NotAvailableForSubscription - Can't deploy B series VM's in East US

Question

I'm trying to deploy a B series VM but I can't deploy any of the smaller size VM families without getting a NotAvailableForSubscription error. I'm able to deploy the larger VM sizes (like D family) but that would be overkill for what I need.

I'm currently on a Azure Nonprofit Sponsored plan so im not sure if that has more restrictions but I was told it was like a normal pay as you go subscription with a bit of credit given. Any idea on how I could get around to deploying it?

Answer 1

Hello Rohit,

Thank you for reaching out regarding the issue with deploying B-series virtual machines.

From your description, the error “NotAvailableForSubscription” indicates that the requested VM size (B-series) is currently not available for your subscription in the selected region (East US). This behavior is typically related to subscription-level or regional restrictions, rather than a configuration issue.

For Azure Nonprofit Sponsored subscriptions, certain VM SKUs or families may have limited availability depending on region and capacity. As a result, some VM sizes (such as D-series) may be available, while others (like B-series) are restricted.

You can try command as az vm list-skus in more details with your preferred regions and see if you have the restrictions with those regions using Azure CLI.

To check for all regions with all the details, I used below command and it showed me which regions had:-

Azure CLI

az vm list-skus \
 --resource-type virtualMachines \
 --all \
 --query "[?name=='Standard_B1s'].{
     Name: name,
     Locations: locations,
     Restrictions: restrictions
 }" \
 --output json

In the output, if you see ReasonCode: "NotAvailableForSubscription" then you won't be able to create VM in region

As a workaround, you may try deploying the B-series VM in a different region such as East US 2, Central US, or West US, where the SKU may be available. You can also refer to the Azure regional availability page for confirmation:

Reference: Products available by region

Additionally, please note that the original B-series (Bv1) VM family is scheduled for retirement on November 15, 2028. As part of this lifecycle, these SKUs are already considered previous-generation and capacity-limited, which may lead to restricted availability in certain regions or subscriptions even before the retirement date.

Reference: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/updates/?id=500682&

Alternatively, if B-series VMs are not available in your required region, you may consider using newer or alternative VM sizes such as Dsv5 or Esv5 based on your workload requirements.

Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/sizes/previous-gen-sizes-list?

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/sizes/general-purpose/bsv2-series?tabs=sizebasic

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-resource-manager/troubleshooting/error-sku-not-available?tabs=azure-cli

Azure subscription and service limits, quotas, and constraints

Hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any queries.