login to azure account without popup using powershell

Question

I'm trying to create Azure VM using powershell.I have also the script to create it.

First I need to login into Azure account :

Login-AzureRMAccount

This gives a pop-up to enter the credentials.

Second I need to run the below script:

$UserName = "username"
$Password = ConvertTo-SecureString "password" -AsPlainText -Force
$psCred = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential($UserName, $Password)    
New-AzureRmVm `
    -ResourceGroupName "RG1" `
    -Name "VM1" `
    -ImageName "Image1" `
    -Location "West US" `
    -Credential $psCred

This is creating the VM successfully.
But now , I need to make these scripts run automatically, when ever there is requirement. The problem I'm facing is, the login step gives a popup to enter the credentials which I do not want. So I have tried something like this, but didn't work.

$username = "loginname@organization.com"
$SecurePassword = ConvertTo-SecureString "password" -AsPlainText -Force
$cred = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential($username, $SecurePassword)
Login-AzureRmAccount -Credential $cred

The error message it is giving is :

Login-AzureRmAccount : accessing_ws_metadata_exchange_failed: Accessing WS metadata exchange failed: The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a send.
At line:4 char:1
+ Login-AzureRmAccount -Credential $cred
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : CloseError: (:) [Connect-AzureRmAccount], AadAuthenticationFailedException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.Azure.Commands.Profile.ConnectAzureRmAccountCommand

Can anyone tell me what this means and how to rectify this? Thanks!

well, you only enter password, no sms password, voice call or something? there are no redirects after entering password? — 4c74356b41, Aug 22 '18 at 10:22
I just enter username, it then redirects to organization site, where I enter my password. No re-directions after entering the password. — CrazyCoder, Aug 22 '18 at 10:24
might have cached your MFA auth or something. can you try from any location outside of your office from incognito mode? this error really looks like an MFA error — 4c74356b41, Aug 22 '18 at 10:30
Have you seen [this](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37249623/how-to-login-without-prompt)? — SubjectiveKirby, Aug 22 '18 at 10:58
@CrazyCoder Does my below answer helpful to you? In such case you could accept/Upvote it, so that it could help the other community members — Jayendran, Aug 30 '18 at 02:09

Jayendran · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-22T12:51:59.070

If you are planning to automate any services into Azure using PowerShell, then I'd recommend connecting azure using Service Principal rather than your own credentials, it will be a secure way to connect.

What is Service principal?

An Azure service principal is a security identity used by user-created apps, services, and automation tools to access specific Azure resources. Think of it as a 'user identity' (username and password or certificate) with a specific role, and tightly controlled permissions. It only needs to be able to do specific things, unlike a general user identity. It improves security if you only grant it the minimum permissions level needed to perform its management tasks.

Follow this tutorial to create a service principal

I also have published a sample PowerShell workflow into Microsoft gallery for creating Service Principal you can also follow that.

Once you created your service principal, you can use the below PowerShell commands to login into azure without any popup's

$applicationId = "<service prinicple application id>";
$securePassword = "<service prinicple password>" | ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText -Force
$credential = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList $applicationId, $securePassword
Connect-AzureRmAccount -ServicePrincipal -Credential $credential -TenantId "<your tenantid>"

Update1:

For some reason/bug the above will get fails. Refer this github issue

To solve this

Add the two lines before the script

Import-Module -Name AzureRM.Profile
Remove-AzureRmAccount

Update 2:

AzureRM will no longer receive new cmdlets or features. However, the AzureRM module is still officially maintained and will get bug fixes through December 2020.

You have to use the new Azure PowerShell Az module

For creating the service principal, I need to create it against any application. But I do not have any application in Azure. — CrazyCoder, Aug 30 '18 at 04:03
@CrazyCoder No, it's not mandatory to create a service principal with the application. Here you are creating a service principal in `Subscription` level, so don't need to register the application. If you run [this](https://github.com/Microsoft/vsts-rm-documentation/blob/master/Azure/SPNCreation.ps1) PowerShell script, it will create an SPN with owner credentials at the subscription level. So you don't need to worry about the application registration — Jayendran, Aug 30 '18 at 04:53
Hey sorry for the late reply. I tried this, it got logged in. But the SubscriptionId and SubscriptionName are displayed as blank. Any idea why? — CrazyCoder, Aug 31 '18 at 03:57
@CrazyCoder I couldn't able to get it, could you explain in detail in which step your subname and subscription id is displayed as blank ? — Jayendran, Aug 31 '18 at 04:56
When I run the above mentioned cmdlet (which is in the answer), I displays the Account details right? In those Account details, SubscriptionId and Name as coming as blank. Becuase if this I'm not able to run any other commands as well. — CrazyCoder, Aug 31 '18 at 05:23

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 22 '18 at 11:33

Basically you can achieve this for all of your PowerShell sessions by adding the Logging in part as part of the $PSProfile. I use this trick to skip the login popup, so whenever i open powershell my account is automatically logged in.

Open Windows PowerShell as an administrator
Type Notepad $profile

A notepad file will be opened and here you can paste the below code to log in automatically whenever it is opened.

$username = “”
$password = “”
$securepasswd = ConvertTo-SecureString $password -AsPlainText -Force
$cred = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential ($username, $ securepasswd)
Connect-AzureRmAccount -Credential $cred

Sorry for the late reply. Is there any way I can encrypt this or use this in a more secured manner? — CrazyCoder, Sep 03 '18 at 09:38
@CrazyCoder i'm not sure. I have'nt explored coz i only use this for local development — HariHaran, Sep 03 '18 at 09:43

login to azure account without popup using powershell

2 Answers2

What is Service principal?

Update1:

Update 2:

Linked