---
title: "Virtual Machines. Idle VMs"
description: "Idle VMs are virtual machines that remain running even though they are no longer used, for example the project or POC is complete — but the virtual machines were never decommissioned."
canonical: "https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/mp/hyperv_guide/virtual_machines_idle_vms.html"
breadcrumb: "Veeam MP for Microsoft Hyper-V User Guide > Veeam MP for Hyper-V Reports > Veeam MP for Hyper-V Analysis Reports > Virtual Machines. Idle VMs"
dateModified: "2026-09-10"
---

# Virtual Machines. Idle VMs

Idle VMs are virtual machines that remain running even though they are no longer used, for example the project or POC is complete — but the virtual machines were never decommissioned. These Idle (aka 'Zombie') VMs consume CPU, memory and storage resources that could be used by other active machines.

The **Virtual Machines. Idle VMs** report shows a list of idle VMs in terms of CPU, memory, disk and network utilization.

## Sample Usage

This section provides step-by-step instructions that will help you understand how to create the **Virtual Machines. Idle VMs** report. Consider the following example:

*You need to report on virtual machines CPU and memory performance for this week to identify VMs that can be considered as candidates for powering off or decommissioning. Identify VMs that stayed idle longer than the half of the reporting period.*

To create the report, follow these steps:

1. [Open the Virtual Machines. Idle VMs report](open_virtual_machines_idle_vms_report.md).
2. [Define time intervals](define_idle_vms_report_time_intervals.md).
3. [Choose a report scope](choose_idle_vms_report_scope.md).
4. [Specify threshold values](specify_threshold_values.md).
5. [Choose Idle Ratio](choose_idle_ratio.md).
6. [Run the report](run_virtual_machines_idle_vms_report.md).
7. [View the report output](virtual_machines_idle_vms_report_output.md).