Unable to unregister Azure VM App Container (SQL workload).

Question

Unable to unregister Azure VM App Container (SQL workload).

PN Azure Admin 0

Issue:

Error:

CloudInternalError - Microsoft Azure Backup encountered an internal error.

Findings:

No backup items exist (validated via Portal & PowerShell)
Soft delete retention expired (>14 days)
SQL protectable items still visible: sqlinstance;mssqlserver and associated databases
These cannot be removed via PowerShell (read-only discovery objects)
Unregister operation consistently fails

Conclusion:

This is a stale/orphaned SQL workload registration.

Request:

Please perform backend cleanup to remove orphaned container and SQL workload metadata (ForceDeleteContainerMetadata / cleanup of protectable items).

Bharath Y P 7,080 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-18T10:55:52.7466667+00:00

Hello PN Azure Admin, I just wanted to kindly follow up to check, if you get a chance see the private message. Thanks
Suchitra Suregaunkar 11,150 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-18T19:19:19.5733333+00:00

Hello PN Azure Admin,

I wanted to share an update that Microsoft Azure Backup and Recovery Service team will check this issue internally and will engage the product group team for the metadata cleanup. Product group team engagement might take time from 48-72 hours and will assist on resolving this issue.

Thank You.

1 answer

Your answer

Bharath Y P 7,080 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-18T10:55:52.7466667+00:00

Hello PN Azure Admin, I just wanted to kindly follow up to check, if you get a chance see the private message. Thanks
Suchitra Suregaunkar 11,150 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-18T19:19:19.5733333+00:00

Hello PN Azure Admin,

I wanted to share an update that Microsoft Azure Backup and Recovery Service team will check this issue internally and will engage the product group team for the metadata cleanup. Product group team engagement might take time from 48-72 hours and will assist on resolving this issue.

Thank You.

Answer 1

Bharath Y P 7,080 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hello PN Azure Admin, thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Q&A platform.

We are looking into your issue and will keep you posted updates.

Also, we have reached out to you in Private Messages for additional step required from your side.

As per your request, you are unable to unregister the AzureVMAppContainer for the SQL workload on the machine running Windows Server 2019 Datacenter with SQL Server 2017. You encounter an internal error from Microsoft Azure Backup when attempting this operation, even though all backup items have already been deleted. This scenario requires backend cleanup. We have escalated the case to the backend support team to remove the orphaned container and associated SQL workload metadata.

If your issue is resolved, please click accept the answer and upvote.

Thanks,

Naveena Patlolla 9,310 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-27T10:40:14.8033333+00:00

Hi PN Azure Admin,
We haven't heard back from you checking to see if the above answer provided by Bharath Y P helped. If this answers your query, do click Accept Answer and Yes for was this answer helpful. And, if you have any further query do let us know.

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Unable to unregister Azure VM App Container (SQL workload).

1 answer

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