Install Azure CLI on Windows

The Azure Command-Line Interface (CLI) is a cross-platform command-line tool that can be installed locally on Windows computers. You can use the Azure CLI for Windows to connect to Azure and execute administrative commands on Azure resources. The Azure CLI for Windows can also be used from a browser through the Azure Cloud Shell or run from inside a Docker container.

For Windows, the Azure CLI is installed via an MSI or a ZIP package, which gives you access to the CLI through the Windows Command Prompt (CMD) or PowerShell. When you perform an installation for Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), packages are available for your Linux distribution. See the main install page for the list of supported package managers or how to install manually under WSL.

There are four ways to install the Azure CLI in Windows:

• Microsoft Installer (MSI)
• Microsoft Installer (MSI) in PowerShell
• Windows package manager
• ZIP package

The current version of the Azure CLI is 2.65.0. For information about the latest release, see the release notes. To find your installed version and see if you need to update, run az version.

Install or update

The MSI and ZIP distributable are used for installing or updating the Azure CLI on Windows. You don't need to uninstall current versions before using the MSI installer because the MSI updates any existing version.

Important

After the installation is complete, you will need to close and reopen any active terminal window to use the Azure CLI.

Microsoft Installer (MSI)

Latest version

Download and install the latest release of the Azure CLI. When the installer asks if it can make changes to your computer, select the "Yes" box.

Latest MSI of the Azure CLI (32-bit)

Latest MSI of the Azure CLI (64-bit)

If you have previously installed the Azure CLI, running either the 32-bit or 64-bit MSI will overwrite an existing installation.

Specific version

If you prefer, you can download a specific version of the Azure CLI by using a URL.

To download the MSI installer for a specific version, change the version segment in URL https://azcliprod.blob.core.windows.net/msi/azure-cli-<version>.msi (32-bit) or https://azcliprod.blob.core.windows.net/msi/azure-cli-<version>-x64.msi (64-bit).

For example, to install the 32-bit MSI of Azure CLI version 2.51.0, your URL would be https://azcliprod.blob.core.windows.net/msi/azure-cli-2.51.0.msi. The corresponding 64-bit install would be https://azcliprod.blob.core.windows.net/msi/azure-cli-2.51.0-x64.msi.

Available Azure CLI versions can be found at Azure CLI release notes. The 64-bit MSI is available from version 2.51.0.

Microsoft Installer (MSI) with PowerShell

PowerShell

To install the Azure CLI using PowerShell, start PowerShell as administrator and run the following command:

$ProgressPreference = 'SilentlyContinue'; Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://aka.ms/installazurecliwindows -OutFile .\AzureCLI.msi; Start-Process msiexec.exe -Wait -ArgumentList '/I AzureCLI.msi /quiet'; Remove-Item .\AzureCLI.msi

This will download and install the latest 32-bit installer of the Azure CLI for Windows. If you prefer a 64-bit install, change URL to https://aka.ms/installazurecliwindowsx64. If the Azure CLI is already installed, the installer will overwrite the existing version.

To install a specific version, replace the -Uri argument with the URL described in Specific version. Here is an example of using the 32-bit installer of the Azure CLI version 2.51.0 in PowerShell:

$ProgressPreference = 'SilentlyContinue'; Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://azcliprod.blob.core.windows.net/msi/azure-cli-2.51.0.msi -OutFile .\AzureCLI.msi; Start-Process msiexec.exe -Wait -ArgumentList '/I AzureCLI.msi /quiet'; Remove-Item .\AzureCLI.msi

Specific version

To download the MSI installer for a specific version, change the version segment in URL https://azcliprod.blob.core.windows.net/msi/azure-cli-<version>.msi (32-bit) or https://azcliprod.blob.core.windows.net/msi/azure-cli-<version>-x64.msi (64-bit).

For example, to install the 32-bit MSI of Azure CLI version 2.51.0, your URL would be https://azcliprod.blob.core.windows.net/msi/azure-cli-2.51.0.msi. The corresponding 64-bit install would be https://azcliprod.blob.core.windows.net/msi/azure-cli-2.51.0-x64.msi.

Available Azure CLI versions can be found at Azure CLI release notes. The 64-bit MSI is available from version 2.51.0.

Differences between Bash and PowerShell

Although most Azure CLI documentation is written and tested in a Bash shell, you can also install and run the Azure CLI using PowerShell. There are subtle syntax differences between Bash and PowerShell. Review these articles to avoid scripting errors:

• Considerations for running the Azure CLI in a PowerShell scripting language
• Use quotation marks in Azure CLI parameters
• Compare syntax of Bash, PowerShell and Cmd.exe in Learn Azure CLI syntax differences in Bash, PowerShell and Cmd

When running the Azure CLI in PowerShell, there are also error handling differences and the ability to enable tab completion. See these articles for more information:

• Error handling for the Azure CLI in PowerShell
• Enable Tab Completion in PowerShell

Windows Package Manager

winget

You can also use winget, Microsoft's Package manager for Windows, to install and manage updates for Azure CLI.

Note

winget is available by default in Windows 11 and modern versions of Windows 10. However, it may not be installed in older versions of Windows. See the winget documentation for installation instructions.

winget install -e --id Microsoft.AzureCLI

The -e option is to ensure the official Azure CLI package is installed. This command installs the latest version by default. To specify a version, add a -v <version> with your desired version to the command.

ZIP Package

Important

This package is currently in preview.

You can use the ZIP package to install the Azure CLI on Windows. This package is useful when you don't have administrative privilege.

Unzip the package to a folder, then using Cmd or PowerShell, call the Azure CLI by running <unzipped folder path>\bin\az.cmd.

If you want to run the az command directly, follow the steps below to add the Azure CLI to your PATH environment variable.

1. Open the Start Menu and search for environment variables. Click Edit the system environment variables.
2. Click the Environment Variables... button.
3. In the User varibles for <username> box, select Path and click the Edit... button.
4. Click the New button and add the <unzipped folder path>\bin to the list.
5. Restart your terminal. You should now be able to run az commands.

Latest version

Latest ZIP of the Azure CLI (64-bit)

Specific version

If you prefer, you can download a specific version of the Azure CLI by using a URL.

To download the ZIP package for a specific version, change the version segment in URL https://azcliprod.blob.core.windows.net/zip/azure-cli-<version>-x64.zip.

For example, to install the 64-bit ZIP of Azure CLI version 2.57.0, your URL would be https://azcliprod.blob.core.windows.net/zip/azure-cli-2.57.0-x64.zip.

Available Azure CLI versions can be found at Azure CLI release notes. The ZIP package is available from version 2.57.0. Only 64-bit is available.

Run the Azure CLI

You can now run the Azure CLI with the az command from either Windows Command Prompt or PowerShell.

Troubleshooting installation

Here are some common problems seen when installing the Azure CLI on Windows. If you experience a problem not covered here, file an issue on GitHub.

PATH variable not set

The most common cause of this problem is that the active terminal window has not been restarted after installation. Close and reopen any active terminal window.

Proxy blocks connection

If you can't download the MSI installer because your proxy is blocking the connection, make sure that you have your proxy properly configured. For Windows 10, these settings are managed in the Settings > Network & Internet > Proxy pane. Contact your system administrator for the required settings, or for situations where your machine may be configuration-managed or require advanced setup.

Important

These settings are also required to be able to access Azure services with the CLI, from both PowerShell or the Command Prompt. In PowerShell, you do this with the following command:

(New-Object System.Net.WebClient).Proxy.Credentials = `
  [System.Net.CredentialCache]::DefaultNetworkCredentials

In order to get the MSI, your proxy needs to allow HTTPS connections to the following addresses:

• https://aka.ms/
• https://azcliprod.blob.core.windows.net/

For more information, see Work behind a proxy in the Azure CLI troubleshooting guide.

Slow response times

See Migrate to 64-bit Azure CLI

Enable Tab Completion in PowerShell

Tab completion, also known as "Azure CLI completers", provides completion on inputs to provide hints, enable discovery and speed up input entry. Command names, command group names, parameters and certain parameter values can be automatically inserted into the command line by pressing the Tab key.

Tab completion is enabled by default in Azure Cloud Shell and in most Linux distributions. Starting in Azure CLI version 2.49, you can enable tab completion for the Azure CLI in PowerShell. Follow these steps:

1. Create or edit the profile stored in the variable $PROFILE. The simplest way is to run notepad $PROFILE in PowerShell. For more information, see How to create your profile and Profiles and execution policy.

2. Add the following code to your PowerShell profile:

   Register-ArgumentCompleter -Native -CommandName az -ScriptBlock {
       param($commandName, $wordToComplete, $cursorPosition)
       $completion_file = New-TemporaryFile
       $env:ARGCOMPLETE_USE_TEMPFILES = 1
       $env:_ARGCOMPLETE_STDOUT_FILENAME = $completion_file
       $env:COMP_LINE = $wordToComplete
       $env:COMP_POINT = $cursorPosition
       $env:_ARGCOMPLETE = 1
       $env:_ARGCOMPLETE_SUPPRESS_SPACE = 0
       $env:_ARGCOMPLETE_IFS = "`n"
       $env:_ARGCOMPLETE_SHELL = 'powershell'
       az 2>&1 | Out-Null
       Get-Content $completion_file | Sort-Object | ForEach-Object {
           [System.Management.Automation.CompletionResult]::new($_, $_, "ParameterValue", $_)
       }
       Remove-Item $completion_file, Env:\_ARGCOMPLETE_STDOUT_FILENAME, Env:\ARGCOMPLETE_USE_TEMPFILES, Env:\COMP_LINE, Env:\COMP_POINT, Env:\_ARGCOMPLETE, Env:\_ARGCOMPLETE_SUPPRESS_SPACE, Env:\_ARGCOMPLETE_IFS, Env:\_ARGCOMPLETE_SHELL
   }
   

3. To display all available options in the menu, add Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key Tab -Function MenuComplete to your PowerShell profile.

Update the Azure CLI

Beginning with version 2.11.0, the Azure CLI provides an in-tool command to update to the latest version.

az upgrade

This command also updates all installed extensions by default. For more az upgrade options, see the command reference page. For Azure CLI versions prior to 2.11.0, update by reinstalling as described in Install the Azure CLI.

If you are using ZIP distribution, please delete the old installation folder and extract the new version to the same location.

Migrate to 64-bit Azure CLI

Starting from 2.51.0, Azure CLI also provides 64-bit MSI which is recommended for better performance.

Follow these steps to migrate to Azure CLI 64-bit:

1. Check your current CLI version and installed extensions by running az --version.
2. Extensions will need to be reinstalled. It is recommended to perform a backup of the current extension folder %userprofile%\.azure\cliextensions by renaming it in case you choose to revert back to 32-bit. This folder is created automatically when you reinstall an extension.
3. Download and install latest 64-bit installer as described in Install or update. The 32-bit MSI will be automatically uninstalled.
4. Install extensions by running az extension add --name <extension> --version <version>. If you don't want to reinstall extensions manually, the Azure CLI will prompt you to install an extension on first use. For more information on installing extensions, see How to install extensions.

If you have issues after migration, you can uninstall the 64-bit and reinstall the 32-bit MSI. If you have made a backup of your 32-bit extension folder, restore (rename) your extension folder after the change.

Uninstall

If you decide to uninstall the Azure CLI, we're sorry to see you go. Before you uninstall, use the az feedback command to let us know what could be improved or fixed. Our goal is to make the Azure CLI bug-free and user-friendly. If you found a bug, we'd appreciate it if you file a GitHub issue.

You uninstall the Azure CLI from the Windows "Apps and Features" list. To uninstall:

Platform	Instructions
Windows 11	Start > Settings > Apps > Installed apps
Windows 10	Start > Settings > Apps > Apps & Features
Windows 8 and Windows 7	Start > Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall a program

Once on this screen type Azure CLI into the program search bar. The program to uninstall is listed as Microsoft CLI 2.0 for Azure. Select this application, then select the Uninstall button.

Remove data

If you don't plan to reinstall Azure CLI, remove its data from C:\Users\<username>\.azure\msal_token_cache.bin or C:\Users\<username>\.azure\msal_token_cache.json.

Next Steps

Now that you've installed the Azure CLI on Windows, learn about the different ways to sign in.

Sign in with Azure CLI