Azure VM: AllocationFailed / ZonalAllocationFailed — Allocation failed. We do not have sufficient capacity for the requested VM size
Azure has no capacity for that VM size in the region/zone (or in the cluster the VM is pinned to) right now.
Seen on:
Azure
Meaning
Popular or specialised sizes (GPU, large memory) can be unavailable temporarily. Existing availability sets are pinned to a hardware cluster, which makes resizing/starting harder.
Common causes
- Size unavailable in region/zone
- Availability set pinned to a cluster without capacity
- Proximity placement group constraints
⚡ Quick fix
- Retry later, another zone or region
- Choose a different size
- Deallocate all VMs in the availability set, then start (re-allocates to a new cluster)
Detailed fix by platform
Azure CLI
az vm list-skus -l westeurope --size Standard_NC --query "[].{name:name,zones:locationInfo[0].zones,restrictions:restrictions}" -o table
How to diagnose
- Size — Available in that zone?
- Placement — Availability set/PPG constraints
🔧 Still not fixed?
Many errors look alike. If the steps above didn’t solve it, one of these is probably what you’re facing:
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Other ways to find it
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Last updated 7 Oct 2026