Can't connect Linux VM

Question

Hi,

My Linux VM can't be accessed in power on status.

Tried Support suggestions as below but still can't work.

Root Cause Analysis Summary: The VM xxx is currently in a stopped and deallocated state. This power status indicates that the VM is effectively powered off and thus not accessible for connections.

Recommendation:

1. Start the VM xxx either from the Azure portal or using the following Azure CLI command:

az vm start --resource-group xxx --name xxx --subscription 1af6208f-1da0-4a6a-8d92-795ab6536 

Azure CLI command (Manual)

You can copy and run the following Azure CLI command(s) in the cloud shell:

az account set --subscription 1af6208f-1da0-4a6a-8d92-795ab6536 az vm start --resource-group xxx --name xxx --subscription 1af6208f-1da0-4a6a-8d92-795ab6536

Answer 1

If the VM is still not accessible, verify the actual power state first, then use the next recovery actions based on that result.

1. Check the VM power state in Azure CLI:

az vm get-instance-view \
  --name <vm-name> \
  --resource-group <resource-group> \
  --query instanceView.statuses[1] --output table

Expected result:

• VM running means the guest OS has started from the hypervisor perspective.
• VM stopped still incurs compute charges.
• VM deallocated does not incur compute charges and cannot accept connections.

2. If the VM is Deallocated or Stopped, start it:

az vm start -g <resource-group> -n <vm-name>

Then wait 1–2 minutes and check the power state again. Azure Bastion guidance requires the VM to be in the Running power state before it can accept connections.

3. If the VM shows Running but SSH still fails, restart the VM to clear underlying compute issues:

az vm restart --resource-group <resource-group> --name <vm-name>

Portal path:

• VM > Restart

4. If restart does not help, redeploy the VM to a new Azure host:

az vm redeploy --resource-group <resource-group> --name <vm-name>

Portal path:

• VM > Help > Redeploy

Warning:

• Redeploy can cause loss of ephemeral disk data.
• Dynamic public IP addresses associated with the VM are updated.

5. If the VM is stuck in Failed state in the portal, run reapply:

az vm reapply -g <resource-group> -n <vm-name>

Portal path:

• VM > Support + troubleshooting > Redeploy + reapply > Reapply

6. If the VM is Running but Linux is still unreachable, check whether SSH permissions or ownership are broken. If the Azure Linux VM Agent is Ready, use:

• VM > Operations > Run Command > RunShellScript

For Ubuntu:

#!/bin/bash
mkdir -p /var/run/sshd;chmod 755 /var/run/sshd;chown root:root /var/run/sshd

For RHEL:

#!/bin/bash
mkdir -p /var/empty/sshd;chmod 755 /var/empty/sshd;chown root:root /var/empty/sshd

For SUSE:

#!/bin/bash
mkdir -p /var/lib/empty;chmod 755 /var/lib/empty;chown root:root /var/lib/empty

If the VM Agent is not ready, use the Serial Console instead and run the same OS-specific commands there.

---

References:

• Tutorial: Create and Manage Linux VMs with the Azure CLI
• Troubleshoot SSH connections to an Azure Linux VM that fails, errors out, or is refused
• Troubleshoot Azure Bastion session failures due to unhealthy target VMs
• Virtual machine stuck in a failed state
• Troubleshoot SSH connection issues in Azure Linux VM due to permission and ownership issues