Help Center/ Virtual Private Cloud/ FAQs/ VPCs and Subnets/ Why Can't I Delete My VPCs and Subnets?
Updated on 2025-06-10 GMT+08:00
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Why Can't I Delete My VPCs and Subnets?

If VPCs and subnets are being used by other resources, you need to delete these resources first before deleting the VPCs and subnets. This topic provides the prompts and the actions you need to take to delete the VPCs and subnets.

The VPC service has multiple resources. Some are free, while some are not. For details about VPC resource pricing, see Pricing Details.

If your VPCs and subnets cannot be deleted, submit a service ticket.

Deleting Subnets

You can refer to Table 1 to delete subnets.

Table 1 Deleting a subnet

Prompts

Cause

Solution

You do not have permission to perform this operation.

Your account does not have permissions to delete subnets.

Contact the account administrator to grant permissions to your account and then delete the VPC.

Permissions Management

Delete custom routes from the associated route table of the subnet and then delete the subnet.
The route table has custom routes with the following as the next hop type:
  • Server
  • Extension NIC
  • Virtual IP address
  • NAT gateway
Delete the custom routes from the route table and then delete the subnet.
  1. View the route table associated with the subnet.
  2. Delete the routes.

Release the virtual IP addresses in the subnet and then delete the subnet.

The subnet has virtual IP addresses.

Release the virtual IP addresses from the subnet and then delete the subnet.

Releasing a Virtual IP Address

Release the private IP addresses in the subnet and then delete the subnet.

The subnet has virtual IP addresses but these IP addresses are not used by any instance.

On the IP Addresses tab, release these private IP addresses that are not required and then delete the subnet.

  1. View IP addresses in the subnet.
  2. In the private IP address list, locate the IP address that is not being used and click Release in the Operation column.

    If you want to release an in-use private IP address, you need to delete the resource that uses the IP address first.

Delete the compute resources that are using the subnet and then delete the subnet.

The subnet is being used by an ECS or a load balancer.

Delete the ECS or load balancer and then delete the subnet.

Viewing and Deleting Resources in a Subnet

Delete the load balancer that is using the subnet and then delete the subnet.

The subnet is being used by a load balancer.

Delete the load balancer and then delete the subnet.

Viewing and Deleting Resources in a Subnet

Delete the NAT gateway that is using the subnet and then delete the subnet.

The subnet is being used by a NAT gateway.

Delete the NAT gateway and then delete the subnet.

Viewing and Deleting Resources in a Subnet

Delete the resource that is using the subnet and then delete the subnet.

The subnet is being used by cloud resources.

On the IP Addresses tab, view the usage of the IP address, find the resource that is using the IP address, delete the resource, and delete the subnet.

  1. View IP addresses in the subnet.
  2. Locate the resources that are using the IP addresses by referring to Searching for Cloud Resources.
  3. Delete the resources and then delete the subnet.

Deleting VPCs

Before deleting a VPC, ensure that all subnets in the VPC have been deleted. You can refer to Table 2 to delete VPCs.

Table 2 Deleting a VPC

Prompts

Cause

Solution

You do not have permission to perform this operation.

Your account does not have permissions to delete VPCs.

Contact the account administrator to grant permissions to your account and then delete the VPC.

Permissions Management

Delete the VPC endpoint service or the route configured for the service from the VPC route table and then delete the VPC.

The VPC route table has custom routes.

Delete the custom routes and then delete the VPC.

  1. In the VPC list, locate the target VPC and click the number in the Route Tables column.

    The route table list is displayed.

  2. Delete the routes.

The VPC is being used by a VPC endpoint service.

Search for the VPC endpoint service on the VPC endpoint service console and delete it.

Deleting a VPC Endpoint Service

This VPC has VPC endpoint services configured. Delete the services first.

The VPC is being used by a VPC endpoint service.

Search for the VPC endpoint service on the VPC endpoint service console and delete it.

Deleting a VPC Endpoint Service

This VPC cannot be deleted because it has associated resources.

The VPC is being used by the one of the following resources:

  • Subnet
  • VPC peering connection
  • Custom route table

Click the resource name and then delete the resource.

Delete the virtual gateway that is using the VPC and then delete the VPC.

The VPC is being used by a Direct Connect virtual gateway.

On the Direct Connect console, locate the virtual gateway and delete it.

Deleting a Virtual Gateway

Delete the VPN gateway that is using the VPC and then delete the VPC.

The VPC is being used by a VPN gateway.

On the VPN console, locate the VPN gateway and delete it.

Deleting a VPN Gateway

Remove the VPC from the cloud connection and then delete the VPC.

The VPC is being used by a Cloud Connect connection.

On the Cloud Connect console, locate the connection and remove the VPC from it.

Removing a Network Instance

Delete all custom security groups in this region and then delete this last VPC.

This is the last VPC in this region and there are custom security groups in this VPC.

Only custom security groups must be deleted. The default security group does not impact VPC deletion.

Delete all custom security groups and then delete the VPC.

Deleting a Security Group

Release all EIPs in this region and then delete this last VPC.

This is the last VPC in this region and there are EIPs in this VPC.

Release all EIPs and then delete this VPC.

Releasing an EIP

Searching for Cloud Resources

  1. Log in to the management console.
  2. In the upper right corner of the console, choose Resources > My Resources.
    The My Resources page is displayed.
    Figure 1 My Resources
  3. On the My Resources page, set search criteria to quickly find the resources in the subnet.
    • Service: Select a service that has resources in the subnet.

      Table 3 lists the common resources. If you have other resources, check if they are working in the subnet.

    • Resource Type: Check the resource type.
    • Region: Select the region where the VPC and subnet are located to filter resources. VPCs and subnets can be used only by resources in the same region.
      Table 3 Common resources in subnets

      Product Category

      Service

      Compute

      Elastic Cloud Server (ECS)

      Bare Metal Server (BMS)

      Cloud Container Engine (CCE)

      Cloud Container Instance (CCI)

      Containers

      Application Service Mesh (ASM)

      Networking

      Elastic Load Balance (ELB)

      NAT Gateway

      VPC Endpoint (VPCEP)

      Databases

      GaussDB

      Relational Database Service (RDS)

      Document Database Service (DDS)

      Distributed Database Middleware (DDM)

      Applications
      Distributed Cache Service (DCS)
      • Redis instance
      • Memcached instance
      Distributed Message Service (DMS)
      • Kafka instance
      • RabbitMQ instance

      EI

      MapReduce Service (MRS)

      Data Warehouse Service (DWS)

      Cloud Search Service (CSS)

    If you cannot delete a subnet even after deleting all the resources in it, submit a service ticket.

Parent topic: VPCs and Subnets