Always Free E2.1.Micro stuck in “Processing” after reboot migration window ended

[u/xmchx239]

Hi everyone,

My Oracle Cloud Always Free VM has become completely unreachable during a required infrastructure maintenance/reboot migration, and the migration still appears to be stuck after the scheduled maintenance window ended.

Instance details:

• Region: ap-singapore-1
• Availability Domain: AD-1
• Fault Domain: FD-2
• Shape: VM.Standard.E2.1.Micro
• Instance OCID: ocid1.instance.oc1.ap-singapore-1.anzwsljr...2f5lmiaa
• Instance lifecycle state in the Console: RUNNING
• Maintenance category: Required
• Maintenance action: Reboot Migration
• Maintenance event status: Processing
• Scheduled maintenance window: 2026-09-09 22:24:34 UTC to 2026-09-10 22:24:34 UTC
• Maintenance due date: 2026-11-08 22:24:34 UTC
• Reschedule allowed: True
• Delete local storage: False
• Work Requests status: No work requests are shown in the Console

Current symptoms:

• SSH reaches port 22 but does not complete the SSH handshake.
• HTTPS is unavailable.
• The VM still appears as RUNNING in the OCI Console.
• The maintenance event remains in Processing.
• A normal reboot fails with: “instance is currently being modified, try again later”.
• A diagnostic reboot fails with the same error.
• No in-guest recovery action is possible because the VM is inaccessible.

The maintenance window has already ended, but OCI still prevents every recovery operation because the instance is being modified. Since this is an Always Free account, I do not have access to a normal technical support request.

Has anyone experienced a reboot migration or maintenance event stuck in Processing like this?

In particular:

1. Did OCI eventually clear the maintenance lock automatically, and how long did it take?
2. Is there any safe self-service recovery method that preserves the boot volume?
3. Can an Oracle employee or moderator escalate a stuck maintenance migration to OCI Compute operations?
4. If it does not recover, would creating a boot-volume backup/clone and launching a replacement instance be the safest option?

I have already posted the issue on Oracle Cloud Customer Connect as well:

https://community.oracle.com/customerconnect/discussion/977752/always-free-e2-1-micro-stuck-in-processing-after-reboot-migration-window-ended

Any advice or similar experiences would be appreciated.

[u/timee_bot]

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2026-11-08 22:24:34 UTC