Azure 'East US 2' - No windows 2012 marketplace images

Hey ZTS,

so windows server 2012 and 2012 r2 reached the end of their extended support lifecycle on october 10, 2023. microsoft is actively removing these outdated and unsupported images from the azure marketplace to encourage users to migrate to newer, secure versions.

this removal does not happen all at once across every region. they phase it out region by region. that is why you can still see the image in central us but not in east us 2. it is just a matter of time before central us and all other regions have them removed as well.

if you have an absolute requirement to run a server 2012 vm, you have a couple of options, but i must stress that running an unsupported os is a major security risk.

you can create a vm in a region that still has the image, like central us, and then use azure's managed disks feature to create a snapshot of that vm's os disk. you can then use that snapshot to create a new managed disk in your east us 2 region and attach it to a new vm there. this is a bit of a workaround.

the second, and much better, option is to use your own custom image. if you have a windows server 2012 iso file from your own licensing, you can prepare a generalized vhd, upload it to an azure storage account, and then create a managed image from it. this allows you to deploy vms from that image in any region.

but really, the best long term solution is to start planning your migration to a supported operating system like windows server 2016, 2019, or 2022. this ensures your systems remain secure and compliant.

the image is gone from east us 2 because it is end of life. your best path is to migrate to a newer, supported version of windows server.

rgds,

Alex