diff --git a/builtin/providers/azurerm/resource_arm_virtual_machine.go b/builtin/providers/azurerm/resource_arm_virtual_machine.go
index e2b26584d5..b2121df8a9 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/azurerm/resource_arm_virtual_machine.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/azurerm/resource_arm_virtual_machine.go
@@ -214,8 +214,8 @@ func resourceArmVirtualMachine() *schema.Resource {
 					Schema: map[string]*schema.Schema{
 						"computer_name": {
 							Type:     schema.TypeString,
-							Optional: true,
 							ForceNew: true,
+							Required: true,
 						},
 
 						"admin_username": {
@@ -847,9 +847,11 @@ func expandAzureRmVirtualMachineOsProfile(d *schema.ResourceData) (*compute.OSPr
 
 	adminUsername := osProfile["admin_username"].(string)
 	adminPassword := osProfile["admin_password"].(string)
+	computerName := osProfile["computer_name"].(string)
 
 	profile := &compute.OSProfile{
 		AdminUsername: &adminUsername,
+		ComputerName:  &computerName,
 	}
 
 	if adminPassword != "" {
@@ -883,9 +885,6 @@ func expandAzureRmVirtualMachineOsProfile(d *schema.ResourceData) (*compute.OSPr
 		}
 	}
 
-	if v := osProfile["computer_name"].(string); v != "" {
-		profile.ComputerName = &v
-	}
 	if v := osProfile["custom_data"].(string); v != "" {
 		profile.CustomData = &v
 	}
diff --git a/website/source/docs/providers/azurerm/r/virtual_machine.html.markdown b/website/source/docs/providers/azurerm/r/virtual_machine.html.markdown
index 2938c0a135..7f719337ca 100644
--- a/website/source/docs/providers/azurerm/r/virtual_machine.html.markdown
+++ b/website/source/docs/providers/azurerm/r/virtual_machine.html.markdown
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ For more information on the different example configurations, please check out t
 
 `os_profile` supports the following:
 
-* `computer_name` - (Optional) Specifies the name of the virtual machine.
+* `computer_name` - (Required) Specifies the name of the virtual machine.
 * `admin_username` - (Required) Specifies the name of the administrator account.
 * `admin_password` - (Required) Specifies the password of the administrator account.
 * `custom_data` - (Optional) Specifies a base-64 encoded string of custom data. The base-64 encoded string is decoded to a binary array that is saved as a file on the Virtual Machine. The maximum length of the binary array is 65535 bytes.