Azure Resource Manager: Deletion Blocked by MoveOperationInProgressOrFailed in Virtual Network Resources

Question

Azure Resource Manager: Deletion Blocked by MoveOperationInProgressOrFailed in Virtual Network Resources

Paul Sabini 0

Problem description

I'm facing an issue where I cannot delete certain network resources in Azure, such as a virtual network, NIC, and public IP, because they are stuck in a move operation state marked as MoveOperationInProgressOrFailed. Despite attempts to delete these resources, the deletion fails, and the dependencies prevent cleanup. I'm seeking guidance on how to identify and resolve the stale move state to enable resource deletion.

Environment

The affected environment includes an Azure virtual network, a network interface, a public IP address, and a network security group, all located in a specific region (not specified). The environment also involves a virtual machine and an OS disk, with dependencies and move operations involved.

What I've already tried

I attempted to delete the resources using the Azure portal and CLI. During deletion, I received errors indicating MoveOperationInProgressOrFailed status. I also reviewed resource locks, activity logs, and dependencies, but the resources remained in a move state, blocking deletion. Diagnostics and manual checks did not resolve the stale move state.

Current status

Currently, the resources are still in a move operation state, and I am seeking advice on how to clear this stale move state and proceed with deleting the resources to clean up my environment.

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1 answer

Your answer

Answer 1

Hello Paul Sabini

The MoveOperationInProgressOrFailed error usually indicates that Azure Network Resource Provider (NRP) still considers the affected resources involved in a move operation, even if the move has already failed.

Check whether the move is still active

Azure Resource Manager allows up to four hours for a resource move to finish.

Check the source and destination resource groups:

az monitor activity-log list \
  --resource-group "<resource-group>" \
  --offset 90d \
  --query "[?contains(operationName.value, 'move')].{Time:eventTimestamp,Operation:operationName.value,Status:status.value,CorrelationId:correlationId}" \
  -o table

Check the affected resource state

az resource show \
  --ids "<resource-id>" \
  --query "{id:id,provisioningState:properties.provisioningState}" \
  -o json

Repeat for the VNet, NIC, Public IP and NSG.

If the move has already completed or failed, but these resources continue returning MoveOperationInProgressOrFailed, this is likely stale move metadata rather than a normal resource dependency issue.

Request backend cleanup

There is very similar Microsoft Q&A case where a Public IP could not be deleted after a failed move. Microsoft Support engaged the networking engineering team, which manually corrected the backend move state. The resource was then successfully deleted.

Since you've already checked locks, dependencies and Activity Logs, I recommend opening an Azure Support request and requesting:

Please engage the Azure Network Resource Provider engineering team to investigate and clear the stale move-operation state for the affected VNet, NIC, Public IP and NSG. The resources remain blocked by MoveOperationInProgressOrFailed despite the move no longer being active.

Include the resource IDs, subscription ID, source/destination resource groups, failed move correlation ID, and UTC timestamps.

Once Microsoft confirms the move state is cleared, remove the VM/network dependencies and delete the resources in dependency order.

Repeated delete attempts, removing ordinary ARM locks, or reapplying resource configurations will not necessarily clear a backend move-operation block. Avoid forceful cleanup until the move state is resolved.

Related Microsoft Q&A cases:

Given your existing troubleshooting, Microsoft Support intervention is the most appropriate next step if the move is no longer active.