Azure Migrate – Do I need to delete the existing Azure VM before re-enabling replication for the same on-premises VM?

Mahavir Saroj 291 Reputation points
2026-09-09T20:30:24.6+00:00

We recently migrated a VM from our on-premises environment to Azure using Azure Migrate – Migration and Modernization.

The migration completed successfully and the VM was created in the target Azure location. However, after migration, we encountered an issue with the Azure VM, so we cannot continue running the application on the migrated Azure VM.

We have therefore shut down the migrated Azure VM and powered on the original on-premises VM, and the application is currently running on-premises again.

Now we want to migrate the same on-premises VM to Azure again after resolving the issue.

My question is regarding the cleanup and re-enabling replication:

  1. After a successful migration, if we select "Complete migration" in Azure Migrate, I understand that it stops replication and cleans up the replication state.
  2. Does "Complete migration" also automatically delete the migrated Azure VM, or does the Azure VM remain and need to be deleted manually?
  3. If the migrated Azure VM remains, should we manually delete the existing Azure VM first before enabling replication for the same on-premises VM again?
  4. What is the recommended sequence in this scenario?

For example, should we do:

Option A:

  • Complete migration
  • Manually delete the existing Azure VM/resources
  • Enable replication again for the same on-premises VM
  • Perform a new migration

Or is there another recommended procedure? We recently migrated a VM from our on-premises environment to Azure using Azure Migrate – Migration and Modernization.

The migration completed successfully and the VM was created in the target Azure location. However, after migration, we encountered an issue with the Azure VM, so we cannot continue running the application on the migrated Azure VM.

We have therefore shut down the migrated Azure VM and powered on the original on-premises VM, and the application is currently running on-premises again.

Now we want to migrate the same on-premises VM to Azure again after resolving the issue.

My question is regarding the cleanup and re-enabling replication:

  1. After a successful migration, if we select "Complete migration" in Azure Migrate, I understand that it stops replication and cleans up the replication state.
  2. Does "Complete migration" also automatically delete the migrated Azure VM, or does the Azure VM remain and need to be deleted manually?
  3. If the migrated Azure VM remains, should we manually delete the existing Azure VM first before enabling replication for the same on-premises VM again?
  4. What is the recommended sequence in this scenario?
Azure Migrate
Azure Migrate

A central hub of Azure cloud migration services and tools to discover, assess, and migrate workloads to the cloud.

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  1. Jose Benjamin Solis Nolasco 12,036 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2026-09-10T15:54:04.6+00:00

    @Mahavir Saroj I hope you are doing well,

    You do not strictly need to delete the Azure VM before enabling replication again, because replication only creates staging/seed disks in Azure. However, you must delete or rename the existing Azure VM and its resources before triggering the final migration action. If an Azure VM, NIC, or disk already exists with the same target name in that resource group, the final migration deployment will fail with a naming conflict.

    Recommended Step-by-Step Sequence from experience:

    Complete the Prior Migration: In the Azure Migrate portal, select Complete migration for the machine. This stops the old replication job and removes intermediate seed disks to stop unnecessary storage transaction costs.

    Clean Up Old Azure Target Resources: Go to the target resource group in Azure and delete the failed Azure VM along with its associated OS/data disks and NICs (unless you want to keep them under a different name for forensics/troubleshooting).

    Re-enable Replication: In Azure Migrate, select Replicate, choose the on-premises source machine again, configure your target settings (VM size, VNet, subnet), and let the initial replication complete.

    Test Migration (Recommended): Run a Test migration first to validate that the issue you experienced earlier is resolved in an isolated test virtual network before performing the production cutover.

    Execute Final Migration: Shut down the on-premises VM to ensure zero data delta, trigger the Migrate action, and verify the newly spun-up VM.

    References:

    About Azure Migrate - Overview

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  2. AI answer

    2026-09-09T20:30:53.5433333+00:00

    Complete migration does not delete the migrated Azure VM. It stops replication for the source machine and cleans up the replication state information. For VMware agentless migration, the guidance also states that stopping replication deletes the intermediate managed disks used during replication, not the migrated Azure VM itself.

    For the same on-premises VM, the supported flow is:

    1. Select Complete migration after the previous migration.
      • This stops replication.
      • This cleans up replication state information.
      • This helps avoid extra charges for the intermediate replication disks.
    2. If the previously migrated Azure VM is no longer needed, delete that Azure VM and any associated resources that should not be kept.
      • This is a separate cleanup action from Complete migration.
      • Use caution before deletion to avoid removing anything still needed for troubleshooting or rollback.
    3. Re-enable replication for the same on-premises VM.
      • Azure Migrate states that a VM for which replication was stopped can be replicated again by enabling replication again.
      • If the VM was migrated, replication and migration can be resumed again.
    4. After replication finishes, perform the migration again.

    Recommended sequence for this scenario:

    • Shut down or otherwise stop using the failed migrated Azure VM.
    • Select Complete migration in Azure Migrate.
    • Delete the old migrated Azure VM if it is not needed.
    • Enable replication again for the on-premises VM.
    • Let initial replication complete, then run migration again.
    • Before triggering the new migration, shut down the on-premises VM to prevent data loss during migration.

    So, the closest match is Option A, with one clarification: deleting the old Azure VM is not done by Complete migration; it is a separate manual cleanup step if that VM should not remain.

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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