InternalExecutionError - Unable to delete VMSS pwebnod1

Question

InternalExecutionError - Unable to delete VMSS pwebnod1

Lalit Kumar Sharma 5 Microsoft External Staff

Hi Azure Support Team,

I am attempting to delete a Virtual Machine Scale Set (VMSS), but the operation continues to fail with a backend platform error.

Here are the issue details:

Resource Type: Virtual Machine Scale Set (VMSS)

Resource Name: pwebnod1

Error Code: InternalExecutionError

Error Message: "An internal execution error occurred. Please retry later."

Troubleshooting Already Attempted:

Standard Portal Deletion: Tried deleting pwebnod1 directly via the Azure Portal, which failed.

Scaling Instance Count: Attempted running az vmss scale to scale capacity down to 0 to terminate instances first, but it returns the same execution error.

Resource Force-Delete: Attempted force-deleting via Azure CLI (az resource delete), but it is unable to release the resource.

It appears the scale set is stuck in a failed state at the backend platform level. Could an engineer please check the platform health for this resource and help clear the backend lock/stuck state so it can be cleaned up?

Thank you!

Nikhil Duserla 9,945 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-28T10:38:51.5466667+00:00
Hello @Lalit Kumar Sharma ,

Check if there is any lock is enabled on the VMSS by below command:

az lock list --resource <VMSS_NAME> \

--resource-group <RG_NAME> \

--resource-type Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets

Did you tried with poweshell:

Remove-AzVmss ` -ResourceGroupName "MyResourceGroup" ` -VMScaleSetName "MyScaleSet"

Add -Force to skip confirmation prompts.

Please review any stuck provisioning/deletion operations associated with VMSS pwebnod1.
Lalit Kumar Sharma 5 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2026-07-28T12:06:16.5966667+00:00
Hi Nikhil, thanks for the suggestions. I tried both:

Lock check — Ran az lock list against the VMSS. There is no lock on the VMSS. The only lock in the resource group is a CanNotDelete lock on an unrelated load balancer, which does not block the scale set deletion.

Remove-AzVmss (with -Force ) — This hits the same failure as the CLI and the portal. The delete reaches the backend and terminates with:

ResourceOperationFailure → InternalExecutionError: The fabric operation failed.

Also, -Force (ForceDelete) is rejected outright, because the VMSS still carries a Service Fabric extension:

BadRequest: Operation 'ForceDelete' is not allowed on Virtual Machine Scale Set with Service Fabric extension.

On the stuck operation — I checked the Activity Log, and every delete attempt fails the same way with InternalExecutionError: The fabric operation failed .

Additional context: this VMSS was a Service Fabric node type. The SF cluster has already been deleted, but the VMSS still has a residual ServiceFabricNode extension and is now marked-for-deletion — so it can no longer be updated (to remove the extension) or force-deleted, and a normal delete keeps returning InternalExecutionError .

Resource details (non-sensitive): region Central US EUAP, Uniform orchestration, current state Deleting. I can share the subscription ID, resource ID, and correlation IDs privately if needed.

Given the VMSS is stuck in Deleting with this fabric error, is there a way to clear the stuck provisioning/deletion operation or the residual Service Fabric extension so the delete can complete? Any further guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Lalit
Nikhil Duserla 9,945 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-29T10:18:46.36+00:00

Hello @Lalit Kumar Sharma ,

Thank you for your response.

I've shared the consent link with you via private message. Please create a support ticket and share the ticket number with me in a private message. This will help me investigate the issue from the backend.

Thank you!

2 answers

Your answer

Nikhil Duserla 9,945 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-28T10:38:51.5466667+00:00

Hello @Lalit Kumar Sharma ,

Check if there is any lock is enabled on the VMSS by below command:

az lock list --resource <VMSS_NAME> \

--resource-group <RG_NAME> \

--resource-type Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets

Did you tried with poweshell:

Remove-AzVmss ` -ResourceGroupName "MyResourceGroup" ` -VMScaleSetName "MyScaleSet"

Add -Force to skip confirmation prompts.

Please review any stuck provisioning/deletion operations associated with VMSS pwebnod1.
Lalit Kumar Sharma 5 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2026-07-28T12:06:16.5966667+00:00

Hi Nikhil, thanks for the suggestions. I tried both:

Lock check — Ran az lock list against the VMSS. There is no lock on the VMSS. The only lock in the resource group is a CanNotDelete lock on an unrelated load balancer, which does not block the scale set deletion.

Remove-AzVmss (with -Force ) — This hits the same failure as the CLI and the portal. The delete reaches the backend and terminates with:

ResourceOperationFailure → InternalExecutionError: The fabric operation failed.

Also, -Force (ForceDelete) is rejected outright, because the VMSS still carries a Service Fabric extension:

BadRequest: Operation 'ForceDelete' is not allowed on Virtual Machine Scale Set with Service Fabric extension.

On the stuck operation — I checked the Activity Log, and every delete attempt fails the same way with InternalExecutionError: The fabric operation failed .

Additional context: this VMSS was a Service Fabric node type. The SF cluster has already been deleted, but the VMSS still has a residual ServiceFabricNode extension and is now marked-for-deletion — so it can no longer be updated (to remove the extension) or force-deleted, and a normal delete keeps returning InternalExecutionError .

Resource details (non-sensitive): region Central US EUAP, Uniform orchestration, current state Deleting. I can share the subscription ID, resource ID, and correlation IDs privately if needed.

Given the VMSS is stuck in Deleting with this fabric error, is there a way to clear the stuck provisioning/deletion operation or the residual Service Fabric extension so the delete can complete? Any further guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Lalit
Nikhil Duserla 9,945 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-29T10:18:46.36+00:00

Hello @Lalit Kumar Sharma ,

Thank you for your response.

I've shared the consent link with you via private message. Please create a support ticket and share the ticket number with me in a private message. This will help me investigate the issue from the backend.

Thank you!

Answer 1

Alex Burlachenko 25,110 MVP Volunteer Moderator

hi Lalit Kumar Sharma & thx for sharing urs issue here at Q&A portal,

this does look like a backend VMSS control-plane issue. If portal deletion, scaling to zero, and direct ARM deletion all fail with the same InternalExecutionError, there is probably a stuck internal operation, orphaned instance metadata, or a resource lock that is not visible from the customer side. Repeating the same delete commands is unlikely to clear it.

Check the Activity Log for the failed delete and scale operations and capture the correlation IDs and exact UTC timestamps. It is also worth confirming that there are no visible resource locks, active deployments, or dependent resources such as load balancer backend references, but those would normally return a more specific error than InternalExecutionError.

At this point, the Azure Compute team needs to inspect the VMSS backend state and clear the failed operation or orphaned metadata. Open a technical support case with the VMSS resource ID, region, orchestration mode, latest correlation IDs, and the full error response. This is not something that can usually be fixed with az resource delete once the platform itself is returning an internal execution error.

rgds,

Alex

&

If my answer was helpful pls mark it and additional thx if u follow me at Q&A portal

and at my blog https://ctrlaltdel.blog/

Lalit Kumar Sharma 5 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2026-07-28T12:01:52.5+00:00

Hi Alex, thank you for the detailed guidance — this matches what I'm seeing.

I checked everything you mentioned:

• Locks: No lock on the VMSS. The only lock in the resource group is a CanNotDelete lock on an unrelated load balancer, which doesn't block the scale set.

• Activity Log: Every delete attempt reaches the backend and terminates with:

ResourceOperationFailure → InternalExecutionError: The fabric operation failed.

Correlation IDs and UTC timestamps for the failed deletes:

• 25783511-5aee-4bd6-8472-4b4dbebdf3fd — Delete failed @ 2026-07-28T11:40:03Z

• 8a3950ff-6b73-4638-bc1c-64132d5bb562 — Delete failed @ 2026-07-28T11:12:48Z

Resource details:

• Resource ID: /subscriptions/0d44739e-0563-474f-97e7-24a0cdb23b29/resourceGroups/ccybvt-pod01-edg1/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets/pwebnod1

• Region: centraluseuap

• Orchestration mode: Uniform

One extra complication: this VMSS was a Service Fabric node type. The SF cluster has already been deleted, but the VMSS still carries a residual ServiceFabricNode extension and is now marked-for-deletion — so it can no longer be updated (to strip the extension) or force-deleted. Repeating the delete just returns the same InternalExecutionError .

You're right that this looks like a stuck backend operation / orphaned instance metadata that only the Azure Compute team can clear. I'll raise a support case with the resource ID, region, orchestration mode, correlation IDs, and full error response so they can inspect and clear the VMSS backend state.

Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.

Regards,

Lalit
Alex Burlachenko 25,110 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-28T20:36:57.27+00:00

If so pls mark my answr as an answer :)

Answer 2

Nikhil Duserla 9,945 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hello @Lalit Kumar Sharma ,

Check if there is any lock is enabled on the VMSS by below command:

az lock list --resource <VMSS_NAME> \

--resource-group <RG_NAME> \

--resource-type Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets

Did you tried with poweshell:

Remove-AzVmss `
 -ResourceGroupName "MyResourceGroup" `
 -VMScaleSetName "MyScaleSet"

Add -Force to skip confirmation prompts.

Please review any stuck provisioning/deletion operations associated with VMSS pwebnod1.

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