microsoft/azurelinuxHardened, Azure-optimized Linux distribution built from Fedora sources with RPM packaging, supply chain security, and declarative configuration for cloud-native workloads.
Azure Linux 4
An open-source Linux distribution built and optimized for Azure, with sources derived from Fedora Linux. Azure Linux provides a secured, reliable operating system for virtual machines, containers, and bare-metal platforms.
Azure Linux is built on a robust open-source foundation from the Fedora ecosystem and enhanced with Azure-specific innovations. This provides the familiarity of the RPM package ecosystem, while adding Azure-native security, compliance, and operational capabilities.
Key features of Azure Linux include: hardened security posture, an Azure-optimized kernel, supply chain security, native Azure integration, and a predictable lifecycle.
This branch holds the in-development sources for Azure Linux 4. For Azure Linux 3, see the
3.0branch.
The links below will help you get started with Azure Linux:
| Product documentation | https://aka.ms/azurelinux |
| Release information | GitHub Releases |
| File a bug / feedback | GitHub Issues |
| Ask a question / get help | SUPPORT.md |
| Get started as a distro developer | DEVELOPING.md |
| Contribution guidelines | CONTRIBUTING.md |
| Report a security issue | SECURITY.md |
Note: Azure Linux 4 is still in development
To try Azure Linux in an Azure VM, please visit our Azure Linux 4.0 page on the Microsoft Marketplace.
To try Azure Linux base container, please use the following image reference: mcr.microsoft.com/azurelinux-beta/base/core:4.0
To try Azure Linux in a local VM, please download the ISO Installer: x86_64 / ARM64
Before using a downloaded ISO, verify the checksum and signature of the ISO.
After downloading and verifying the ISO, follow the ISO installer instructions to install and use Azure Linux in a local VM (Hyper-V on Windows or QEMU/KVM on Linux). The ISO runs the Anaconda installer.
Note: Support for the ISO is community based. Before filing a new bug or feature request, please search the list of Github Issues. If you are unable to find a matching issue, please report new bugs by clicking here. For additional information, refer to the SUPPORT.md file.
To try Azure Linux on the Windows Subsystem for Linux, install it from the WSL distribution list:
wsl --install AzureLinux-4
wsl --install downloads the package for your architecture (x86_64 or ARM64) and checks it against the SHA-256 checksum in the WSL distribution manifest before installing it. wsl --list --online shows Azure Linux 4 among the available distributions.
To list all the installed distributions:
wsl --list
To use the distro:
wsl -d AzureLinux-4
To install from a downloaded .wsl package instead, download the package for your architecture:
Before installing a downloaded package, verify the checksum and signature of the .wsl package. Then install it using wsl:
wsl --install --from-file "C:\Path\To\AzureLinux-4.0-ARCH.wsl"
See Systemd defaults in WSL images for the networking, console, and temporary-file policies.
Azure Linux 4 is an RPM-based distribution optimized for Azure and modern cloud workloads. It is defined by a set of TOML configuration files and targeted overlays applied to Fedora Linux, its upstream base.
Deviations from upstream are declaratively defined and scoped to avoid unnecessary divergence or forking. This repository contains a mechanically rendered set of RPM package spec files derived from applying this layer to Fedora's upstream packaging sources.
For the implementations selected by the VM base images, see VM base image userland implementations.
The distro is described almost entirely in TOML-based configuration files. Our open-source development tool, azldev, is used to apply this configuration to upstream Fedora spec files and packaging sources.
azldev.toml # Top-level entry point
├── distro/ # Distro-wide configs (e.g., sources, mock configs)
└── base/ # The "base" project: components, images, tests
└── comps/ # Component definitions (one per source package)
└── images/ # Base image definitions
description explaining why the change is needed. Overlays let us avoid forking upstream specs and are more flexible than plain textual patches..spec files produced by applying overlays to upstream sources. They are mechanically generated by azldev, checked in for visibility and auditability, and live under specs/. Treat them as derived output and not sources for editing. We use them as the input to standard RPM building services/tools (mock + rpmbuild, koji).For a deeper tour of the tooling, the overlay system, and how to get started developing within this distro, please see DEVELOPING.md.