Azure / Azure/azure-cli

Azure CLI ZIP installation (v2.84.0) missing az.cmd in /bin — installation instructions cannot be followed

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#32,902 3 comments 0 reactions 2 assignees Claimed by @bebound View on GitHub
act-platform-engineering-squad Auto-Assign Azure CLI Team customer-reported Installation question
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Description

### Describe the bug

When installing Azure CLI using the ZIP distribution for Windows ([per Microsoft Docs](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/install-azure-cli-windows?view=azure-cli-latest&pivots=zip)), version 2.84.0 is missing the expected launcher script az.cmd inside the /bin folder.
This prevents Azure CLI from being executed and makes the documented installation instructions impossible to follow.
Downloading version 2.83.0 includes the expected files and works normally, so this appears to be an issue with the 2.84.0 packaging.

Downloaded using this address from the docs - https://azcliprod.blob.core.windows.net/zip/azure-cli-2.84.0-x64.zip

### Related command

az (unable to run due to missing bin/az.cmd)

### Errors

Since az.cmd is missing, attempting to run az results in:
```
'az' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
```
There is no Python traceback because the launcher cannot be invoked.

### Issue script & Debug output

Debug output is unavailable because the CLI cannot be launched.
Steps attempted:
1. Downloaded azure-cli-2.84.0-x64.zip from official link.
2. Extracted ZIP.
3. Navigated to ./bin — az.cmd is missing.
4. Attempted to run az -> command not found.
5. Downloaded azure-cli-2.83.0-x64.zip -> contains az.cmd -> works as documented.

### Expected behavior

The /bin directory inside the ZIP distribution should contain at least:

az.cmd
az.ps1
Core Python entrypoint files

…allowing commands like:
az login
az --version

to run according to the official installation instructions.

### Environment Summary

azure-cli 2.83.0

core 2.83.0
telemetry 1.1.0

Dependencies:
msal 1.35.0b1
azure-mgmt-resource 23.3.0

Python location 'C:\Users\diasn\Documents\systemTools\azureCli\azure-cli-2.83.0-x64\python.exe'
Config directory 'C:\Users\diasn\.azure'
Extensions directory 'C:\Users\diasn\.azure\cliextensions'

Python (Windows) 3.13.11 (tags/v3.13.11:6278944, Dec 5 2025, 16:26:58) [MSC v.1944 64 bit (AMD64)]

### Additional context

This issue is likely isolated to the ZIP distribution of Azure CLI version 2.84.0.
Downloading 2.83.0 or earlier versions contains all the expected bootstrap scripts and works correctly.
It appears version 2.84.0 may need to be repacked with the missing launcher files.

https://azcliprod.blob.core.windows.net/zip/azure-cli-2.84.0-x64.zip

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