I am not able to delete a resource group

Question

I am not able to delete a resource group

Josue Lopez 20 Microsoft Employee

I am trying to delete a resource group, but I am not able to because there's a Recovery Services type resource still present. I have removed the backups, the file share and storage account, but I'm still not able to remove the resource or the resource group. How do I delete?

Lakshma Reddy Vattijonnala 1,495 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-10T22:52:42.1933333+00:00

Hi @Josue Lopez We sorry for the inconvenience caused. To assist with further investigation, I have requested a few details via private message. Could you please provide the requested information?

Answer accepted by question author

Suchitra Suregaunkar 16,700 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Josue Lopez

As we have discussed in the call the error occurs because the Recovery Services Vault still contains a protected item in the Soft Deleted state. Azure does not allow a Recovery Services Vault to be deleted while backup items remain active or soft deleted.

In your case, the backup item was stopped and deleted on 08-Aug, and the vault is configured with a 14-day soft delete retention period. The backup item will remain in the Soft Deleted state until the retention period expires. During this time, vault deletion attempts will fail with errors similar to ResourceDeletionFailed.

After the retention period expires and the soft-deleted backup item is permanently removed, retry the vault deletion.

Please note that the Recovery Services Vault is not automatically deleted after the retention period, you must manually initiate the deletion again.

For reference, see Microsoft's documentation:

Delete an Azure Backup Recovery Services vault

If the vault still cannot be deleted after the retention period has elapsed, please check for any remaining dependencies such as backup items, registered servers, Site Recovery items, or private endpoints.

Thanks,

Suchitra.

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Your answer

Lakshma Reddy Vattijonnala 1,495 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-10T22:52:42.1933333+00:00

Hi @Josue Lopez We sorry for the inconvenience caused. To assist with further investigation, I have requested a few details via private message. Could you please provide the requested information?

Answer 1

Marcin Policht 104.3K MVP Volunteer Moderator

Remove the resource first. Follow https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backup-azure-delete-vault?tabs=portal

If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin

Josue Lopez 20 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2026-08-10T17:59:39.3833333+00:00

I have already tried deleting the resource. I am wondering if the 14-day retention period after the soft delete is what's preventing me from deleting the resource group?
Marcin Policht 104.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-08-10T18:54:47.0433333+00:00
Confirmed - you'll need to wait until the soft delete period passes

As per https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backup-azure-delete-vault?tabs=portal

You can't delete a Recovery Services vault that:

Contains protected data sources. Examples include infrastructure as a service (IaaS) virtual machines (VMs), SQL databases, or Azure file shares.

Contains backup data. After backup data is deleted, it goes into the soft-deleted state.

Contains backup data in the soft-deleted state.

Has registered storage accounts.

If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin