cannot detach volumes

The status on both volumes is "in use" except there are no attached instances displayed. I have no snapshots or machine images. I have no instances either for that matter. Baffled as to why it claims in use yet attached to nothing. All I have now is these two volumes.

Hello! I would recommend taking a look at the column "Volume State" shown in the Volumes console :

https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/v2/home?region=eu-west-1a#VolumeDetails:volumeId=vol-321dc85b

In order for the volume to be deleted, the Volume State must be "Available". If you notice that the current state is "Available" and still can't delete it, ensure that your account has the IAM permission ec2:DeleteVolume, which you can read more on this link https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/APIReference/API_DeleteVolume.html

If you use the AWS command line interface (CLI), you can attempt to delete the volume via the CLI and take note of the output message you receive, which will be helpful to troubleshoot. For example:

aws ec2 delete-volume --volume-id <volume id>

For more information on how to use the CLI, please visit https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-chap-welcome.html

Sometimes, volumes are associated to an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) or to a snapshot. Please check if you have an AMI taken as a backup from any instance, and also if you have any snapshots taken.

To view the snapshots, go to https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/v2/home?region=eu-west-1a#Snapshots:

To view Amazon Machine Images, go to https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/v2/home?region=eu-west-1a#Images:visibility=owned-by-me

I hope the information above was helpful. Please let me know if you have any additional questions.