Backup of a VM -> No Restore Point

Stritzinger, John 0 Reputation points
2025-08-10T06:47:41.53+00:00

I have a successful backup created. But the VM was deleted thereafter. Can you restore the backup to a clean disk, or another VM its showing no restore points... and it doesnt give me any options to use the resources.

Azure Backup
Azure Backup
An Azure backup service that provides built-in management at scale.
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  1. Divyesh Govaerdhanan 8,340 Reputation points
    2025-08-10T18:13:52.45+00:00

    Hello,

    Welcome to Microsoft Q&A,

    Once the original VM is deleted, the restore points don’t automatically disappear from the vault, but they also won’t show up in the VM restore workflow because that workflow is tied to the registered VM resource ID.

    1. Azure Backup associates each backup instance with a specific resource ID for the VM.
    2. The “Restore VM” blade in the portal queries for restore points linked to that VM resource ID.
    3. When the VM is deleted, the registration is broken, so that particular restore flow shows no points available.
    4. The backup data is still in the Recovery Services vault (until its retention expires), but you need to use a file/disk restore flow, not the original VM restore flow.

    How to restore from a deleted VM’s backup

    1. Go to the Recovery Services vault that contains the backup.
    2. In Backup items, under Azure Virtual Machine, locate the deleted VM’s entry — it will typically be marked as “Soft Deleted” or “VM deleted”.
    3. Select the item → choose Restore.
    4. You will get two options:
      • Restore Disks – Creates a managed disk (or disks) from the restore point in a storage account.
      • Replace Existing – Not available because the VM is gone.
    5. Choose Restore Disks, select the restore point date, and target a storage account.
    6. Once the restore completes, you can:
      • Create a new VM from the restored OS/data disks in the portal or via PowerShell.
      • Attach the restored data disk(s) to another VM if that’s what you need.

    Soft delete: If the VM backup item was also deleted from the vault, it goes into soft delete for 14 days. You can undelete it from the vault during that window, then restore.

    Retention: If the retention period has expired, the restore point will be gone entirely.

    Permissions: You need RBAC rights on both the Recovery Services vault and the target storage account/VM resource group.

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backup-azure-security-feature-cloud?tabs=azure-portal#soft-delete

    Please upvote and accept the answer if it helps!!

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