Azure VM cross-tenant migration

Question

Azure VM cross-tenant migration

Nurin Athirah Binti Muhamad Hamizi 0

Hi,

I have a question regarding Azure VM cross-tenant migration.

Suppose the scenario is to migrate an Azure VM from Tenant A to Tenant B (different Microsoft Entra tenants), rather than a standard Azure to Azure disaster recovery scenario.

I understand that native Azure to Azure ASR replication is the recommended approach for Azure VMs within the same Microsoft Entra tenant and does not require manual installation of the Mobility Service.

For a cross-tenant migration scenario, would it be supported to use the Azure Site Recovery (ASR) Replication Appliance and treat the Azure VM as a physical server by using the VMware/Physical Server Mobility Service?

If so, is this an officially supported approach for production workloads?

If it is supported, are there any specific configurations or prerequisites that should be verified if the Mobility Service installation fails during the replication setup?

If this approach is not supported, what is the Microsoft-recommended approach for migrating Azure VMs across different Microsoft Entra tenants while minimizing downtime?

If available, could you also share the relevant Microsoft Learn documentation for this scenario?

Thank you.

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2 answers

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Answer 1

Hello Nurin Athirah Binti Muhamad Hamizi,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A and thank you for posting your questions here.

I understand that you are trying to migrate an Azure Virtual Machine on cross-tenant and want to know whether Azure Site Recovery (ASR), Mobility Service, or the Replication Appliance can be used as a supported migration method.

Azure Site Recovery Azure-to-Azure replication only supports source and target subscriptions within the same Microsoft Entra tenant. Also, using Mobility Service or using a Replication Appliance does not provide a supported workaround for this platform limitation. At this time, there is no supported Azure Site Recovery configuration, Azure Migrate workflow, backend operation, or Azure Support escalation that enables Azure VM Azure-to-Azure replication across different Microsoft Entra tenants. The limitation is enforced by the Azure platform boundary.

The recommended resolution is to either:

Transfer the entire Azure subscription to the destination tenant if ownership and governance requirements permit.
Export or copy the VM managed disks, create managed disks in the destination tenant, and recreate the VM there.

For the lowest-risk migration, prepare all destination resources in advance, including networking, security policies, identities, monitoring, and backup configurations. During the migration window, stop and deallocate the source VM, copy the latest managed disks, deploy the VM in the destination tenant, validate application functionality, and then perform DNS or traffic cutover.

Use the below resource for more reading and steps:

I hope this is helpful. Please! Do not hesitate to let me know if you have any other questions, steps or clarifications.

Please do not close the thread by upvoting and accepting the answer if any part of it is helpful.

Answer 2

No. Azure Site Recovery does not support using Azure-to-Azure replication across different Microsoft Entra tenants, and the supported Azure VM DR/migration scenarios in the provided documentation are limited to the same Microsoft Entra tenant.

Supported ASR scope for Azure VMs:

Replicating Azure VMs from one subscription to another for DR is supported only within the same Microsoft Entra tenant.
Migrating VMs across regions, including across subscriptions, is supported only within the same Microsoft Entra tenant.
Azure CLI is not currently supported for Azure VM disaster recovery setup in this scenario.

For cross-tenant Azure VM migration, the documented Microsoft-recommended approaches are:

Transfer the subscription to the destination tenant

Azure Resource Manager does not support moving resources directly to a subscription in a different Microsoft Entra tenant.
If all resources in a subscription need to move, use a same-tenant resource move into an empty subscription, transfer that subscription to the destination tenant, then move resources again if needed.
Subscription transfer requires Azure Subscription Management team assistance through a support request.

Copy VM disks and recreate the VM in the destination tenant

This workaround is specifically documented for VMs.
Stop and deallocate the source VM in Azure portal.
Use Azure Storage Explorer signed in to both source and destination tenant accounts.
Copy the managed OS disk and any data disks to the destination tenant.
Create a new VM from the copied OS disk in the destination tenant.
Verify the new VM works correctly, then delete the source resources if no longer needed.
Important: VM extensions, managed identities, and Entra ID-integrated services must be reconfigured after recreation.

To minimize downtime, the documented VM-specific path is disk copy plus VM recreation, with cutover after validation in the destination tenant. If the whole subscription can move, subscription transfer is the other documented workaround.

If Mobility Service installation fails during an attempt to use ASR in this cross-tenant pattern, no supported troubleshooting path is documented here because this pattern itself is not documented as a supported production approach for Azure VM cross-tenant migration.

References: