Cannot resize or delete an Azure VM that has more network interfaces than the current "Size" supports

Question

Cannot resize or delete an Azure VM that has more network interfaces than the current "Size" supports

Brandon Breymeier 0

We have an Azure Ds3v2 VM to which an admin added three network adaptors. We now cannot remove the third network adaptor, resize the VM, or delete the VM. We receive the following error any time we attempt any change: 'The number of network interfaces for virtual machine azr_cato_apl_01 exceeds the maximum allowed for the virtual machine size Standard_D2s_v4. The number of network interfaces is 3 and the maximum allowed is 2. '

Himanshu Shekhar 6,065 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-14T17:52:24.23+00:00
The VM is in an invalid configuration state:

You have 3 NICs attached, but the target size (Standard_D2s_v4 / Ds3v2 family limits) supports only 2 NICs, so Azure blocks all operations (resize / remove / delete) until NIC count is compliant.

You can’t modify NICs while VM is in this invalid state, so use this sequence:

Deallocate the VM

Stop (deallocate) the VM

Manually detach the extra NIC (from resource level)

Go to: VM > Networking > Network interfaces

Identify the 3rd NIC

Go to that NIC resource → Detach from VM

If detach is blocked:

Use resource-level edit (Advanced)

Or run CLI: az vm nic remove --resource-group <RG> --vm-name <VM> --nics <NIC_NAME>

Once NIC count = 2:

Retry resize / delete / normal operations
Himanshu Shekhar 6,065 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-15T13:17:16.1233333+00:00

Brandon Breymeier -Just checking if provided response was helpful! please let me know if you have any queries.

1 answer

Your answer

Himanshu Shekhar 6,065 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-14T17:52:24.23+00:00

The VM is in an invalid configuration state:

You have 3 NICs attached, but the target size (Standard_D2s_v4 / Ds3v2 family limits) supports only 2 NICs, so Azure blocks all operations (resize / remove / delete) until NIC count is compliant.

You can’t modify NICs while VM is in this invalid state, so use this sequence:

Deallocate the VM

Stop (deallocate) the VM

Manually detach the extra NIC (from resource level)

Go to: VM > Networking > Network interfaces

Identify the 3rd NIC

Go to that NIC resource → Detach from VM

If detach is blocked:

Use resource-level edit (Advanced)

Or run CLI: az vm nic remove --resource-group <RG> --vm-name <VM> --nics <NIC_NAME>

Once NIC count = 2:

Retry resize / delete / normal operations
Himanshu Shekhar 6,065 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-15T13:17:16.1233333+00:00

Brandon Breymeier -Just checking if provided response was helpful! please let me know if you have any queries.

Answer 1

kagiyama yutaka 2,590

I think azure blocks any update when the nic count is over the size limit, so stop the vm, switch once to a size that allows 3 nics, remove the extra nic, then resize or delete. VM deletion also triggers the same validation, so it fails for the same reason.

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Cannot resize or delete an Azure VM that has more network interfaces than the current "Size" supports

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