Virtual machines or virtual machine scale sets are running on images that will be deprecated soon

Question

Virtual machines or virtual machine scale sets are running on images that will be deprecated soon

Kishore Loaknath 0

Got the email below on how to upgrade the image without losing data or migrate to new VM.

|Your workloads are running on images
that will be deprecated soon
You’re receiving this email because you have virtual
machine and/or virtual machine scale set deployments that are running on
images scheduled for deprecation.
One or more plans within the offer Windows-10 from the
publisher, MicrosoftWindowsDesktop, have been
scheduled for deprecation. You currently have workloads that are running
on images within these plans.

Impact
· Following the
scheduled deprecation date, you won’t be able to deploy any new virtual
machines (VM) or virtual machine scale set (VMSS) instances using the
images listed below.
· Your active VM
instances won’t be affected following the deprecation date.
· Your existing VMSS deployments
will continue to be operational but can’t be scaled out following
deprecation.

Plans scheduled for deprecation

Publisher

Offer

Plan

Deprecation date (UTC)

Recommended alternative

MicrosoftWindowsDesktop

Windows-10

win10-21h2-pro-g2

October 22,
2025

No alternative
option provided by Publisher. Please test and use some other suitable
alternative from Marketplace

For more details on the next steps after your image is
scheduled for deprecation, visit https://aka.ms/DeprecatedImagesFAQ.
If you have previously updated your Virtual Machine or
Virtual machine Scale Sets to a newer version via Azure Update Manager or
other means, kindly ignore this notification.

For more details on the next steps after your image is scheduled for deprecation, visit https://aka.ms/DeprecatedImagesFAQ. If you have previously updated your Virtual Machine or Virtual machine Scale Sets to a newer version via Azure Update Manager or other means, kindly ignore this notification.|

Ashutosh Chavda 1 Reputation point

2025-10-09T11:37:27.5466667+00:00

So, we have to install all applications on the new VM and then attach the existing Drive to the new VM, correct? But in this way, all programs have to be reinstalled and reconfigured.

Isn't there a way to upgrade an existing VM to a new Image?
Jilakara Hemalatha 3,365 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-10T15:51:04.94+00:00

Hi Kishore Loaknath,

Just checking if provided information was helpful! please let me know if you have any queries.

1 answer

Your answer

Ashutosh Chavda 1 Reputation point

2025-10-09T11:37:27.5466667+00:00

So, we have to install all applications on the new VM and then attach the existing Drive to the new VM, correct? But in this way, all programs have to be reinstalled and reconfigured.

Isn't there a way to upgrade an existing VM to a new Image?
Jilakara Hemalatha 3,365 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-10T15:51:04.94+00:00

Hi Kishore Loaknath,

Just checking if provided information was helpful! please let me know if you have any queries.

Answer 1

Jilakara Hemalatha 3,365 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Kishore Loaknath,

Thank you for your question about migrating workloads from a deprecated image for virtual machines (VMs) or virtual machine scale sets (VMSS). Below is detailed guidance to help you upgrade your image or migrate to a new VM without losing data, along with best practices and additional resources.

NOTE:

After the scheduled deprecation date, you cannot deploy new VMs or VMSS instances using the deprecated image.
Existing VMs will continue to run without interruption.
Existing VMSS deployments will remain operational but cannot be scaled out (i.e., you cannot add new instances) after deprecation.

Reference: https://free.blessedness.top/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/deprecated-images

Recommendation:

The recommended approach to upgrade your VM or VMSS is to create new VMs or scale sets with the supported OS/image version you intend to use and then migrate your workloads.
For minimal disruption, separate your data from the OS disk by using additional data disks. This enables you to move or reattach data disks independent of the OS during migration.
For VMSS, Enable Automatic OS Image Upgrades to apply the latest supported image automatically.

Please find below documentations for more details:

How do I migrate my workloads to another image?

https://free.blessedness.top/en-us/azure/virtual-machine-scale-sets/virtual-machine-scale-sets-upgrade-scale-set

https://free.blessedness.top/en-us/azure/virtual-machine-scale-sets/virtual-machine-scale-sets-automatic-upgrade

Hope this helps! please let me know if you have any queries.

Jilakara Hemalatha 3,365 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-09T14:23:50.55+00:00
Currently, Azure does not support directly changing the OS image of a running VM. But we have two approaches

As per Microsoft official documentation there was In-place Upgrade and it only for specific Windows Server versions, allowing you to upgrade the OS inside the VM while retaining installed roles, settings, and applications.

This process requires attaching upgrade media and performing the upgrade inside the VM. While you may be able to complete the upgrade, in-place upgrades are no longer recommended due to unreliable long-term stability and feature compatibility.

Reference: https://free.blessedness.top/en-us/troubleshoot/azure/virtual-machines/windows/in-place-system-upgrade

Migrate via Generalized Image:

You can create a generalized image from your existing VM and then create a new VM with generalized image.

Windows VMs: Run Sysprep inside the VM before the capture:

C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\Sysprep.exe /generalize /shutdown /oobe

NOTE: Once you mark a VM as generalized in Azure, you cannot restart the VM.

Reference: https://free.blessedness.top/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/capture-image-portal
Jilakara Hemalatha 3,365 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-12T09:59:25.5766667+00:00

Hi Kishore Loaknath,

If it is helpful, please take a moment to accept answers and upvote it 👍 to make it helpful to the community.

Thank you for helping to improve Microsoft Q&A!

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Virtual machines or virtual machine scale sets are running on images that will be deprecated soon

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