed disk to a .VHD in a storage account you create, then download it.

See: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cost-management-billing/manage/subscription-disabled?source=recommendations

You can mark it 'Accept Answer' and 'Upvote' if this helped you

Regards,

Abiola