Cannot delete a resource

Question

Cannot delete a resource

etf 0

I have a resource that failed to delete after I removed AVD, I use this tenant and subscription on DAILY basis, in my years using Azure NEVER had this issue, the resource is in "limbo" is not part of a resource group and it is just showing under resources but I cannot access it nor delete it, anyone seen anything like it.... I need to continue testing in my tenants and this thing is in my way....

Jilakara Hemalatha 11,345 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-27T00:11:16.36+00:00

Thank you for reaching out and sharing the details of the issue.

Based on your description, the resource appears to be in an orphaned or inconsistent state within Microsoft Azure. This can occasionally occur when a delete operation (such as after removing Azure Virtual Desktop resources) does not complete successfully at the backend, leaving behind a resource entry that is visible but not accessible or associated with any resource group.

Since this behavior is related to the Azure Resource Manager control plane, it cannot be resolved through normal user actions like Portal, CLI, or PowerShell. This will require a backend cleanup by the Azure engineering team.

To move forward, we recommend raising a support request under the “Azure Resource Manager” service with the issue type as “Cannot delete resource / Resource not found.”

Could you please check the private message and provide necessary information.
Suchitra Suregaunkar 10,905 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-27T18:57:31.19+00:00
Hello etf

From the JSON you shared, Azure Portal is trying to open the Host Pool by this ARM ID:

/subscriptions/.../resourceGroups/rg-avd-avd1-test-use-service-objects/providers/Microsoft.DesktopVirtualization/hostpools/hp-vdpool-avd1-test-use-002

…and ARM is returning 404 with “Resource group 'rg-avd-avd1-test-use-service-objects' could not be found.”

In Azure Resource Manager, 404 can be a “successful delete” outcome for resources/resource groups. For synchronous deletes, successful response codes include 200, 204, and 404, and that after deletion ARM expects a GET = 404 and treats that as success.

So, when ARM says the resource group itself can’t be found (404), ARM is effectively telling you: there is no parent scope in ARM to retrieve that Host Pool. That aligns with “already deleted / not present in ARM control plane under that RG”.

Please have a look into below checks:

Validate you’re in the right subscription/directory context:

Resource not found management scenarios is to verify the three properties: resource name, resource group, and subscription, and ensure your CLI/PowerShell context is pointing to the correct subscription (for example using Set-AzContext or az account set).

If the RG truly doesn’t exist (as your 404 states), the resource cannot be retrieved via ARM under that RG.

Confirm whether this is only a Portal “browse/index” artifact (Azure Resource Graph):

Azure Resource Graph powers the Azure portal search bar and the “browse All resources” experience. That means what you see in All resources is coming from the Resource Graph index, not a direct live call to each RP.

Do this confirmation using Resource Graph Explorer (Portal):

Open Resource Graph Explorer (Azure portal search → “Resource Graph Explorer”)

Scope it to the subscription.

Run a query that searches by name and/or type (KQL where usage is shown in Microsoft’s Resource Graph examples).
Resources | where name == "hp-vdpool-avd1-test-use-002" | where type =~ "microsoft.desktopvirtualization/hostpools" | project id, name, type, resourceGroup, subscriptionId, location

If Resource Graph returns nothing, then the Host Pool is not present in the indexed inventory and what you’re seeing in the portal is likely a stale UI element (for example a dashboard pin), not a real resource.

If Resource Graph returns the Host Pool but ARM operations still 404, then you have a control-plane inconsistency between inventory index and ARM retrieval

Your portal error says: “If this was launched from a pinned tile on the dashboard, it should be removed.”

So if the resource is “in your way” mainly because it keeps surfacing in the portal UI, remove any pinned dashboard tile referencing that Host Pool resourceId.

Could you please paste the output of your Resource Graph Explorer query?

Thanks,
Suchitra.
etf 0 Reputation points

2026-03-27T20:09:53.71+00:00

/subscriptions/bd67233d-38af-45db-a98e-a10a2b443d8d/resourcegroups/rg-avd-avd1-test-use-service-objects/providers/Microsoft.DesktopVirtualization/hostpools/hp-vdpool-avd1-test-use-002

hp-vdpool-avd1-test-use-002

microsoft.desktopvirtualization/hostpools

rg-avd-avd1-test-use-service-objects

bd67233d-38af-45db-a98e-a10a2b443d8d

eastus

1 answer

Your answer

Jilakara Hemalatha 11,345 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-27T00:11:16.36+00:00

Thank you for reaching out and sharing the details of the issue.

Based on your description, the resource appears to be in an orphaned or inconsistent state within Microsoft Azure. This can occasionally occur when a delete operation (such as after removing Azure Virtual Desktop resources) does not complete successfully at the backend, leaving behind a resource entry that is visible but not accessible or associated with any resource group.

Since this behavior is related to the Azure Resource Manager control plane, it cannot be resolved through normal user actions like Portal, CLI, or PowerShell. This will require a backend cleanup by the Azure engineering team.

To move forward, we recommend raising a support request under the “Azure Resource Manager” service with the issue type as “Cannot delete resource / Resource not found.”

Could you please check the private message and provide necessary information.
etf 0 Reputation points

2026-03-27T20:09:53.71+00:00

/subscriptions/bd67233d-38af-45db-a98e-a10a2b443d8d/resourcegroups/rg-avd-avd1-test-use-service-objects/providers/Microsoft.DesktopVirtualization/hostpools/hp-vdpool-avd1-test-use-002

hp-vdpool-avd1-test-use-002

microsoft.desktopvirtualization/hostpools

rg-avd-avd1-test-use-service-objects

bd67233d-38af-45db-a98e-a10a2b443d8d

eastus

Answer 1

A stuck or “limbo” resource that isn’t in a resource group but still appears in the subscription usually indicates that the delete operation didn’t fully complete and that some dependent or parent/child relationship is blocking cleanup. The supported resolution path is to identify any dependencies and, if the platform can’t clean it up automatically, open an Azure support request so the backend team can remove the orphaned resource.

Because this resource is related to Azure Virtual Desktop, the most likely blockers are:

A virtual network or subnet still referenced by the AVD infrastructure (session hosts, gateways, or other integrated services).
Orphaned network interfaces, private endpoints, or service association links left behind after AVD resources were deleted.

Use the following steps to unblock deletion:

Check for virtual network/subnet dependencies
- In the Azure portal, locate the virtual network(s) previously used by AVD.
- Verify whether any of the following still exist and reference those VNets/subnets:
  - Virtual network gateways
  - Application gateways
  - Azure Container Instances
  - Microsoft Entra Domain Services
  - Virtual machines (former AVD session hosts)
  - Web apps with VNet integration
- If any such resources still reference the VNet or subnet, remove or detach them, then retry deletion of the stuck resource.
Check for subnet-level blockers
- For each subnet used by AVD, check:
  - Private endpoints
  - Service endpoints
  - Subnet delegations
  - Service association links
  - Orphaned NICs
- Use Azure CLI diagnostic commands (from a shell with az installed) to inspect a subnet:
```
     az network vnet subnet show \
         --resource-group <resource-group> \
         --vnet-name <vnet-name> \
         --name <subnet-name>
```
- In the output, look at:
  - ipConfigurations (NICs and other IP configs)
  - privateEndpoints
  - serviceAssociationLinks
  - delegations
  - serviceEndpoints
- Any non-empty field indicates a resource that must be removed or detached before the subnet (and related AVD infrastructure) can be fully cleaned up.
Remove orphaned NICs that block cleanup
- If ipConfigurations shows NICs that no longer correspond to active VMs:
  1. Extract the NIC name from each resource ID.
  2. Delete the NICs:
```
        az network nic delete \
            --resource-group <resource-group> \
            --name <nic-name>
```
- After removing orphaned NICs, retry any pending delete operations on related resources.
Handle service association links (for example, App Service or other services)
- If serviceAssociationLinks is populated and references a service that no longer exists (or is an orphaned link), this can block subnet and higher-level resource cleanup.
- Use the documented purge approach for orphaned service association links (for example, for App Service VNet integration) or re-create the integration and then disconnect it, so the platform can remove the link. Once the SAL is removed, retry deletion of the affected subnet and any dependent resources.
If the resource still appears but cannot be opened or deleted
- When a resource shows in the subscription but is not in any resource group and returns “Not found” or similar when opened, this typically means the child resource was deleted but the parent or a registration object remains.
- In similar cases (for example, AKS Arc connected clusters or Event Grid topic subscriptions stuck in Deleting/Updating), the resolution has required backend intervention by the product team via an Azure support request.
- Open an Azure support request from the Azure portal (Support → Create a support request). Provide:
  - Subscription ID
  - Resource ID (if visible in Activity log or error messages)
  - Screenshots or exact error messages when trying to open or delete the resource
- Ask support to remove the orphaned resource record from the subscription.

Once dependencies and orphaned links are removed, and/or support has purged the orphaned record, the stuck resource will no longer block further testing in the tenant.

References:

etf 0 Reputation points

2026-03-29T20:32:24.3166667+00:00

Problem has been resolved through support ticket raised by MSFT, thanks.

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Cannot delete a resource

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