I have an azure account, but when trying to create a VM, I cannot select any F-series sizes...and Azure is telling me none are available. Is this common? Or am I likely doing something wrong that's causing this block?

Question

I have an azure account, but when trying to create a VM, I cannot select any F-series sizes...and Azure is telling me none are available. Is this common? Or am I likely doing something wrong that's causing this block?

Answer 1

Hello Matt,

Thank you for your question. You’re not doing anything wrong.

Adding to Sunoj Response.

When Azure shows F‑series VM sizes as unavailable, it is typically due to subscription‑level vCPU quotas or regional capacity constraints, rather than a configuration issue with your VM deployment.

Cause of the issue.

vCPU quota limits (most common) :

Azure enforces vCPU quotas per subscription and per region, including limits for specific VM families such as the Standard F‑series. If either the Total Regional vCPU quota or the F‑series family quota is set to zero (or already consumed), Azure will mark all F‑series sizes as unavailable during VM creation.

Regional capacity availability :

Even when quota exists, Azure may temporarily restrict certain VM sizes if physical capacity is unavailable in the selected region. In this case, the size is hidden or disabled until capacity becomes available.

Subscription or region restrictions :

VM size availability varies by region and subscription type. Not all VM families are enabled in all regions by default.

Workaround for the issue.

1. Check your current quota for Standard F‑family vCPUs in the target region via Subscriptions → Usage + quotas, or by using az vm list-usage.
2. If the F‑series quota is zero or insufficient, submit a quota increase request for the required region.
3. If quota is available but the size is still unavailable, try deploying in an alternate region where F‑series capacity is available.

Alternative's

1. Closest F‑series replacement: Dv5 / Dv4
2. CPU‑heavy with flexible memory: E‑series
3. Low‑cost / Dev‑Test workloads: B‑series
4. Cost‑efficient compute: Dasv5 (AMD)
5. Next‑gen compute‑optimized: Fx‑series

Links :

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/quotas?tabs=cli

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/quotas/quickstart-increase-quota-portal

Thanks,
Manish.

Answer 2

Hello @Matt Ulmer,

This can happen due to several reasons:

1. The F-series VM sizes may not be available in the region you are trying to deploy your VM. Each Azure region has different capacities and available VM sizes. You can check the available VM sizes for your desired region by navigating to Settings and viewing the Azure types. If the Restricted column shows true, it indicates that the VM size isn’t available for your subscription in that region.

If F‑series does not appear, then: It is not allocatable in that region Nothing you do in the UI will change it

To confirm, Resource is available: Run this command (Azure CLI):

az vm list-skus \

  --location <your-region> \

  --resource-type virtualMachines \

  --output table

Best modern replacement for F‑series

Replacement	Why it’s better
Dsv5 / Ddsv5	Newer CPU (Ice Lake / AMD Genoa), better price‑performance
Esv5	Better memory‑to‑core ratio
B‑series	Cheapest for bursty dev workloads

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If this answers your query, do click Accept Answer and Up-Vote for the same. And, if you have any further query do let us know.

Answer 3

Hi Matt,

Please note the older F-series sizes are scheduled to retire on November 15, 2028. As a result there may be limited available capacity and quota may be set to zero for newer subscriptions. If possible it would be better to use a size that is not scheduled to retire.

Some questions for your specific case. If you navigate to Quotas, do you have available quota for the F series in the region you would like to deploy? For example, if you navigate to link below, next at top set region filter to the region you need, and then in search box enter standard f , do you have available quota for Standard FS Family vCPUs or one of the others?

https://portal.azure.com/#view/Microsoft_Azure_Capacity/QuotaMenuBlade/~/myQuotas

If not, are you able to click on the pencil/person icon to the right of the size you are interested in and request quota?

When you attempt to create a VM, is it giving you an error if you try to select an F series size, or capacity error when you start deployment, or are you having trouble finding the size you want in the list? Which region are you trying to deploy to?

Please click Accept Answer and upvote if the above was helpful.

Thanks.

-TP