Cannot delete orphaned azure network interface

Question

Cannot delete orphaned azure network interface

Charles Latham 20

I'm unable to delete two network interfaces that are attached to virtual machines that no longer exist:

Remove-AzNetworkInterface -Name [my nic] -ResourceGroupName [my rg] -Force

Remove-AzNetworkInterface : Network Interface /subscriptions/[path to nic] is used by existing resource /subscriptions/[path to vm]. In order to delete the network interface, it must be dissociated from the resource.

I've tried using Azure CLI to remove the virtual machine from the nic but it only displays the json configuration without removing the vm.

az network nic update --name [my nic] --resource-group [my rg] --remove virtualMachine

I've tried opening a support ticket to have network interfaces removed on the backend but I don't have that level of support.

Suwarna S Kale 2,136 Reputation points

2025-04-20T01:31:15.2733333+00:00
Hello Charles Latham,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

When deleted Azure VMs leave behind attached network interfaces (NICs), traditional removal methods often fail due to lingering resource associations. This occurs when Azure's resource cleanup process doesn't fully complete.

To resolve this you may try below steps:

First verify the VM's absence using Get-AzVM or Azure Resource Graph.

Force-detach the NIC by nullifying its virtualMachine property either through PowerShell ($nic.VirtualMachine = $null) or Azure CLI (--set virtualMachine=null).

If portal access is available, manual detachment via the NIC's properties may work. For persistent cases, Microsoft Support can intervene with backend cleanup. To prevent recurrence, always use the -Force parameter when deleting VMs. This systematic approach ensures proper resource cleanup while maintaining Azure's integrity constraints.

If the above answer helped, please do not forget to "Accept Answer" as this may help other community members to refer the info if facing a similar issue. Your contribution to the Microsoft Q&A community is highly appreciated.
Charles Latham 20 Reputation points

2025-04-21T13:57:40.2566667+00:00

I can't seem to get the virtualMachine property to set $null.

I'm using the following powershell:

$nic = Get-AzNetworkInterface -ResourceGroupName "[my rg]" -Name "[my nic]"
$nic.VirtualMachine = $null
Set-AzNetworkInterface -NetworkInterface $nic

I'm not getting any errors but the virtualmachine property remains.
Charles Latham 20 Reputation points

2025-04-21T14:14:31.86+00:00

Thank you for following up. I've replied to Suwarna but to your comment, that won't work because there's still a deleted virtual machine attached to the network interface.
G Sree Vidya 905 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-22T05:16:30.3266667+00:00

Hi Charles Latham

Thank you for your update. We have initiated the private message and shared the next action. Could you please check and let us know if it is helpful?
G Sree Vidya 905 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-23T05:20:40.3966667+00:00

Hello Charles Latham

We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet. In case if you have any resolution,

please do share that same with the community as it can be helpful to others. Otherwise, will respond with more details and we will try to help.
G Sree Vidya 905 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-30T09:53:59.3766667+00:00

Hi Charles Latham

We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet.

In case if you have any resolution, please do share that same with the community as it can be helpful to others. Otherwise, will respond with more details and we will try to help.

Accepted answer

0 additional answers

Your answer

Suwarna S Kale 2,136 Reputation points

2025-04-20T01:31:15.2733333+00:00

Hello Charles Latham,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

When deleted Azure VMs leave behind attached network interfaces (NICs), traditional removal methods often fail due to lingering resource associations. This occurs when Azure's resource cleanup process doesn't fully complete.

To resolve this you may try below steps:

First verify the VM's absence using Get-AzVM or Azure Resource Graph.

Force-detach the NIC by nullifying its virtualMachine property either through PowerShell ($nic.VirtualMachine = $null) or Azure CLI (--set virtualMachine=null).

If portal access is available, manual detachment via the NIC's properties may work. For persistent cases, Microsoft Support can intervene with backend cleanup. To prevent recurrence, always use the -Force parameter when deleting VMs. This systematic approach ensures proper resource cleanup while maintaining Azure's integrity constraints.

If the above answer helped, please do not forget to "Accept Answer" as this may help other community members to refer the info if facing a similar issue. Your contribution to the Microsoft Q&A community is highly appreciated.
Charles Latham 20 Reputation points

2025-04-21T13:57:40.2566667+00:00

I can't seem to get the virtualMachine property to set $null.

I'm using the following powershell:

$nic = Get-AzNetworkInterface -ResourceGroupName "[my rg]" -Name "[my nic]"
$nic.VirtualMachine = $null
Set-AzNetworkInterface -NetworkInterface $nic

I'm not getting any errors but the virtualmachine property remains.
Charles Latham 20 Reputation points

2025-04-21T14:14:31.86+00:00

Thank you for following up. I've replied to Suwarna but to your comment, that won't work because there's still a deleted virtual machine attached to the network interface.
G Sree Vidya 905 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-22T05:16:30.3266667+00:00

Hi Charles Latham

Thank you for your update. We have initiated the private message and shared the next action. Could you please check and let us know if it is helpful?
G Sree Vidya 905 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-23T05:20:40.3966667+00:00

Hello Charles Latham

We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet. In case if you have any resolution,

please do share that same with the community as it can be helpful to others. Otherwise, will respond with more details and we will try to help.
G Sree Vidya 905 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-30T09:53:59.3766667+00:00

Hi Charles Latham

We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet.

In case if you have any resolution, please do share that same with the community as it can be helpful to others. Otherwise, will respond with more details and we will try to help.

Answer 1

Hello Charles Latham

I wanted to follow up and check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided by Suwarna in our previous post.

Additionally, you can use below comments to to delete the nics,

Get-AzNetworkInterface | where-object { $_.VirtualMachine -eq $null } | ft name

Get-AzNetworkInterface | where-object { $_.VirtualMachine -eq $null } | Remove-AzNetworkInterface -Force

As above steps do not work, we have suggested check with resource.azure.com after checking NIC.

Open a web browser and navigate to https://resources.azure.com
Log-in to the appropriate Azure account
In the blade on the left side of the browser, expand subscriptions, then expand the desired subscription name
In the blade on the left side of the browser, expand resource groups
Under resource groups, expand the proper Resource Group Name
Under the Resource Group, expand providers
Under providers, expand Microsoft.Network
Under Microsoft.Network, expand networkinterfaces
Under networkinterfaces, select the NIC which you are failing to delete.
Near the top of the content window of the browser, select the Read/Write push button
Select the Actions(POST, DELETE) tab and click on Delete.

If an answer has been helpful, please consider accepting the answer to help increase visibility of this question for other members of the Microsoft Q&A community. If not, please let us know what is still needed in the comments so the question can be answered. Thank you for helping to improve Microsoft Q&A! User's image

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Cannot delete orphaned azure network interface

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