Quickstart: Create and encrypt a Windows VM with the Azure CLI

Applies to: ✔️ Windows VMs ✔️ Flexible scale sets

The Azure CLI is used to create and manage Azure resources from the command line or in scripts. This quickstart shows you how to use the Azure CLI to create and encrypt a Windows Server 2016 virtual machine (VM).

If you don't have an Azure subscription, create an Azure free account before you begin.

Prerequisites

• Use the Bash environment in Azure Cloud Shell. For more information, see Quickstart for Bash in Azure Cloud Shell.

  

• If you prefer to run CLI reference commands locally, install the Azure CLI. If you're running on Windows or macOS, consider running Azure CLI in a Docker container. For more information, see How to run the Azure CLI in a Docker container.

  • If you're using a local installation, sign in to the Azure CLI by using the az login command. To finish the authentication process, follow the steps displayed in your terminal. For other sign-in options, see Sign in with the Azure CLI.

  • When you're prompted, install the Azure CLI extension on first use. For more information about extensions, see Use extensions with the Azure CLI.

  • Run az version to find the version and dependent libraries that are installed. To upgrade to the latest version, run az upgrade.

• This article requires version 2.0.30 or later of the Azure CLI. If using Azure Cloud Shell, the latest version is already installed.

Create a resource group

Create a resource group with the az group create command. An Azure resource group is a logical container into which Azure resources are deployed and managed. The following example creates a resource group named myResourceGroup in the eastus location:

az group create --name myResourceGroup --location eastus

Create a virtual machine

Create a VM with az vm create. The following example creates a VM named myVM. This example uses azureuser for an administrative user name and myPassword12 as the password.

az vm create \
    --resource-group myResourceGroup \
    --name myVM \
    --image win2016datacenter \
    --admin-username azureuser \
    --admin-password myPassword12

It takes a few minutes to create the VM and supporting resources. The following example output shows the VM create operation was successful.

{
  "fqdns": "",
  "id": "/subscriptions/<guid>/resourceGroups/myResourceGroup/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/myVM",
  "location": "eastus",
  "macAddress": "00-0D-3A-23-9A-49",
  "powerState": "VM running",
  "privateIpAddress": "10.0.0.4",
  "publicIpAddress": "52.174.34.95",
  "resourceGroup": "myResourceGroup"
}

Create a Key Vault configured for encryption keys

Azure disk encryption stores its encryption key in an Azure Key Vault. Create a Key Vault with az keyvault create. To enable the Key Vault to store encryption keys, use the--enabled-for-disk-encryption parameter.

Important

Each Key Vault must have a unique name. This example creates a Key Vault named myKV, but you must name yours something different.

az keyvault create --name "myKV" --resource-group "myResourceGroup" --location eastus --enabled-for-disk-encryption

Encrypt the virtual machine

Encrypt your VM with az vm encryption, providing your unique Key Vault name to the --disk-encryption-keyvault parameter.

az vm encryption enable -g MyResourceGroup --name MyVM --disk-encryption-keyvault myKV

You can verify that encryption is enabled on your VM with az vm show

az vm encryption show --name MyVM -g MyResourceGroup

You will see the following in the returned output:

"EncryptionOperation": "EnableEncryption"

Clean up resources

When no longer needed, you can use the az group delete command to remove the resource group, VM, and Key Vault.

az group delete --name myResourceGroup

Next steps

In this quickstart, you created a virtual machine, created a Key Vault that was enabled for encryption keys, and encrypted the VM. Advance to the next article to learn more about Azure Disk Encryption prerequisites for IaaS VMs.

Azure Disk Encryption overview