What should I do if I accidentally deleted an entire Azure resource group, including a critical VM, by mistake during public IP assignment, and there was no soft-delete or backup configured?

Question

What should I do if I accidentally deleted an entire Azure resource group, including a critical VM, by mistake during public IP assignment, and there was no soft-delete or backup configured?

Calvin Chan 0

Dear Microsoft Support,

After successfully migrating our VM to the Azure Sponsorship subscription, I encountered issues assigning a Public IP address. While attempting to delete a problematic Public IP, I accidentally selected and deleted the entire resource group instead of just the IP.

Unfortunately, I confirmed the deletion without fully reading the prompt, and the following resources were permanently deleted:

The VM

All associated DNS records

Related resources in the group

There were no backups, recovery services, or soft-delete features enabled at the time.

I would like to ask:

Is there any way Microsoft can assist in recovering this deleted resource group or any of the components (e.g., VM or DNS records)? I understand recovery may not be guaranteed, but any available support or backend options would be appreciated.

Thank you for your assistance.

Ravi Varma Mudduluru 410 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-08-06T12:12:36.27+00:00

Hello @Calvin Chan,

Hope you're doing well!

I understand that you accidentally deleted an entire Azure resource group — including a critical VM, during public IP assignment, without any soft-delete or backup configured and would like to understand if there is a way to recover it.

There is no direct way to recover a deleted resource group, but the backend team may be able to recover the VM disks. So, if you have a support plan, I request you file a support ticket to engage the backend team via the same.

Thanks,

Ravi
Ravi Varma Mudduluru 410 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-08-13T04:35:09.5166667+00:00

Hello @Calvin Chan,

Hope You're doing well!

Just checking in to see if you had a chance to see the previous response by @Alex Burlachenko. Let me know if you need any further clarification.

Please do not forget to "accept answer" and “up-vote” the comment wherever the information provided helps you, this can be beneficial to other community members.

Thanks & Regards,
M Ravi Varma

1 answer

Your answer

Ravi Varma Mudduluru 410 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-08-06T12:12:36.27+00:00

Hello @Calvin Chan,

Hope you're doing well!

I understand that you accidentally deleted an entire Azure resource group — including a critical VM, during public IP assignment, without any soft-delete or backup configured and would like to understand if there is a way to recover it.

There is no direct way to recover a deleted resource group, but the backend team may be able to recover the VM disks. So, if you have a support plan, I request you file a support ticket to engage the backend team via the same.

Thanks,

Ravi
Ravi Varma Mudduluru 410 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-08-13T04:35:09.5166667+00:00

Hello @Calvin Chan,

Hope You're doing well!

Just checking in to see if you had a chance to see the previous response by @Alex Burlachenko. Let me know if you need any further clarification.

Please do not forget to "accept answer" and “up-vote” the comment wherever the information provided helps you, this can be beneficial to other community members.

Thanks & Regards,
M Ravi Varma

Answer 1

Oh la la, Calvin Chan hi mon ami ))

that's a tough spot u're in... deleting the whole resource group instead of just the public ip is like throwing away the whole cake when u just meant to scrape off some frosting :(

u gotta move fast! azure might have a tiny window where they can recover deleted resources, but its not guaranteed. U need to contact azure support immediately through the portal. The sooner u reach out, the better chance u have. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-portal/supportability/how-to-create-azure-support-request

sometimes azure keeps deleted resources for up to 14 days in their backend, even if soft delete wasn't enabled. But u need microsoft's help to access them. Beg them nicely in ur support ticket, explain it was an accident ))

For general stuff that could help next time - aha, now u see why backups are like that umbrella u never appreciate until it rains! Worth looking into azure backup for vms https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backup-azure-vms-first-look-arm and maybe enable resource locks so u dont oopsie again https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-resource-manager/management/lock-resources

This might help in other tools too - always double check (ok, triple check!) when deleting anything in cloud consoles. Those confirmation dialogs exist for a reason, oui? ))

As well check this - for dns records, u might need to recreate them manually if they don't come back. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dns/dns-operations-recordsets

Merci for posting this question - it's a good reminder for all of us to be extra careful with cloud resources. Fingers crossed azure support can work some magic for u! %)

P.S. For future migrations, maybe test ip assignments in a dummy resource group first? Just saying... :)

Alex

and "yes" if you would follow me at Q&A - personaly thx.
P.S. If my answer help to you, please Accept my answer

https://ctrlaltdel.blog/

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What should I do if I accidentally deleted an entire Azure resource group, including a critical VM, by mistake during public IP assignment, and there was no soft-delete or backup configured?

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