My VM has created a lot of costs, and I have not logged in my Azure account or started the VM.

Question

My VM has created a lot of costs, and I have not logged in my Azure account or started the VM.

tritola 0

Hello,

I noticed that a gpu VM in my ML Studio instance "ml-studio" has created a lot of costs starting from July 23th. The VM instance was created in early 2025 if I remember correcrtly, and it had not created significant costs before July 23th. I have not logged in during or after the summer before noticing the massive costs. The VM was running when I noticed it yesterday, I stopped it and now deleted it to make sure it does not create more costs.

How can the VM have been started without me starting it manually?
No workloads were running on the VM - how come the 30 min idle shutdown did not shut down the machine?

The activity log does not show any actions that would explain the VM starting. Can I see the logs somewhere regarding how the VM could have started without my actions?

Siva shunmugam Nadessin 2,475 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-16T16:32:44.0566667+00:00
Hello tritola,

Here are a few points you might want to consider:

Here are a few points you might want to consider:

VM Status: When a VM shows as "Stopped," it's essential to check whether it's "Stopped (Allocated)" or "Stopped (Deallocated)." As per Azure's billing model:

If it's "Stopped (Allocated)," you're still being billed.

Only "Stopped (Deallocated)" means you won't incur charges.

Automatic Start: There could be several reasons why your VM started without your input:

Scheduled Tasks: Check if there were any scheduled tasks or automated scripts set up that could have started the VM.

Azure Dev/Test Labs: If the VM is part of a lab, it may have policies that start VMs at certain times.

Logs: To investigate deeper, you can check the Azure Activity Log to see if there are entries related to the VM starting up. Here’s how:

Go to the Azure portal.

Navigate to "Monitor" and then select "Activity log."

Filter by your specific VM to see detailed action logs.

Idle Shutdown Configuration: It's worth checking the idle shutdown configuration. If the VM settings weren't correctly applied, it might not function as expected. Ensure that the idle shutdown is configured for your VM correctly.

I hope this helps of those unexpected charges! If you have more details or further questions, let me know.

Thanks.
tritola 0 Reputation points

2025-10-16T17:40:02.17+00:00

Thanks!

Regarding 1) the VM was stopped for several months, and then mysterously started in July and started racking up costs. So it cannot have been an allocated instance, since it did not create costs when stopped before.

And 2) I did not have any scheduled tasks or automated scripts in the VM, and it was not part of test/dev labs.

And for 3), I checked the activity logs for the period, and it did not show any activities to my understanding that would have explained starting the VM. I attach the activity logs here.

And 4), the idle shut down was purposely set at 30 mins, less than in my cpu instance, and it showed in the VM information. But still it did not stop the automatically started instance.

Is there a possibility to dig deeper for the reason how the VM has started? And can I dispute the costs, since they seem to be due to a bug or something else out of my control?QueryResult.pdf

1 answer

Your answer

Siva shunmugam Nadessin 2,475 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-16T16:32:44.0566667+00:00

Hello tritola,

Here are a few points you might want to consider:

Here are a few points you might want to consider:

VM Status: When a VM shows as "Stopped," it's essential to check whether it's "Stopped (Allocated)" or "Stopped (Deallocated)." As per Azure's billing model:

If it's "Stopped (Allocated)," you're still being billed.

Only "Stopped (Deallocated)" means you won't incur charges.

Automatic Start: There could be several reasons why your VM started without your input:

Scheduled Tasks: Check if there were any scheduled tasks or automated scripts set up that could have started the VM.

Azure Dev/Test Labs: If the VM is part of a lab, it may have policies that start VMs at certain times.

Logs: To investigate deeper, you can check the Azure Activity Log to see if there are entries related to the VM starting up. Here’s how:

Go to the Azure portal.

Navigate to "Monitor" and then select "Activity log."

Filter by your specific VM to see detailed action logs.

Idle Shutdown Configuration: It's worth checking the idle shutdown configuration. If the VM settings weren't correctly applied, it might not function as expected. Ensure that the idle shutdown is configured for your VM correctly.

I hope this helps of those unexpected charges! If you have more details or further questions, let me know.

Thanks.
tritola 0 Reputation points

2025-10-16T17:40:02.17+00:00

Thanks!

Regarding 1) the VM was stopped for several months, and then mysterously started in July and started racking up costs. So it cannot have been an allocated instance, since it did not create costs when stopped before.

And 2) I did not have any scheduled tasks or automated scripts in the VM, and it was not part of test/dev labs.

And for 3), I checked the activity logs for the period, and it did not show any activities to my understanding that would have explained starting the VM. I attach the activity logs here.

And 4), the idle shut down was purposely set at 30 mins, less than in my cpu instance, and it showed in the VM information. But still it did not stop the automatically started instance.

Is there a possibility to dig deeper for the reason how the VM has started? And can I dispute the costs, since they seem to be due to a bug or something else out of my control?QueryResult.pdf

Answer 1

Siva shunmugam Nadessin 2,475 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hello tritola,

Check Cost Analysis and Keep an eye on your costs through the "Cost Management + Billing" section in the Azure portal. This feature allows you to track expenses related to your VM and identify any unexpected charges and see if it helps.

Reference document:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cost-management-billing/understand/analyze-unexpected-charges

Thanks.

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My VM has created a lot of costs, and I have not logged in my Azure account or started the VM.

1 answer

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