Cannot create a VM in Azure for students

Hi Tim,

Thank you for reaching out and for providing the exact error details—this is a very common issue with Azure for Students subscriptions, and I’m happy to help you resolve it quickly.

Your VM creation is being blocked by a built-in Azure Policy named “Allowed resource deployment regions” (Policy Definition ID: b86dabb9-b578-4d7b-b842-3b45e95769a1). This policy automatically restricts every Azure for Students subscription to a small, subscription-specific list of “best available” regions (typically 3–5 regions, often US-based such as East US, West US, etc.). The goal is to guarantee optimal performance, service availability, and cost efficiency for student accounts.

You cannot change or override this policy on a Student subscription, and the allowed regions vary per account. The error message you see is exactly what this policy produces when you try to deploy outside the permitted list.

Official Microsoft documentation explaining the policy (including its exact description):
https://www.azadvertizer.net/azpolicyadvertizer/b86dabb9-b578-4d7b-b842-3b45e95769a1.html

Steps to perform :

1. Sign in to the Azure Portal.
2. In the top search bar, type Policy and select Policy.
3. In the left menu, go to Authoring → Assignments.
4. Look for the assignment named “Allowed resource deployment regions” (or very similar, e.g., “sys.regionrestriction”).
5. Click on it → expand Parameters → note the Allowed locations (or listOfAllowedLocations) value. These are the only regions you can use.
6. Create a new Resource Group in one of those allowed regions first. Then create your VM (and any related resources like storage, VNet, etc.) in the exact same region.
7. For best results on a Student subscription, choose a B-series VM size (e.g., Standard_B1s or B2s) — these are the sizes most commonly available and eligible under the free credit.

Thanks,

Manish.

Hi Tim,

Azure for Students restricts which regions you can deploy resources to. Typically you are restricted to five different regions, and these vary for each person.

Please navigate to Azure Policy -- Authoring -- Assignments using link below:

https://portal.azure.com/#view/Microsoft_Azure_Policy/PolicyMenuBlade/~/Assignments

Click on assignment named Allowed resource deployment regions

Examine Allowed locations Parameter value for list of regions, similar to below (regions in screenshot are different than yours):

The regions shown in your Parameter value are the ones you are allowed to deploy resources to. Please try to create resources in one of these regions and let me know the results.

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

Thanks.

-TP

The error indicates that a policy applied to the Azure for Students subscription is restricting which regions can be used for deployments. Azure for Students subscriptions are sponsored accounts with predefined limits and policies that can't be changed by the subscriber.

Because this is a platform-enforced policy (RequestDisallowedByAzure) and not something configurable within the subscription, the only viable options are:

1. Try deploying the VM in a different region that is allowed for the Azure for Students offer. The policy message mentions “best available regions”; only those regions will work.
2. If no available region works, the subscription doesn’t currently have capacity/permission to deploy that VM type in any region. In that case, the only resolution is to contact Azure support or the institution/administrator that provided the Azure for Students subscription so they can work with Microsoft to adjust the allowed regions or provide a different subscription.

There is no client-side or portal setting that can bypass or override this policy from within an Azure for Students subscription.

References:

• Troubleshoot allocation failures when you create or resize VMs in Azure
• Common issues: Unavailable virtual machine SKU
• Can't create a Capacity Reservation