Migrate retiring Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) to latest-generation VMs

Question

Got this notification from Azure:-

However, we don't see any VM's in our account:-

How do we address this? Please help

Answer 1

Hi Nischay,

Thank you for reaching out to Q/A.

The notification you received is associated with Azure subscription(s) that may have previously hosted virtual machines using VM sizes or families scheduled for retirement. These notifications are generated at the subscription level and do not always indicate that active virtual machines are currently present in the subscription you are viewing.

In some cases, even if virtual machines have already been deleted, Azure may retain historical metadata or platform-level references, which can trigger advisory notifications. These typically clear over time and do not require any action if no active impacted resources exist.

Based on your current observation that no virtual machines are visible, it is likely that:

• The notification is associated with a different subscription within your tenant, or
• The virtual machines (if any existed earlier) have already been removed.

To help confirm whether any action is required, please review the following:

1. Azure Advisor:

Navigate to: Azure Portal → Advisor → Recommendations Check if there are any VM retirement-related recommendations listed.

Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/advisor/advisor-overview

2. Azure Service Health

Navigate to: Azure Portal → Service Health → Health advisories Verify if the notification is linked to any specific impacted resources.

Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/service-health/overview

3. Azure Resource Graph Explorer (Recommended)

This helps you search across all subscriptions at once for any virtual machines, including stopped or deallocated ones.

Steps:

1. Go to Azure Portal → search for Resource Graph Explorer
2. Run the following query:

Resources
| where type =~ 'microsoft.compute/virtualmachines'
| project name, resourceGroup, subscriptionId, location

If no results are returned, it indicates there are no virtual machines across the subscriptions you have access to.

4. CLI / PowerShell Validation

You may also verify using:

az vm list --query "[].{Name:name, Size:hardwareProfile.vmSize}" -o table

Get-AzVM | Select-Object Name, ResourceGroupName, @{Name='Size';Expression={$_.HardwareProfile.VmSize}}

5. Activity Logs You may review Activity Log → Filter by “Delete Virtual Machine” to check if any virtual machines existed in the past and were deleted.

Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/platform/activity-log?tabs=log-analytics

If all the above checks do not show any active or impacted resources, the notification can be considered informational, and no migration action is required at this time.

Could you please help confirm the following to further investigate:

• Does the notification email contain a Subscription ID or Subscription name?
• Are you currently viewing the correct subscription and directory (tenant) in the Azure portal as referenced in the email?
• Have you checked all subscriptions under your tenant, including older or less frequently used ones?
• Have you tried using Azure Resource Graph Explorer to search across all subscriptions for any virtual machines?

Answer 2

The notification is tied to the Azure subscription(s) and VM size families that are retiring, not necessarily to currently running VMs in the subscription you are viewing. It can be triggered if:

• There are (or were) VMs of the retiring families in another subscription under the same account/tenant.
• There are stopped/deallocated VMs, images, or scale sets using those sizes that are not visible in the current subscription view.

To address it:

1. In Azure portal, switch through all subscriptions associated with the account (top-right corner → Directory + subscription → select each subscription) and check Virtual machines, Virtual machine scale sets, and Disks + images for any resources using the retiring VM families listed in the email.
2. If such VMs exist, plan migration to the recommended newer VM series for that family before the retirement date. For example, GPU workloads should be moved to the newer GPU series as described in the retirement articles, such as NCadsH100_v5, NVadsA10_v5, or NVadsV710_v5 depending on workload type.
3. If no such resources exist in any subscription, the email can be treated as informational only; no action is required.
4. If still unsure which subscription triggered the notice, open an Azure support request from the portal so support can identify the exact subscription and resource IDs associated with the retirement notification.

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References:

• Migrate your NV and NV_Promo series virtual machines by September 6, 2023
• Migrate your NVv3-series virtual machines by September 30, 2026
• Migrate your NVv4-series virtual machines by September 30, 2026
• Migrate your NCv3-series virtual machines by September 30, 2025
• Azure Virtual Machine size retirements in 2026
• DCsv2-series retirement