Exercise - Set up Azure Sphere

  • 10 minutes

Install the following software on your computer.

Troubleshooting

  1. If you have trouble connecting to Azure Sphere over USB, temporarily disconnect VPN software and check whether your PC can reach the device status endpoint at https://192.168.35.2/status.
  2. Azure Sphere tools communicate with attached development boards by using an IP network over USB on subnet 192.168.35.*, and the Azure Sphere SDK for Windows installs the Azure Sphere TAP-Windows Adapter V9 if required. If you have multiple TAP adapters, a non-Azure Sphere TAP adapter, or Cisco AnyConnect redirecting traffic away from the TAP adapter, follow the Azure Sphere troubleshooting guidance to repair the TAP adapter or VPN filter settings. Reinstall the Azure Sphere SDK only if the troubleshooting steps require it.

Azure Sphere SDK version

This learning module requires Azure Sphere SDK version 24.03 (the GA release of Azure Sphere (Integrated), March 2024) or newer. The Microsoft Learn release notes list SDK 25.04 (May 2025) as the latest SDK release and Azure CLI azure-sphere extension 1.0.3 as a subsequent extension-only update. Check What's new in Azure Sphere before installing so you update both the SDK and the Azure CLI extension when newer versions are available.

Windows 10 or Windows 11 users

This learning module supports developers on Linux and Windows using Visual Studio Code. However, if you are a Windows user comfortable using Visual Studio then you can still complete the exercises appreciating that the IDE screenshots included in this module will be different.

You need to do the following:

  1. Install the latest Azure Sphere SDK.
  2. Install the Azure CLI and the Azure Sphere extension for Azure CLI (az extension add --name azure-sphere) so you can use the current az sphere commands.
  3. Install CMake and Ninja.
  4. Install Visual Studio Code.
  5. Install the Visual Studio Code Azure Sphere extension.
  6. Claim your device.
  7. Configure networking for the device.

The following Quickstart: Install the Azure Sphere SDK for Windows steps through SDK and development environment installation. Claiming the device and configuring networking are covered by the claim-device and Wi-Fi configuration quickstarts.

Install the Git client for Windows

The Git client is required to clone the Learning Path Labs and the Azure Sphere SDK Samples.

Install Git for Windows.

Install Azure IoT Explorer for Windows

This learning module uses Azure IoT Explorer to work with Azure IoT Hub devices.

Download and install the latest Azure IoT Explorer .msi package from the Azure IoT explorer releases GitHub page.

Note

The Azure IoT Explorer GitHub repository is no longer actively developed — the project README states that all active development has stopped, and only critical fixes might still be considered. The released installers (.msi for Windows, .deb for Linux) remain available on the Releases page and are fully functional for this module.

Install the Arm GNU Toolchain for Windows

  1. Download the Arm GNU Toolchain (formerly known as the GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain) for Windows. Pick the AArch32 bare-metal target (arm-none-eabi) package that includes a compiler for the ARM Cortex-M4 processor.
  2. Run the installer to install the Arm GNU Toolchain. The examples in this module use 14.3.Rel1 as a version example; if Arm has released a newer supported arm-none-eabi version, install that version and substitute its path in any commands. If Visual Studio Code doesn't find the toolchain automatically, set Azure Sphere: Arm Gnu Path in Visual Studio Code settings to the toolchain installation folder.

Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 LTS users

You need to do the following:

  1. Install the Azure Sphere SDK. The SDK installs the azsphere CLI (Azure Sphere (Legacy)). For new work, also install the Azure CLI and the az sphere extension for the Azure CLI — Azure Sphere (Integrated), which is the recommended interface going forward. The az sphere extension is installed with az extension add --name azure-sphere; the procedure is documented in the Quickstart: Install the Azure Sphere SDK for Linux page.
  2. Set up the device connection.
  3. Install CMake and Ninja. Follow the SDK quickstart instructions and don't install CMake or Ninja by using snap.
  4. Install Visual Studio Code.
  5. Install the Visual Studio Code Azure Sphere extension.
  6. Claim your device.
  7. Configure networking for the device.

The following Quickstart: Install the Azure Sphere SDK for Linux steps through SDK and development environment installation. Claiming the device and configuring networking are covered by the claim-device and Wi-Fi configuration quickstarts.

Install the Git client for Linux

The Git client is required to clone the Learning Path Labs and the Azure Sphere SDK Samples.

sudo apt install git

Install Azure IoT Explorer for Ubuntu

This learning module uses Azure IoT Explorer to work with Azure IoT Hub devices.

Download and install the latest Azure IoT Explorer .deb package from the Azure IoT explorer releases GitHub page.

Install the Arm GNU Toolchain for Linux

Install the Arm GNU Toolchain (formerly the GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain) for Linux.

  1. Download the Arm GNU Toolchain. Pick the AArch32 bare-metal target (arm-none-eabi) Linux x86_64 tarball that includes a compiler for the ARM Cortex-M4 processor. The commands below use 14.3.Rel1 as a version example; substitute the version you downloaded into the commands and PATH entry.

  2. Install the downloaded package. The following installs the toolchain in the /opt directory.

    sudo tar -xJvf arm-gnu-toolchain-14.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi.tar.xz -C /opt

  3. Update your path. Open ~/.bashrc and add to the end:

    export PATH=$PATH:/opt/arm-gnu-toolchain-14.3.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi/bin

  4. Optional troubleshooting for real-time core debugging: if the Arm debugger reports a missing libncurses.so.5 library, first confirm that you installed the current Azure Sphere SDK and a current Arm GNU Toolchain. On Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy), libncurses5 is available from the official Ubuntu repositories; if the universe repository is not enabled, enable it before installing.

    sudo add-apt-repository universe
sudo apt-get install libncurses5

    On Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble), libncurses5 is not available in the official Ubuntu repositories. Do not install compatibility libraries from older Ubuntu releases; use the current Arm GNU Toolchain and follow Microsoft's guidance for installing the Azure Sphere SDK on Linux: Quickstart: Install the Azure Sphere SDK for Linux.

The Peacock extension allows you to change the color of your Visual Studio Code workspace. The Peacock extension is useful when you have multiple instances of Visual Studio Code open. In one of the exercises an instance of Visual Studio Code will be attached to the real-time core, and another instance will be attached to the high-level application core.

  1. Open Extensions sideBar panel in Visual Studio Code
    • Or choose the menu options for View → Extensions
  2. Search for Peacock
  3. Click Install
  4. Click Reload, if required

Enable high-level core development

  1. From the Windows PowerShell command line or Linux Terminal, run the following Azure Sphere (Integrated) CLI command to enable high-level app development on the attached device. Replace the resource group and catalog names with your values, or omit them if you configured Azure CLI defaults.

    az sphere device enable-development --resource-group <ResourceGroupName> --catalog <CatalogName>

    If you are intentionally using the Azure Sphere (Legacy) CLI, use the legacy equivalent:

    azsphere device enable-development

Delete existing applications on Azure Sphere

Now that the device has the appDevelopment capability, you can delete existing sideloaded applications. (This step requires the appDevelopment capability that you just enabled.)

  1. From the Windows PowerShell command line or Linux Terminal, run the following Azure Sphere (Integrated) CLI command to delete any existing sideloaded applications on the device.

    az sphere device sideload delete

    If you are intentionally using the Azure Sphere (Legacy) CLI, use the legacy equivalent:

    azsphere device sideload delete

  2. Restart the Azure Sphere device.

    az sphere device restart

    Legacy equivalent:

    azsphere device restart

Tip

See the az sphere device reference for the full Integrated CLI command set.

Enable real-time core development

Windows 10 or Windows 11 users

  1. Open the Windows PowerShell command line as Administrator, and run the following Azure Sphere (Integrated) CLI command to enable real-time core development on the device. The --enable-rt-core-debugging parameter requires administrator privileges on Windows because it installs USB drivers for the debugger.

    az sphere device enable-development --enable-rt-core-debugging --resource-group <ResourceGroupName> --catalog <CatalogName>

    If you are intentionally using the Azure Sphere (Legacy) CLI, use the legacy equivalent:

    azsphere device enable-development -r

  2. Close the Windows PowerShell command line

Linux users

  1. Open the Linux Terminal and run the following Azure Sphere (Integrated) CLI command to enable real-time core development on the device.

    az sphere device enable-development --enable-rt-core-debugging --resource-group <ResourceGroupName> --catalog <CatalogName>

    If you are intentionally using the Azure Sphere (Legacy) CLI, use the legacy equivalent:

    azsphere device enable-development -r

Clone the Azure Sphere Developer Learning Path

Note

Clone the Azure Sphere Developer Learning Path to a directory close to the root directory on your computer. For example, c:\lab, or ~/. The reason is that the Azure Sphere build process uses CMake which can struggle with long path and directory names.

Tip

The MicrosoftDocs/Azure-Sphere-Developer-Learning-Path repository is in maintenance mode (last update July 2022). The lab content used in this module still works, but the upstream samples are no longer actively developed. For the latest, actively maintained Microsoft Azure Sphere samples, see the Azure Sphere samples repository on the main branch.

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/Azure-Sphere-Developer-Learning-Path.git Azure-Sphere