Delete storage account

Question

Delete storage account

Amit Modi 40 Microsoft Employee

Is there any way to delete a storage account where the immutable policy for container is 180/730 days(date not yet passed) and policy is locked?

Amit Modi 40 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2026-05-22T12:23:55.7133333+00:00

The service in question was retired a month back and these storage accounts are not really required and are blocking us from cancelling subscription, any way this can be done from backend?

I can confirm storage accounts are not required

Answer accepted by question author

Thanmayi Godithi 11,905 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Amit Modi ,

No, it is not possible to delete a storage account if a container has a locked immutability policy (for example 180/730 days) and the retention period has not yet expired.

When an immutability policy is in a locked state, it enforces a WORM (Write Once, Read Many) condition. During this period, the data cannot be modified or deleted by any user, including administrators. [learn.microsoft.com]

Additionally, if there are blobs within a container protected by a locked time-based retention policy, deletion of the container and the storage account is blocked until the retention period completes. [learn.microsoft.com]

It is important to note that once a policy is locked:

It cannot be removed or reduced, only extended
There is no supported workaround or override to bypass this restriction

Resolution / Next Steps:

You must wait until the retention period expires
After expiry, delete the blobs → container → storage account

For more details, refer to official documentation:

Let me know if you need further assistance on this issue.

Thanmayi Godithi 11,905 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-29T09:10:16.9366667+00:00

Amit Modi , Please "Accept the answer"and Upvote if the above information helped you as it would help others in the community.

1 additional answer

Your answer

Amit Modi 40 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2026-05-22T12:23:55.7133333+00:00

The service in question was retired a month back and these storage accounts are not really required and are blocking us from cancelling subscription, any way this can be done from backend?

I can confirm storage accounts are not required
Thanmayi Godithi 11,905 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-29T09:10:16.9366667+00:00

Amit Modi , Please "Accept the answer"and Upvote if the above information helped you as it would help others in the community.

Answer 1

A storage account that contains a container with a locked, active container-level immutable (WORM) policy and non-empty blobs cannot be deleted until the protected data is removed in accordance with the policy.

From the documented scenarios for container-level WORM:

When a container is protected by an active time-based retention policy (and/or legal hold):
- Delete Blob operations are prohibited.
- Container deletion fails if a container-level WORM policy is in effect.
- Storage account deletion fails if there's a container with at least one blob present.
When the container’s time-based retention policy is expired and no legal hold is in effect:
- Delete operations on blobs are allowed, but overwrites are not.
- Container deletion still fails if at least one blob exists in the container, regardless of whether the policy is locked or unlocked.
- Storage account deletion fails if there is at least one container with a locked time-based retention policy. Unlocked policies don't provide delete protection.

For a locked policy with 180/730 days not yet passed:

The policy cannot be deleted or shortened.
Blobs under protection cannot be deleted until the retention period expires.
The container cannot be deleted while the policy is in effect and blobs exist.
The storage account cannot be deleted while such a container with blobs exists.

Therefore, there is no supported way to delete the storage account until:

The retention period has expired, and
All blobs in the WORM-protected container are deleted, and
The container itself is deleted (or otherwise no longer protected in a way that blocks account deletion).

References: