Upgrade to 2.77.0 from 2.76.0 broke installation leaving it in an unusable state

[RichardJBlack]

Describe the bug

Uses az upgrade on 2.76.0 to upgrade to 2.77.0. It said it was successful, but after the upgrade all attempts to run az fail with ImportError: DLL load failed while importing win32file: The specified module could not be found.

Related command

az upgrade

Errors

D:\Tmp> az upgrade
This command is in preview and under development. Reference and support levels: https://aka.ms/CLI_refstatus
Your current Azure CLI version is 2.76.0. Latest version available is 2.77.0.
Please check the release notes first: https://learn.microsoft.com/cli/azure/release-notes-azure-cli
Do you want to continue? (Y/n):
Updating Azure CLI with MSI from https://aka.ms/installazurecliwindowsx64
Downloading MSI to C:\Users\rjblack\AppData\Local\Temp\azure-cli-msi\azure-cli-2.77.0-x64.msi
Installation started. Please complete the upgrade in the opened window.
To update extensions, please run az upgrade again after completing the upgrade.

D:\Tmp>az upgrade
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "", line 198, in _run_module_as_main
File "", line 88, in _run_code
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/main.py", line 13, in
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/core/telemetry.py", line 19, in
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/telemetry/init.py", line 9, in
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\portalocker/init.py", line 4, in
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\portalocker/portalocker.py", line 11, in
ImportError: DLL load failed while importing win32file: The specified module could not be found.

D:\Tmp>az --version
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "", line 198, in _run_module_as_main
File "", line 88, in _run_code
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/main.py", line 13, in
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/core/telemetry.py", line 19, in
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/telemetry/init.py", line 9, in
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\portalocker/init.py", line 4, in
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\portalocker/portalocker.py", line 11, in
ImportError: DLL load failed while importing win32file: The specified module could not be found.

Issue script & Debug output

az upgrade

Expected behavior

Expect: Upgrade should work.
Actual: az is broken after upgtade

Environment Summary

D:\Tmp>az --version
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "", line 198, in _run_module_as_main
File "", line 88, in _run_code
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/main.py", line 13, in
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/core/telemetry.py", line 19, in
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\azure/cli/telemetry/init.py", line 9, in
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\portalocker/init.py", line 4, in
File "D:\a_work\1\s\build_scripts\windows\artifacts\cli\Lib\site-packages\portalocker/portalocker.py", line 11, in
ImportError: DLL load failed while importing win32file: The specified module could not be found.

Additional context

No response

[yonzhan]

Thank you for opening this issue, we will look into it.

[github-actions]

Here are some similar issues that might help you. Please check if they can solve your problem.

• azure-cli-2.77.0 -issue with any command #32063
• Azure CLI 2.77.0 is broken: ImportError: DLL load failed while importing win32file: The specified module could not be found. #32045
• DLL load failed while importing win32file: The specified module could not be found. #17986
• Azure CLI stopped working after update: ImportError: DLL load failed while importing win32file: The specified procedure could not be found. #25144

---

Possible solution (Extracted from existing issue, might be incorrect; please verify carefully)

Solution 1:

I was able to solve it by reinstalling pywin32 with a terminal "Run as Administrator":

& "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\CLI2\python.exe" -m pip install pywin32==311 --force-reinstall

Reference:

• DLL load failed while importing win32file: The specified module could not be found. #17986 (comment)
• Azure CLI 2.77.0 is broken: ImportError: DLL load failed while importing win32file: The specified module could not be found. #32045 (comment)

Solution 2:

As a fresh installation works fine, it's very likely some remnants of the old installation are interfering with the latest version. Another solution worth trying is to:

1. Go to Control Panel > Uninstall a program, uninstall Microsoft Azure CLI.
2. Delete C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\CLI2 (for x64) or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\CLI2 (for x86).
3. Reinstall Azure CLI from scratch.

Please kindly let us know if it solves the issue.

Reference:

• DLL load failed while importing win32file: The specified module could not be found. #17986 (comment)
• Azure CLI 2.77.0 is broken: ImportError: DLL load failed while importing win32file: The specified module could not be found. #32045 (comment)

Solution 3:

Performing an upgrade with choco upgrade will result in this issue. How I fixed it on my machine:

Uninstall using choco uninstall azure-cli.
Check the "Installed Apps" control panel. Uninstall any instances of "Azure CLI".
Reboot.
Reinstall using choco install azure-cli.

Reference:

• Azure CLI 2.77.0 is broken: ImportError: DLL load failed while importing win32file: The specified module could not be found. #32045 (comment)

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[RichardJBlack]

Based on github bot suggestion 1, I found that opening an administrator command prompt and running "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\CLI2\python.exe" -m pip install pywin32==311 --force-reinstall worked around the problem by repairing the az installation to a working state.