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Persist user credentials across PowerShell sessions

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Warning

The AzureRM PowerShell module has been officially deprecated as of February 29, 2024. Users are advised to migrate from AzureRM to the Az PowerShell module to ensure continued support and updates.

Although the AzureRM module may still function, it's no longer maintained or supported, placing any continued use at the user's discretion and risk. Please refer to our migration resources for guidance on transitioning to the Az module.

Azure PowerShell offers a feature called Azure Context Autosave, which gives the following features:

  • Retention of sign-in information for reuse in new PowerShell sessions.
  • Easier use of background tasks for executing long-running cmdlets.
  • Switch between accounts, subscriptions, and environments without a separate sign-in.
  • Execution of tasks using different credentials and subscriptions, simultaneously, from the same PowerShell session.

Azure contexts defined

An Azure context is a set of information that defines the target of Azure PowerShell cmdlets. The context consists of five parts:

  • An Account - the UserName or Service Principal used to authenticate communications with Azure
  • A Subscription - The Azure Subscription with the Resources being acted upon.
  • A Tenant - The Microsoft Entra tenant that contains your subscription. Tenants are more important to ServicePrincipal authentication.
  • An Environment - The particular Azure Cloud being targeted, usually the Azure global Cloud. However, the environment setting allows you to target National, Government, and on-premises (Azure Stack) clouds as well.
  • Credentials - The information used by Azure to verify your identity and confirm your authorization to access resources in Azure

In previous releases, an Azure Context had to be created each time you opened a new PowerShell session. Beginning with Azure PowerShell v4.4.0, Azure Contexts can automatically be saved whenever opening a new PowerShell session.

Automatically save the context for the next sign-in

In versions 6.3.0 and later, Azure PowerShell retains your context information automatically between sessions. To set PowerShell to forget your context and credentials, use Disable-AzureRmContextAutoSave. You'll need to sign in to Azure every time you open a PowerShell session.

To allow Azure PowerShell to remember your context after the PowerShell session is closed, use Enable-AzureRmContextAutosave. Context and credential information are automatically saved in a special hidden folder in your user directory (%AppData%\Roaming\Windows Azure PowerShell). Each new PowerShell session targets the context used in your last session.

The cmdlets that allow you to manage Azure contexts also allow you fine grained control. If you want changes to apply only to the current PowerShell session (Process scope) or every PowerShell session (CurrentUser scope). These options are discussed in mode detail in Using Context Scopes.

Running Azure PowerShell cmdlets as background jobs

The Azure Context Autosave feature also allows you to share you context with PowerShell background jobs. PowerShell allows you to start and monitor long-executing tasks as background jobs without having to wait for the tasks to complete. You can share credentials with background jobs in two different ways:

  • Passing the context as an argument

    Most AzureRM cmdlets allow you to pass the context as a parameter to the cmdlet. You can pass a context to a background job as shown in the following example:

$job = Start-Job { param ($ctx) New-AzureRmVm -AzureRmContext $ctx [... Additional parameters ...]} -ArgumentList (Get-AzureRmContext)


- Using the default context with Autosave enabled

If you have enabled **Context Autosave**, background jobs automatically use the default saved
context.

```powershell
$job = Start-Job { New-AzureRmVm [... Additional parameters ...]}

When you need to know the outcome of the background task, use Get-Job to check the job status and Wait-Job to wait for the Job to complete. Use Receive-Job to capture or display the output of the background job. For more information, see about_Jobs.

Creating, selecting, renaming, and removing contexts

To create a context, you must be signed in to Azure. The Connect-AzureRmAccount cmdlet (or its alias, Login-AzureRmAccount) sets the default context used by Azure PowerShell cmdlets, and allows you to access any tenants or subscriptions allowed by your credentials.

To add a new context after sign-in, use Set-AzureRmContext (or its alias, Select-AzureRmSubscription).

Set-AzureRMContext -Subscription 'Contoso Subscription 1' -Name 'Contoso1'

The previous example adds a new context targeting 'Contoso Subscription 1' using your current credentials. The new context is named 'Contoso1'. If you don't provide a name for the context, a default name, using the account ID and subscription ID is used.

To rename an existing context, use the Rename-AzureRmContext cmdlet. For example:

Rename-AzureRmContext '[user1@contoso.org; 123456-7890-1234-564321]' 'Contoso2'

This example renames the context with automatic name [user1@contoso.org; 123456-7890-1234-564321] to the simple name 'Contoso2'. Cmdlets that manage contexts also use tab completion, allowing you to quickly select the context.

Finally, to remove a context, use the Remove-AzureRmContext cmdlet. For example:

Remove-AzureRmContext Contoso2

Forgets the context that was named 'Contoso2'. You can recreate this context using Set-AzureRmContext

Removing credentials

You can remove all credentials and associated contexts for a user or service principal using Disconnect-AzureRmAccount (also known as Logout-AzureRmAccount). When executed without parameters, the Disconnect-AzureRmAccount cmdlet removes all credentials and contexts associated with the User or Service Principal in the current context. You may pass in a Username, Service Principal Name, or context to target a particular principal.

Disconnect-AzureRmAccount user1@contoso.org

Using context scopes

Occasionally, you may want to select, change, or remove a context in a PowerShell session without impacting other sessions. To change the default behavior of context cmdlets, use the Scope parameter. The Process scope overrides the default behavior by making it apply only for the current session. Conversely CurrentUser scope changes the context in all sessions, instead of just the current session.

As an example, to change the default context in the current PowerShell session without impacting other windows, or the context used the next time a session is opened, use:

Select-AzureRmContext Contoso1 -Scope Process

How the context autosave setting is remembered

The context AutoSave setting is saved to the user Azure PowerShell directory (%AppData%\Roaming\Windows Azure PowerShell). Some kinds of computer accounts may not have access to this directory. For such scenarios, you can use the environment variable

$env:AzureRmContextAutoSave=$true

When set to $true, the context is automatically saved. If set to $false, the context isn't saved.

Changes to the AzureRM.Profile module

New cmdlets for managing context

Changes to existing profile cmdlets

  • Add-AzureRmAccount - Allow scoping of the sign-in to the process or the current user. Allow naming the default context after authentication.
  • Import-AzureRmContext - Allow scoping of the sign-in to the process or the current user.
  • Set-AzureRmContext - Allow selection of existing named contexts, and scope changes to the process or current user.