Unable to Delete Azure Recovery Services Vault

Question

Unable to Delete Azure Recovery Services Vault

Alan Rudman 0

I have followed all of the instructions on line regarding removing the vault including removing existing backup items, but I am not able to. I am also unable to turn off the Soft Delete functionality either, so am stuck with soft-delete for the minimum 14 days. I have passed this several times in attempting to delete this vault, but nothing I do allows me to remove it.

I need a destructive way to just purge this vault permanently.

So done with it.

Nathan Roberts (SN) 12,936 Reputation points Student Ambassador Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-15T18:05:48.0133333+00:00

Hey there, Alan Rudman

I have followed all of the instructions on line regarding removing the vault including removing existing backup items, but I am not able to.

When you try and remove the vault, please can you tell me what error you get?

This will help the community try and help you with the question.

Thanks,
Nathan
Alan Rudman 0 Reputation points

2026-07-15T18:39:03.1466667+00:00

The message I receive is "Recovery Services Vault cannot be deleted as there are existing resources within the vault." And that is true. But I am unable to remove any of these resources (old orphaned DPM backup objects).
Bharath Y P 10,355 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-16T00:50:41.6766667+00:00
Hello Alan, it looks like your vault deletion is being blocked by soft‐deleted backup items and the “Always-on soft delete” feature. Unfortunately, once Always-on soft delete is enabled for a vault, you can’t turn it off in the portal and soft-deleted items are retained for 14 days before they’re permanently purged. Here’s what you can do:

Clean up soft-deleted items • Go to the vault in the Azure portal, select Backup items, and switch to the Soft deleted view. • For each soft-deleted item: click Undelete, then immediately delete it again. • If your vault still lets you disable soft delete (preview mode), you can disable it under Properties > Security settings first, then undelete/delete, and re-enable afterward.

Remove other dependencies • Check Backup Infrastructure in the vault for any registered servers (MARS, MABS/DPM) and unregister them. • Unregister any linked storage accounts under Backup Infrastructure > Storage Accounts. • Go to Networking > Private endpoint connections and delete any endpoints. • Make sure no resource locks or Azure policies are preventing deletes.

Use the PowerShell purge script Microsoft maintains a script that recursively deletes all backup items and then the vault. Run it from an elevated PowerShell session: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/backup/scripts/delete-recovery-services-vault?tabs=azure-powershell

Final vault delete Once all items and dependencies are gone, delete the vault in the portal or with CLI/PowerShell: • CLI: az backup vault delete --name <vault-name> --resource-group <rg> --yes • PowerShell: Remove-AzRecoveryServicesVault -VaultName "<vault-name>" -ResourceGroupName "<rg>"

If you need immediate purge Because Always-on soft delete is irreversible in the portal, the only way to force-delete a vault before the 14-day retention expires is to open a support request. The Azure service team can disable Always-on soft delete on your behalf and purge the vault.

Hope this helps you get that vault out of your way!

References:

Delete an Azure Backup Recovery Services vault

Soft delete for vaults
Alan Rudman 0 Reputation points

2026-07-16T18:45:08.17+00:00

Yeah. None of the procedures listed are working for us.

Item 1. There is no 'Soft Deleted' view.

Item 2. There is no option to 'Unregister' any servers.

Item 3. I have run this script multiple times and it always fails.

Item 4. N/A

Item 5. Yes please. Remove the soft delete protection. Nothing else has worked so far.

1 answer

Your answer

Nathan Roberts (SN) 12,936 Reputation points Student Ambassador Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-15T18:05:48.0133333+00:00

Hey there, Alan Rudman

I have followed all of the instructions on line regarding removing the vault including removing existing backup items, but I am not able to.

When you try and remove the vault, please can you tell me what error you get?

This will help the community try and help you with the question.

Thanks,
Nathan
Alan Rudman 0 Reputation points

2026-07-15T18:39:03.1466667+00:00

The message I receive is "Recovery Services Vault cannot be deleted as there are existing resources within the vault." And that is true. But I am unable to remove any of these resources (old orphaned DPM backup objects).
Alan Rudman 0 Reputation points

2026-07-16T18:45:08.17+00:00

Yeah. None of the procedures listed are working for us.

Item 1. There is no 'Soft Deleted' view.

Item 2. There is no option to 'Unregister' any servers.

Item 3. I have run this script multiple times and it always fails.

Item 4. N/A

Item 5. Yes please. Remove the soft delete protection. Nothing else has worked so far.

Answer 1

There is no immediate purge path for a Recovery Services vault when backup items are in soft-deleted state. A vault cannot be deleted while it:

contains protected data sources
contains backup data
contains backup data in soft-deleted state
has registered storage accounts

If soft delete is enabled and an item was deleted, the item moves to soft-deleted state first. With Secure by Default enabled, the retention window before permanent deletion is 14 to 180 days. The older vault-deletion guidance also states that soft-deleted items are permanently deleted after 14 days of the delete operation.

The supported path is:

In the vault, go to Overview > Delete and use the guided dependency cleanup.
If MUA is enabled, get the required authorization first.
Go to Properties > Security Settings and disable Soft Delete and Security Features if the vault allows it.
Check for items already in soft-deleted state. Those must be restored and deleted again, or left until permanent deletion completes.
Go to Backup Items and for every workload, select Stop Backup > Delete Backup Data.
Go to Backup Infrastructure and unregister all:
- Protected Servers
- Backup Management Servers
- Storage Accounts
Go to Settings > Networking > Private access and remove any private endpoints.
When Essentials shows no backup items, backup management servers, or replicated items, delete the vault.

If the vault is empty of dependencies and still fails deletion, the documented destructive fallback is to use the Azure Resource Manager client:

Verify again in Essentials that no backup items, backup management servers, or replicated items remain.
Try portal deletion again.
If it still fails, use ARMClient:

ARMClient.exe delete /subscriptions/<subscriptionID>/resourceGroups/<resourcegroupname>/providers/Microsoft.RecoveryServices/vaults/<Recovery Services vault name>?api-version=2015-03-15

If ARMClient returns that resources still exist in the vault, remove the remaining registered identity/container with:

ARMClient.exe delete /subscriptions/<subscriptionID>/resourceGroups/<resourcegroupname>/providers/Microsoft.RecoveryServices/vaults/<Recovery Services vault name>/registeredIdentities/<container name>?api-version=2016-06-01

If the goal is to delete everything in the vault recursively without reviewing each item, the supported destructive option is the generated PowerShell vault-deletion script from Overview > Delete > Delete using PowerShell Script. This script:

disables soft delete and security features
deletes backup items
unregisters servers and storage accounts
deletes disaster recovery items
removes private endpoints
deletes the vault

This operation is destructive and cannot be undone.