Azure for Students – Cannot create VM due to region restrictions / policy blocking all deployments

Question

Hello,

I am using the Azure for Students subscription provided by my university (University of Patras),

and I am completely unable to create any Virtual Machine. Multiple different issues occur depending

on the region, the resource group, or the SSH key settings.

Below is the full list of problems I have encountered:

1. VM creation never starts:
   • When I press “Create”, the portal shows a loading spinner for 3–4 seconds and then stops.
   • No deployment is created, no error message appears, and the Activity Log remains empty.
2. Region restrictions by Azure Policy:
   • The Policy Assignment “Allowed resource deployment regions” restricts my subscription.
   • Allowed locations (as displayed by the policy): ["switzerlandnorth","germanywestcentral","polandcentral","swedencentral","francecentral"].
   • However, some of these regions do not appear in the region dropdown menu (e.g., Sweden Central).
   • Others appear and disappear inconsistently.
   • Even when selecting an allowed region such as France Central or Switzerland North, VM creation still fails to start.
3. VM sizes unavailable:
   • Free-tier sizes B1s and B2ats_v2 show the message: “This size is currently unavailable in this location for this subscription: NotAvailableForSubscription.”
4. SSH key issues:
   • When choosing “Generate new key”, Azure sometimes attempts to store the key inside a resource group.
   • Immediately after clicking “Download private key”, I get: “Could not download SSH private key — Resource '<resource-name edited by Moderator>' was disallowed by Azure...”
   • The message repeats that my subscription is restricted by a region policy, even though the SSH key itself is not region-dependent.
5. Resource Group errors:
   • When I create a new Resource Group and retry the process, Azure reports: “The resource group does not exist”, even though I just created it.
   • In other cases, Azure claims: “Cannot use this resource group because it is not empty”, even though it contains no resources.
6. No deployment logs:
   • The portal never shows any failed deployment.
   • No corresponding Activity Log entry is generated at all, making the issue impossible to debug from my side.
7. Subscription is activated and verified:
   • Subscription name: <sub-name removed by Moderator>
   • Subscription ID: <sub-id removed by Moderator>
   • Status: Active
   • Verified through the "Verification complete" confirmation page.

• My subscription is restricted by a policy: "Allowed resource deployment regions".
• The allowed regions based on the policy are: ["switzerlandnorth", "germanywestcentral", "polandcentral", "swedencentral", "francecentral"] but even in these regions the portal refuses to create a VM.
• Sweden Central sometimes appears but disappears again from the region selection list.

I urgently need to create a Virtual Machine for a university assignment, and I only need:

• A running VM
• A public IP address
• A generated SSH public key

At this moment, due to the policy restrictions and the subscription behavior,

it is impossible to deploy any VM in any region.

Please assist me in removing or correcting the policy restrictions, or enabling at least

one region and one VM size for deployment.

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

It seems you're experiencing multiple issues while trying to create a Virtual Machine (VM) in Azure for Students. Here are some potential solutions based on the problems you've outlined:

1. VM Creation Never Starts: If the portal shows a loading spinner without any deployment being created, it could be a temporary issue with the Azure portal. Try refreshing the page or logging out and back in. If the problem persists, consider using a different browser or clearing your browser's cache.
2. Region Restrictions by Azure Policy: Since your subscription is restricted by the policy "Allowed resource deployment regions," you will need to ensure that you are selecting a region that is allowed. If certain regions do not appear in the dropdown, it might be due to temporary unavailability or a delay in the resource provider's update. You can try re-registering the resource provider by going to Subscriptions, selecting your subscription, then Resource Provider, and re-registering Microsoft.DesktopVirtualization.
3. VM Sizes Unavailable: The message indicating that certain sizes are unavailable could be due to quota limits or regional restrictions. You may want to check the available VM sizes for your subscription and region. If you are consistently seeing the "NotAvailableForSubscription" message, consider selecting a different, smaller VM size that is known to be available in your allowed regions.
4. SSH Key Issues: If you are facing issues with generating and downloading the SSH key, ensure that you are not selecting a resource group that has restrictions. Try creating a new resource group specifically for this VM and see if that resolves the issue. Additionally, you can manually generate an SSH key pair outside of Azure and use that instead.
5. Resource Group Errors: If Azure reports that the resource group does not exist or is not empty, double-check the resource group name and ensure that you are in the correct subscription. Sometimes, there can be a delay in the Azure portal reflecting the latest changes.
6. No Deployment Logs: If there are no logs or failed deployments showing, it might be an issue with the Azure portal itself. You can try checking the Azure Activity Logs through the Azure portal to see if any entries are being recorded.
7. Subscription Status: Since your subscription is active and verified, ensure that you are using the correct account associated with the Azure for Students subscription. If issues persist, consider reaching out to Azure support for assistance.

If these steps do not resolve your issues, you may need to contact Azure support directly for further assistance, especially since your subscription is tied to your university.

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References:

• Troubleshoot host pool creation
• Troubleshoot deployment issues when creating a new Windows VM in Azure
• Common issues: Unavailable virtual machine SKU