Remove-AzureDisk throws error, not sure why - powershell

Question

I have an Azure VM and I'm trying to delete it using Powershell. I also want to remove the disk that that VM OS was on (there are no data disks).
I assume I'm going to need the following two cmdlets:
Remove-AzureVM
Remove-AzureDisk
Here's my code:
$VMs = Get-AzureVM $svcName
foreach ($VM in $VMs)
{
$OSDisk = ($VM | Get-AzureOSDisk)
if ($VM.InstanceStatus -eq "ReadyRole") {
Stop-AzureVM -Name $VM.Name -ServiceName $svcName
}
remove-azurevm -ServiceName $svcName -Name $VM.Name
Remove-AzureDisk -DiskName $OSDisk.DiskName
}
When I execute this the call to Remove-AzureVM returns successfully but the call to Remove-AzureDisk returns an error:
Remove-AzureDisk : BadRequest: A disk with name
XXX is currently in use
by virtual machine YYY running within hosted service
ZZZ, deployment XYZ.
Strange thing is, I can issue the same call to Remove-AzureDisk just a few moments later and it returns successfully.
Its as if the call to Remove-AzureVM is returning too quickly. i.e. Its reporting success before the VM has been fully removed, or before the link to the disk has been removed at any rate.
Can anyone explain why this might be and also how I might work around this problem?
thanks in advance
Jamie

Answer 1

What's happening here is that the Disk that is stored in BLOB storage is locked when in use by a VM. You are removing the VM, but it takes a few moments for the Lease on the BLOB to release. That's why you can remove it a few moments later.
There are a few folks who have written PowerShell to break the lease, or you could use PowerShell to use the SDK (or make direct REST API calls) to check lease status.

Answer 2

I ended up writing a script that creates a VM, clones it, then deletes the clones. As part of that I needed to wait until the lease was released hence if you're experiencing this same problem you might want to check my blog post at http://sqlblog.com/blogs/jamie_thomson/archive/2013/11/04/clone-an-azure-vm-using-powershell.aspx as it'll have some code that might help you.
Regards
Jamie

Answer 3

I puzzled at this for quite a while. Ultimately, I found a different command to do what I thought I was doing with this command. I would recommend the remove-azuredatadisk command to delete a disk, as it automatically breaks the lease.
Get-AzureVM -ServiceName <servicename> -name <vmname> |Remove-AzureDataDisk -lun <lun#> -deletevhd | Update-AzureVM
It will spin for a couple of minutes, but it will give you a success/failure output at the end.
This command just does it, and doesn't give you any feedback about which drive was removed. I would recommend tossing in a get-azuredatadisk first just to be sure of what you deleted.
Get-AzureVM -ServiceName <servicename> -name <vmname> | Get-AzureDataDisk

Answer 4

This is related to Windows Azure: Delete disk attached to non-existent VM. Cross-posting my answer here:
I was unable to use the (2016) web portal to delete orphaned disks in my (classic) storage account. Here is a detailed walk-through for deleteing these orphaned disks with PowerShell.
PowerShell
Download and install PowerShell if you haven't already. (Install and configure Azure PowerShell.) Initial steps from this doclink:
Check that the Azure PowerShell module is available after installing:
Get-Module –ListAvailable
If the Azure PowerShell module is not listed, you may need to import it:
Import-Module Azure
Login to Azure Resource Manager:
Login-AzureRmAccount
AzurePublishSettingsFile
Retreive your PublishSettingsFile.
Get-AzurePublishSettingsFile
Get-AzurePublishSettingsFile launches manage.windowsazure.com and prompts you to download an XML file that you can be saved anywhere.
Reference: Get-AzurePublishSettingsFile Documentation
Import-AzurePublishSettingsFile and specify the path to the file just saved.
Import-AzurePublishSettingsFile -PublishSettingsFile '<your file path>'
Show and Remove Disks
Show current disks. (Reference: Azure Storage Cmdlets)
Get-AzureDisk
Quickly remove all disks. (Credit to Mike's answer)
get-azuredisk | Remove-AzureDisk
Or remove disks by name. (Credit to Remove-AzureDisk Documentation)
Remove-AzureDisk -DiskName disk-name-000000000000000000 -DeleteVHD