Cannot delete AWS connection settings in Purview

A while ago I had this come up for a customer who was testing AWS S3 connections in Purview, and we ran into almost the exact same error when trying to delete the connection. Even though it looked like all the related items were already removed, Purview still refused to delete it because something in the metadata graph was still referencing that connection behind the scenes.

What actually helped was removing every object that could possibly depend on it, including the data source, the credential, and any scan configurations or lineage items tied to it. In our case, the delete button was also greyed out for the scan ruleset, and we had to unlink it first. After cleaning those pieces up and giving Purview a few minutes to sync its internal metadata, the connection finally deleted without errors.

The message you’re seeing simply means Purview believes something still depends on that connection, even if it’s invisible in the UI. Clearing all dependencies and letting metadata refresh usually resolves it, but if it doesn’t, you’ll need Azure support to clear the orphaned reference on the backend.

Hi @Miku Sugio

Thanks for sharing your updates, below are few detailed steps that may help you to mitigate the issue -

The “Delete” being greyed out on a Scan rule set is because that rule set is still assigned to one or more scans. You don’t have to recreate anything; you just need to unassign the rule set from those scans first, then the delete will light up.

How to Unlink and Delete (UI Steps)

• Identify scans using the rule set
  • Go to Data Map → Source Management → Data Sources.
    • Open your Amazon S3 data source and check the Scans tab.
    • Unassign the rule set
      • Edit each scan that references the custom rule set.
        • Change the rule set to System default (or any other non‑custom rule set).
          • Save changes.
          • Delete scans (optional but recommended)
            • If these scans were only for testing, delete them to avoid hidden references.
            • Delete the rule set
              • Go to Scan Rule Sets in Source Management.
                • The Delete button should now be active—remove the rule set.
                • Complete cleanup if needed
                  • Delete the data source, credential, and finally the connection (AmazonS3Connection‑CXY).

Always unlink the rule set from scans first. Once no scans reference it, the delete button becomes available.

Microsoft KB Article

Refer to: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/purview/manage-scan-rule-sets This article explains why dependencies block deletion and the correct sequence to remove scans, rule sets, and connections.

Hi @Miku Sugio

I hope you had a chance to review the information shared earlier, and I hope this information has been helpful! If you still have questions, please let us know what is needed in the comments so the question can be answered.

Hi @Miku Sugio

If this solution helped resolve your issue, please consider clicking ‘Accept Answer’ or giving it an upvote to help others find it easily.

Hi,@VRISHABHANATH PATIL

I checked console again, but there were no custom rule sets and scans...

Also, I tried deleting again in this order.

Delete the data source, credential, and finally the connection (AmazonS3Connection‑CXY).

However, the same error code appeared as before.

Request failed with status code 400 Request ID: c704446f-7390-410c-8964-e5e03f9a4ddd The document cannot be deleted since it is referenced by amazons3connection-cxy.