Unable to delete a Resource Mover Resource Group

Hi @Philip Lee ,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Platform.

Could you please share the error screenshot along with other details in a private message for further troubleshooting?

Hello Philip Lee,

The error: DeleteCollectionFailedResourcesExistsmeans that Azure Resource Mover still has move resources associated with the move collection, even if you don’t see any source/target resources in the portal.

As per Azure design, a Move Collection cannot be deleted until ALL move resources inside it are removed.

In many cases, these are:

• Orphaned / hidden move resources
• Resources stuck in backend metadata
• Not visible in standard portal view

As a resolution, please try below checks:

Step 1: Check if move resources still exist (CLI)

Run:

az resource-mover move-resource list </span>
  --resource-group <ResourceMoverRG> </span>
  --move-collection <MoveCollectionName>

• If resources are returned → delete them individually:

az resource-mover move-resource delete </span>
  --name <ResourceName> </span>
  --resource-group <ResourceMoverRG> </span>
  --move-collection <MoveCollectionName>

Step 2: Check for hidden/orphaned resources: Even if Step 1 shows nothing, check explicitly:

az resource list \
  --resource-group <RGName> \
  --query "[?type=='Microsoft.Migrate/moveResources']"
``

Step 3: Use Resource Graph (important for invisible resources)

Run in Azure Resource Graph Explorer:

Resources
| where type == "microsoft.migrate/moveresources"
``

This helps identify backend/orphaned move resources not visible in portal.

Step 4: Validate move state cleanup (important)

• Resources must be fully removed from move collection
• Any infrastructure artifacts created during move must also be deleted manually .

Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/resource-mover/remove-move-resources

Step 5: If still failing even though no move resources are found , RG deletion still fails, then most likely scenario:

• Stale backend metadata / stuck move resource

In such cases:

• This cannot be resolved from customer side
• Requires Microsoft backend cleanup

Thanks,
Suchitra.

Hello Philip Lee, Just checking if the information shared was helpful. If so, please consider accepting the answer and giving it an upvote.

If you have any further questions or need additional clarification, feel free to reach out. Thanks!

Hi, I have run the list command and this has returned the elements which were moved. However, when I go to remove them, the command returns without error. However, when I re-run the list command, the resources that I've deleted still appear. Do I need to wait for the deletion to process?

You do not need to wait for the deletion to process. In Azure Resource Mover, once the delete command completes successfully, the move resource should immediately disappear from the list.

When resources still appear after deletion, even though delete returns success, it indicates the move resources are still present in the backend state. one of two things is usually happening:

• The delete is still processing asynchronously .
• A Resource Mover artifact is still registered (hidden MoveResource / MoveCollection entries or a resource lock/managedBy relationship) that prevents the resource from being truly removed or causes it to be re-created/returned by GET.

Sometime Azure can retain moveResources internally even when CLI/Portal do not properly reflect them or deletion appears successful.

 You can validate to confirm:

Run REST:

az rest --method get --url https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/<subId>/resourceGroups/<RG>/providers/Microsoft.Migrate/moveCollections/<collection>/moveResources?api-version=2021-08-01

If it still shows resources > backend stuck confirmed

 You need to do this in order:

1. Delete each move resource inside the collection first:

# List all move resources in the collection
az resource-mover move-resource list \
--move-collection-name <Resource Collection name> \
--resource-group <Resource Group>

# Then delete each one individually
az resource-mover move-resource delete \
 --move-collection-name <Resource Collection name> \
 --resource-group <Resource Group> \
--name <move-resource-name>

2. Verify the list is empty. If any resources still appear after deletion, this may indicate a backend inconsistency or orphaned move resources.
3. Once the list is truly empty, delete the Move Collection:

az resource-mover move-collection delete \
--name <Resource Collection name> \
--resource-group <Resource Group>

4. Then delete the Resource Group. The key distinction is:

• move-resource delete removes individual resources inside the collection
• move-collection delete removes the collection itself

Note: If move-resource delete returns success but resources still appear in the list, the resources may not have been fully removed from the backend. In such cases, backend cleanup (via Microsoft support) may be required.