How to adjust VM Ram size

Question

How to adjust VM Ram size

Aleem Sheikh 0

I have a vm that i would like to increase the ram amount to 8gb. How do I do this?

Details of vm:

East US (Zone 1)

Standard B2s (2 vcpus, 4 GiB memory)

Windows (Windows Server 2025 Datacenter Azure Edition)

Manish Deshpande 4,450 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-05T04:23:07.64+00:00
Hello Aleem Sheikh, Thank you for contacting us about the VM issue.

Thanks for sharing the details — I understand you’d like to increase your VM memory from 4 GB to 8 GB.

In Azure, RAM and CPU are not upgraded independently. They are defined by the VM Size (SKU). To increase memory, the VM must be resized to a size that provides at least 8 GiB RAM.

Your current VM size Standard_B2s provides 4 GiB RAM

To get 8 GiB RAM, the VM must be resized to a size such as Standard_B2ms (2 vCPU, 8 GiB RAM) or any other compatible size with ≥ 8 GiB memory

Sign in to the Azure portal

Navigate to Virtual Machines and select your VM

Under Settings, select Size

Choose a VM size with ≥ 8 GiB RAM (for example, Standard_B2ms if available)

Select Resize.

Resizing a running VM will cause a restart, resulting in brief downtime

If the desired size does not appear or the resize fails, stop (deallocate) the VM first and retry

Deallocation allows Azure to move the VM to compatible hardware if required

Link :
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/sizes/resize-vm?tabs=portal

Capacity consideration :

The Standard_B2s and Standard_B2ms sizes belong to B‑series v1, which has limited capacity in some regions. Because of this:

Resize may fail due to temporary capacity constraints

Stopping (deallocating) the VM and retrying often resolves the issue

Additionally, B‑series v1 sizes are planned for retirement in the future, so for long‑term workloads, Microsoft recommends evaluating newer VM size families.

Resize using CLI :

az vm deallocate --resource-group <RESOURCE_GROUP> --name <VM_NAME> az vm resize --resource-group <RESOURCE_GROUP> --name <VM_NAME> --size Standard_B2ms az vm start --resource-group <RESOURCE_GROUP> --name <VM_NAME> ``

Once the resize completes successfully, the VM will run with 8 GiB RAM, as the compute resources are updated based on the new VM size.

If the issue persists, or if the required VM size still does not appear after deallocating the VM, please share the target VM size and any error message from the Activity Log in the comments. We’ll be happy to assist further and guide you to the next best option.

If this response helped resolve your question, please consider clicking “Accept Answer” to help others in the community find the solution more easily.

Thanks.
Manish Deshpande 4,450 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-09T06:31:39.2966667+00:00
Hello

Thank you for sharing the details. I understand you’re looking to increase the virtual machine memory from 4 GiB to 8 GiB.

In Azure, RAM and CPU are not upgraded independently. They are defined by the VM Size (SKU). To increase memory, the VM must be resized to a size that provides at least 8 GiB RAM.

Your current VM size Standard_B2s provides 4 GiB RAM

To get 8 GiB RAM, the VM must be resized to a size such as Standard_B2ms (2 vCPU, 8 GiB RAM) or any other compatible size with ≥ 8 GiB memory

Sign in to the Azure portal

Navigate to Virtual Machines and select your VM

Under Settings, select Size

Choose a VM size with ≥ 8 GiB RAM (for example, Standard_B2ms if available)

Select Resize.

Resizing a running VM will cause a restart, resulting in brief downtime

If the desired size does not appear or the resize fails, stop (deallocate) the VM first and retry

Deallocation allows Azure to move the VM to compatible hardware if required

Link :
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/sizes/resize-vm?tabs=portal

Capacity consideration :

The Standard_B2s and Standard_B2ms sizes belong to B‑series v1, which has limited capacity in some regions. Because of this:

Resize may fail due to temporary capacity constraints

Stopping (deallocating) the VM and retrying often resolves the issue

Additionally, B‑series v1 sizes are planned for retirement in the future, so for long‑term workloads, Microsoft recommends evaluating newer VM size families.

Resize using CLI :

az vm deallocate --resource-group <RESOURCE_GROUP> --name <VM_NAME> az vm resize --resource-group <RESOURCE_GROUP> --name <VM_NAME> --size Standard_B2ms az vm start --resource-group <RESOURCE_GROUP> --name <VM_NAME> ``

Once the resize completes successfully, the VM will run with 8 GiB RAM, as the compute resources are updated based on the new VM size.

If the issue persists, or if the required VM size still does not appear after deallocating the VM, please share the target VM size and any error message from the Activity Log in the comments. We’ll be happy to assist further and guide you to the next best option.

Thanks,
Manish.
Manish Deshpande 4,450 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-09T06:34:27.1733333+00:00

If the issue still persists pls let me know your best time to connect with you over the teams.
Manish Deshpande 4,450 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-10T07:58:32.8833333+00:00

Hello Aleem
I wanted to check if my last response made sense. I’d be glad to assist further or explain anything in more detail and please accept as Yes and upvote if the answer is helpful so that it can help others in the community.
Manish Deshpande 4,450 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-12T12:06:13.75+00:00

Hello Aleem

I wanted to check if my last response made sense. I’d be glad to assist further or explain anything in more detail and please accept as Yes and upvote if the answer is helpful so that it can help others in the community.

3 answers

Your answer

Manish Deshpande 4,450 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-09T06:34:27.1733333+00:00

If the issue still persists pls let me know your best time to connect with you over the teams.
Manish Deshpande 4,450 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-10T07:58:32.8833333+00:00

Hello Aleem
I wanted to check if my last response made sense. I’d be glad to assist further or explain anything in more detail and please accept as Yes and upvote if the answer is helpful so that it can help others in the community.
Manish Deshpande 4,450 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-12T12:06:13.75+00:00

Hello Aleem

I wanted to check if my last response made sense. I’d be glad to assist further or explain anything in more detail and please accept as Yes and upvote if the answer is helpful so that it can help others in the community.

Answer 1

Aleem Sheikh 0

I opened an SR with support. They denied my request for other vms with more ram. So i just built more vms to handle the load i need. thanks,

Answer 2

Hi,

In order to increase RAM you will need to resize the VM to a different size. For example, navigate to the VM in Azure portal, on left click on Availability + scale -- Size, select B2ms, click Resize button. There will be several minutes of downtime minimum while the VM is resized, so you will want to perform this during scheduled maintenance or off hours.

Please note Standard_B2s (current size, B series v1) and Standard_B2ms (possible new size) are legacy and there is limited capacity available in some Azure regions. What this means is the resize may fail due to capacity. Retrying to start the VM periodically may resolve the issue, if it occurs.

Since B series v1 sizes are scheduled for retirement November 15, 2028, long term you will want to move to newer size eventually.

Please click Accept Answer and upvote if the above was helpful.

Thanks.

-TP

Answer 3

Marcin Policht 82,355 MVP Volunteer Moderator

In Azure, the amount of RAM a VM has is determined by the VM size. Your current size, Standard B2s, provides 4 GiB of memory. To get 8 GiB of RAM you must resize the VM to a size that includes 8 GiB, such as Standard B2ms (2 vCPUs, 8 GiB memory) or another VM size with at least 8 GiB.

Using the Azure Portal, go to the Azure Portal at https://portal.azure.com and open Virtual Machines. Select your VM. In the left menu choose Size. Azure will show a list of available sizes for that region and hardware cluster. Select Standard B2ms (2 vCPUs, 8 GiB memory) or another 8 GiB option and click Resize. If the resize button is disabled, stop the VM first, then select the new size and apply it. After resizing, start the VM again if you stopped it.

Using Azure CLI you first stop the VM and then update the size.

az vm deallocate --resource-group <RESOURCE_GROUP> --name <VM_NAME>

az vm resize --resource-group <RESOURCE_GROUP> --name <VM_NAME> --size Standard_B2ms

az vm start --resource-group <RESOURCE_GROUP> --name <VM_NAME>

Using PowerShell the equivalent commands are:

Stop-AzVM -ResourceGroupName <RESOURCE_GROUP> -Name <VM_NAME> -Force

$vm = Get-AzVM -ResourceGroupName <RESOURCE_GROUP> -Name <VM_NAME>
$vm.HardwareProfile.VmSize = "Standard_B2ms"
Update-AzVM -ResourceGroupName <RESOURCE_GROUP> -VM $vm

Start-AzVM -ResourceGroupName <RESOURCE_GROUP> -Name <VM_NAME>

After the resize completes, the VM will have 8 GiB of RAM because the VM size has changed from B2s to B2ms. If B2ms does not appear in the size list, it means the current host cluster does not support it, and stopping/deallocating the VM will allow Azure to move it to compatible hardware during resize.

If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin

Aleem Sheikh 0 Reputation points

2026-03-05T15:33:51.26+00:00

Thanks for all the responses ! But even with the vm stopped i cannot choose any other vm size. Everything else is either unsupported or "request quota".
Marcin Policht 82,355 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-03-05T15:38:51.8466667+00:00
This usually happens for one of two reasons in Azure: regional vCPU quota limits or size restrictions tied to the VM’s current hardware cluster.

If most sizes say “Request quota”, it means your subscription does not currently have enough vCPU quota in the East US region for those VM families. Each VM family (B-series, D-series, etc.) has its own quota limit. For example, if your B-series quota is 2 vCPUs and you already use them with the B2s VM, Azure will block resizing to anything else in that family until the quota is increased.

You can check your quotas in the Azure Portal by going to Subscriptions, selecting your subscription, opening Usage + quotas, and filtering by region East US. Look for the VM family you want (for example B-series or D-series). If the limit is lower than the required vCPUs, select Request increase and submit a quota increase request.

If the sizes show “Unsupported”, the VM is pinned to a hardware cluster that does not support those sizes. Even when stopped, Azure sometimes keeps the VM allocated to that cluster unless it is fully deallocated.

Run this to confirm the VM is fully deallocated:

az vm get-instance-view --resource-group <RESOURCE_GROUP> --name <VM_NAME> --query instanceView.statuses

If it does not show PowerState/deallocated, force deallocation:

az vm deallocate --resource-group <RESOURCE_GROUP> --name <VM_NAME>

Then list the sizes actually available for that VM:

az vm list-vm-resize-options --resource-group <RESOURCE_GROUP> --name <VM_NAME> -o table

If the size you want (such as Standard_B2ms) does not appear in that list, Azure cannot place that VM on compatible hardware in its current cluster. In that situation the common solutions are increasing quota and resizing to another supported family like Standard_D2s_v5, or stopping/deallocating the VM and attempting the resize again so Azure can move it to a different host.

If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin

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How to adjust VM Ram size

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