Unable to login azure via "az login" command , even I have update version installed.

[ShivikaEaton]

Describe the bug

I have installed az cli MSI 64 bit from Microsoft.
But after installation , only Az version is working , not az login.
Sharing Screen shot for reference

Related command

az version- azure-cli": "2.88.0
az login- error

Errors

The command failed with an unexpected error. Here is the traceback:
[WinError 183] Cannot create a file when that file already exists: 'C:\Users\C7758598\.azure'
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\knack/cli.py", line 233, in invoke
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/core/commands/init.py", line 677, in execute
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/core/commands/init.py", line 820, in _run_jobs_serially
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/core/commands/init.py", line 789, in _run_job
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/core/commands/init.py", line 335, in call
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/core/commands/command_operation.py", line 120, in handler
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/command_modules/profile/custom.py", line 215, in login
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/core/_profile.py", line 179, in login
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/core/auth/identity.py", line 166, in login_with_auth_code
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/core/auth/identity.py", line 125, in _msal_app
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/core/auth/identity.py", line 115, in _msal_public_app_kwargs
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/core/auth/identity.py", line 97, in _msal_app_kwargs
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/core/auth/identity.py", line 130, in _load_msal_token_cache
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/core/auth/persistence.py", line 27, in load_persisted_token_cache
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/core/auth/persistence.py", line 42, in build_persistence
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\msal_extensions/persistence.py", line 204, in init
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\msal_extensions/persistence.py", line 148, in init
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\msal_extensions/persistence.py", line 40, in _mkdir_p
File "", line 236, in makedirs
FileExistsError: [WinError 183] Cannot create a file when that file already exists: 'C:\Users\C7758598\.azure'
To check existing issues, please visit: https://github.com/Azure/azure-cli/issues

Issue script & Debug output

Az login error.

Expected behavior

Should be login in my azure portal.
Thers is no prompt for authentication.

Environment Summary

azure-cli 2.88.0

core 2.88.0
telemetry 1.1.0

Dependencies:
msal 1.36.0
azure-mgmt-resource 24.0.0

Python location 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\CLI2\python.exe'
Config directory 'C:\Users\C7758598.azure'
Extensions directory 'C:\Users\C7758598.azure\cliextensions'

Python (Windows) 3.14.5 (tags/v3.14.5:5607950, May 10 2026, 10:34:21) [MSC v.1944 32 bit (Intel)]

Legal docs and information: aka.ms/AzureCliLegal

Additional context

[yonzhan]

az login

[ShivikaEaton]

Any update on this?

[notyashhh]

Hi @ShivikaEaton, thanks for the report and the screenshot.

The traceback shows az login failing while setting up the MSAL token cache, because creating the config directory C:\Users\C7758598\.azure returns [WinError 183] (the path already exists). A few things would help us pin this down:

1. As a first step, please clear the local Azure state and retry:

   az account clear
   az login
   

2. Does C:\Users\C7758598\.azure currently exist as a file rather than a folder? If it's a stray file, please rename/remove it and retry az login.

3. Your environment reports a 32-bit Python 3.14 interpreter with a 64-bit MSI install. Could you confirm how the CLI was installed (MSI, winget, pip) and share the output of az version? A clean reinstall of the 64-bit MSI from https://learn.microsoft.com/cli/azure/install-azure-cli-windows may resolve the mismatch.

4. As a quick check, does az login --use-device-code behave the same way?

We'll continue investigating on our side in the meantime.

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

🔔 Routing this issue to @Azure/act-identity-squad.