Microsoft Azure CLI

Use the terminal to interact with the Azure Cloud

Installation

Latest instructions at it from bit.ly/AzureCLI

At the time of writing to install the CLI on Windows, execute the command in PowerShell

winget install --exact --id Microsoft.AzureCLI

Restart PowerShell to refresh the updated “path” value and found the newly installed tool: az

Extensions

Azure DevOps Extension – Adds DevOps specific functionality. To install execute in the terminal

az extension add --name azure-devops

Configuration

Enable tab completion

To autocomplete command names when tou press the Tab key, update or create the PowerShell Profile. In the terminal execute

notepad $PROFILE

If the file does not exist, Notepad will ask you to create it. When the popup is displayed, click Yes.

Save the following in the file

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
}
Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key Tab -Function MenuComplete

Set the default organization

When the default organization is set, we don’t have to include it in every command. In the terminal execute

 az devops configure --defaults organization=https://dev.azure.com/MY_ORGANIZATION

Log in into Azure DevOps

To log into Azure DevOps in PowerShell execute

az login

Select your user account and click Continue

Troubleshooting

If you get the error message

Retrieving tenants and subscriptions for the selection…
Authentication failed against tenant …
This tenant has been blocked due to inactivity.

The tenant your Entra ID (user ID) is associated with was on idle for more than 20 days, or you have never signed up for the free Azure service. If you don’t have a paid subscription, to create a new Tenant, first sign up for a free Azure account. See Configure your Microsoft Azure environment and try to log in again.