> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.rafftechnologies.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Delete a VM > Permanently destroy a virtual machine, decide what to do with its volumes and VPCs, and credit unused subscription time back to your balance Updated May 8, 2026 Deleting a VM removes it from your account and stops billing. The dashboard walks you through a **two-step confirmation** that lets you decide what to do with the VM's attached volumes and VPCs at the same time. On a subscription, the unused days and hours of the current term are credited back to your account balance. ## Before you delete — keep a recovery option Deletion is permanent. The VM's OS disk **and all of its snapshots** are destroyed. Plan recovery before you click destroy, not after. Two ways to keep a path back: | Option | What survives | How to recover later | | ----------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **Take a backup first** | A retained backup of the VM's disk | Contact [support](mailto:support@rafftechnologies.com) — Raff support can use the backup to create a new VM with all your data and installation intact | | **Save a snapshot as an image** (do this *before* deleting) | A reusable custom image | Create a new VM from the image any time — see [Save VM disk as image](/api-reference/endpoint/save-vm-disk-as-image) | If you only care about specific files (not the whole VM), back them up to [Object Storage](/products/store/object-storage) or off-platform before deleting. ## Three ways to start ### a. VM detail page → Destroy tab Open the VM detail page, click the **Destroy** tab (last tab in the secondary nav). VM detail page Destroy tab with the permanent-action warning and the red Destroy VM button Click the red **Destroy VM** button to start the two-step confirmation. ### b. Instance list → row Actions menu → Destroy Open the row's **⋮** menu and pick **Destroy** (in red, at the bottom). Instance list row Actions menu showing Destroy in red at the bottom This redirects you to the **Destroy** tab on the VM detail page — same confirmation flow as path **a**. ### c. Bulk — multiple VMs at once In the Instances list, tick the checkbox on multiple VM rows. The bulk toolbar at the top shows **Delete Selected**. Instance list with two VMs checked and the bulk toolbar showing Stop 2 and Delete Selected Bulk delete uses the **same two-step confirmation** described below — the volume / VPC handling choices you make apply to **every** VM in the selection. ## Step 1 — Type the VM name to confirm A "Destroy VM" dialog opens. Type the VM's exact name to enable the **Confirm** button. Destroy VM dialog with the VM name field, a confirmation text input, and a Subscription Billing notice that remaining days return to your account balance Two things on this screen: * **Type the VM name to confirm** — copy or type the name exactly. Prevents accidental deletes. * **Subscription Billing** notice — reminder that your current subscription will be cancelled and the remaining days will return to your account balance (not your card). Click **Confirm** to advance to step 2. ## Step 2 — Final Confirmation: volumes and VPCs The "Final Confirmation" dialog asks you to decide what happens to **attached volumes** and **attached VPCs** *along with* the VM. This is the part most users miss the first time — the choices you make here are made together with the VM destroy, in one operation. Final Confirmation dialog showing what will be deleted, attached volumes block, attached VPCs block with Keep VPCs and Delete VPCs (recommended) options, and a red Destroy VM button ### Attached volumes If the VM has attached volumes, you choose what happens to each one: | Option | Effect | Use when | | ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Detach (keep volume)** | Volume detaches from the VM and stays in your account, ready to attach to another VM in the same region | The data on the volume should outlive this VM | | **Delete volume** | Volume is permanently destroyed along with the VM — every byte gone | The volume is throwaway / scratch storage / specific to this VM only | A volume can only be attached to one VM at a time, so detaching here makes it available to attach to a different VM later (data preserved). Deleting is the equivalent of running [Delete a volume](/products/store/volumes/quickstart-guides/delete-volume) immediately after the VM destroy — same one-way destruction. If the VM has **no attached volumes**, this section shows "No attached volumes" and there's nothing to choose. ### Attached VPCs The dialog lists every VPC the VM is currently in. You choose: | Option | Effect | | ----------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | | **Keep VPCs** | VPCs remain in your account, available for other VMs | | **Delete VPCs (recommended)** | VPCs are permanently deleted with the VM | **Critical safety rule** — even if you select **Delete VPCs**, the platform **preserves any VPC that still has another VM attached**. Only VPCs with no remaining VMs are actually deleted. This protects shared VPCs from accidental deletion when you're tearing down one of several VMs that share the same network. The "recommended" label assumes the VPC was created for this single VM. If you have a multi-VM stack on the same VPC, leaving **Keep VPCs** selected is the safer choice — though as noted, the platform also won't let you accidentally delete a still-in-use VPC. ### Confirm Click the red **Destroy VM** button. The VM and the elements you selected are removed; the VPC safety rule applies as described. ## What happens on delete | Resource | Result | | -------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **VM and OS disk** | Destroyed | | **VM snapshots** | Deleted with the VM | | **Attached volumes** | **Per your choice in step 2** — detach (kept) or delete (destroyed) | | **Attached VPCs** | **Per your choice in step 2**, *and* preserved automatically if any other VM still uses them | | **Public IPv4 / IPv6** | Released back to the regional pool — cannot be reclaimed | | **Subscription** | Closed; unused days and hours credited back to your account balance | | **PAYG billing** (if applicable) | Stops immediately | | **Backups** | Retained according to their backup retention policy | | **Public IPs** | Detached but **not** released — you keep paying for the reservation until you release them separately | ## Bulk delete — same two-step flow When you select multiple VMs and click **Delete Selected**, the same two-step dialog runs once. The choices you make (keep/delete volumes, keep/delete VPCs) **apply to every selected VM**: * "Delete VPCs" → applies to every selected VM's VPCs, with the same per-VPC safety rule (preserved if a non-selected VM still uses it). * "Detach volumes" → every attached volume across the selection is detached (kept). * "Delete volumes" → every attached volume across the selection is destroyed. If your selection mixes VMs that should be torn down completely with VMs that share a VPC with others *outside* the selection, the safety rule still protects the still-in-use VPCs even with **Delete VPCs** selected — but for clarity, do the destructive batch first and the surgical ones separately. ## Cleanup after delete If you opted to keep volumes, VPCs, or Public IPs, those keep billing until you remove them: * **Volumes** — see [Delete a volume](/products/store/volumes/quickstart-guides/delete-volume). * **Public IPs** — [release](/products/network/public-ips/quickstart-guides/release-ip) them if not reused on another VM. * **Backups** — survive per their retention. Keep one if you might want support to restore the VM later; otherwise delete from the [Backups tab](/products/build/virtual-machines/quickstart-guides/enable-backups) to stop the storage meter. * **Backup schedules** — orphaned schedules pointing at the destroyed VM should be removed from **Compute Resources → Backups → Scheduled Backups**. ## Subscription credit on delete When the VM is on a subscription term (Monthly, Yearly, 2-Year), deleting in the middle of the term credits the unused days and hours back to your **account balance**. The credit is immediate and can fund another VM, top up a different subscription, or sit until the next renewal cycle. It is not refunded to your card. If the VM was running on PAYG, billing simply stops at the minute of deletion. ## Restore a deleted VM You can't undelete from the dashboard. To get back to a working VM: 1. **From a backup** — contact [support@rafftechnologies.com](mailto:support@rafftechnologies.com) with the backup name or ID. Support can spin up a new VM from the backup with the same disk contents and installed software. 2. **From an image** — if you saved the VM's disk as an image before deleting, create a new VM and pick the image under [OS template → Marketplace / Custom images](/products/build/virtual-machines/quickstart-guides/create-a-vm#3-pick-an-os-template). 3. **From scratch** — if you have neither, start over with [Create a VM](/products/build/virtual-machines/quickstart-guides/create-a-vm). ## Next steps Plan recovery before you need it. Spin up a replacement.