In AWS, are you facing any error deleting the snapshots? Don’t worry, we can help you with it.

Here at Bobcares, we have seen several such AWS related errors as part of our Server Management Services for web hosts, AWS users, and online service providers.

Today we’ll take a look at the causes for this error and see how to fix it.

Why in AWS, an error occurs while deleting snapshots

Generally, you come across this error message while deleting any snapshot from the AWS account.

The main cause of this error message is Amazon Machine Images (AMIs). Amazon Machine Image is a virtual appliance that provides information necessary to launch an instance.

When the snapshot is associated with the AMI. These AMI images that are EBS-backed have associated EBS snapshots. As a result, it is not possible to delete the snapshot unless you deregister the AMI image.

For instance, here is an error message that appears when we try to delete a snapshot.

How we tackle AWS error deleting snapshots

Now let’s take a look at how our Support Engineers tackle this error.

First, we make sure that the AMI is not currently in use. In case, if we delete an AMI that is already in use by another service or application then it will affect the function of that service or application.

So in order to delete a snapshot, we need to deregister the AMI. Here are the steps that we follow to do it.

1. Initially, we copy the AMI name.
2. We choose AMIs under the IMAGES section from the left navigation pane.
3. Here, we select the AMI name that we have already copied from the error message.
4. Then from the Actions menu, we choose the Deregister option.
5. A confirmation message will pop-up, here we click the ‘Continue‘ button.

Finally, this will deregister the AMI.

Now we will be able to delete the snapshot without any issue.

[Need any further assistance in fixing AWS errors? – We are here to help you.]

Conclusion

In short, this error occurs if the snapshot is associated with AMI. Today, we saw how our Support Engineers fix this error.