Please Immediately Deprecate AzureRM from windows version 20250120.2

[YanaXu]

Description

I recently discovered that in the newly released windows version 20250120.2 , the runner image has upgraded the AzureRM version from 2.1.0 to 5.3.0. This change has already caused users to be unable to properly install Az, as shown in the following image.

It is important to note that AzureRM has been deprecated for a long time, yet the runner image still uses it as the default Azure client for PowerShell, which is utterly unacceptable.

The proper, legitimate, and recommended replacement for AzureRM is Az, which serves as the official Azure client on the PowerShell platform.

Please immediately roll back the changes introduced in windows image 20250120.2, stop upgrading AzureRM to any version, and promptly remove AzureRM from the preinstalled packages!

Platforms affected

• Azure DevOps
• GitHub Actions - Standard Runners
• GitHub Actions - Larger Runners

Runner images affected

• Ubuntu 20.04
• Ubuntu 22.04
• Ubuntu 24.04
• macOS 12
• macOS 13
• macOS 13 Arm64
• macOS 14
• macOS 14 Arm64
• macOS 15
• macOS 15 Arm64
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2022
• Windows Server 2025

Image version and build link

https://github.com/actions/runner-images/blob/win22/20250120.2/images/windows/Windows2022-Readme.md

Is it regression?

yes

Expected behavior

Remove AzureRM.

Actual behavior

AzureRM is installed and upgraded.

Repro steps

See my description.

[YanaXu]

I even can't install it on PS 7.

[RaviAkshintala]

Hi @YanaXu Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. We will look into this issue and will update you after investigating.

[kishorekumar-anchala]

Hi @YanaXu - It will taken care under #11483 , Thank you !