diff --git a/parts/common/components.json b/parts/common/components.json
index 4498e1cc43f..71af1b40904 100644
--- a/parts/common/components.json
+++ b/parts/common/components.json
@@ -2230,6 +2230,31 @@
           }
         }
       }
+    },
+    {
+      "name": "aznfs",
+      "downloadLocation": "/opt/aznfs/downloads",
+      "downloadURIs": {
+        "azurelinux": {
+          "v3.0": {
+            "versionsV2": [
+              {
+                "renovateTag": "<DO_NOT_UPDATE>",
+                "latestVersion": "3.0.15-1"
+              }
+            ],
+            "downloadURL": "https://packages.microsoft.com/rhel/9/prod/Packages/a/aznfs-${version}.$(uname -m).rpm"
+          },
+          "OSGUARD/v3.0": {
+            "versionsV2": [
+              {
+                "renovateTag": "<DO_NOT_UPDATE>",
+                "latestVersion": "<SKIP>"
+              }
+            ]
+          }
+        }
+      }
     }
   ],
   "OCIArtifacts": [
diff --git a/parts/linux/cloud-init/artifacts/mariner/cse_install_mariner.sh b/parts/linux/cloud-init/artifacts/mariner/cse_install_mariner.sh
index 278d363c9ce..0e305fd8d90 100755
--- a/parts/linux/cloud-init/artifacts/mariner/cse_install_mariner.sh
+++ b/parts/linux/cloud-init/artifacts/mariner/cse_install_mariner.sh
@@ -237,6 +237,53 @@ installKubeletKubectlFromPkg() {
     installRPMPackageFromFile "kubectl" $desiredVersion || exit $ERR_KUBECTL_INSTALL_FAIL
 }
 
+installAznfsPkgFromPMC() {
+  if [ "$OS_VERSION" != "3.0" ]; then
+    echo "aznfs package install is only supported on Azure Linux 3.0"
+    return
+  fi
+
+  # The aznfs RPM is pre-downloaded to /opt/aznfs/downloads during VHD build
+  # (via components.json). If not found, download it now as a fallback.
+  local aznfs_download_dir="/opt/aznfs/downloads"
+  local aznfs_rpm_file
+  aznfs_rpm_file=$(find "${aznfs_download_dir}" -name "aznfs-*.rpm" -type f 2>/dev/null | sort -V | tail -1)
+  if [ -z "${aznfs_rpm_file}" ]; then
+    echo "aznfs RPM not found in ${aznfs_download_dir}, downloading from PMC"
+    local download_url
+    download_url=$(getPackageDownloadUrl "aznfs")
+    if [ -z "${download_url}" ]; then
+      echo "Error: could not determine aznfs download URL"
+      exit $ERR_APT_INSTALL_TIMEOUT
+    fi
+    mkdir -p "${aznfs_download_dir}"
+    local aznfs_filename
+    aznfs_filename=$(basename "${download_url}")
+    retrycmd_curl_file 120 5 25 "${aznfs_download_dir}/${aznfs_filename}" "${download_url}" || exit $ERR_MS_PROD_DEB_DOWNLOAD_TIMEOUT
+    aznfs_rpm_file="${aznfs_download_dir}/${aznfs_filename}"
+  fi
+
+  echo "Installing aznfs from pre-downloaded RPM: ${aznfs_rpm_file}"
+  if ! AZNFS_NONINTERACTIVE_INSTALL=1 dnf_install 30 1 600 "${aznfs_rpm_file}"; then
+    exit $ERR_APT_INSTALL_TIMEOUT
+  fi
+
+  # Disable aznfs auto-upgrade to respect operator OS update settings and AKS SDP
+  local aznfs_config="/opt/microsoft/aznfs/data/config"
+  if [ -f "${aznfs_config}" ]; then
+    sed -i 's/AUTOUPDATE=.*/AUTOUPDATE=false/' "${aznfs_config}"
+    echo "Disabled aznfs auto-upgrade in ${aznfs_config}"
+  fi
+
+  # Disable aznfswatchdog since aznfs install enables both aznfswatchdog and aznfswatchdogv4
+  # services at the same time while we only need aznfswatchdogv4
+  systemctl disable aznfswatchdog
+  systemctl stop aznfswatchdog
+
+  echo "Importing Microsoft RPM GPG key into RPM database"
+  gpg --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-Microsoft || echo "Warning: failed to import Microsoft RPM GPG key"
+}
+
 installToolFromLocalRepo() {
     local tool_name=$1
     local tool_download_dir=$2
diff --git a/vhdbuilder/packer/install-dependencies.sh b/vhdbuilder/packer/install-dependencies.sh
index 5236d4a98c2..307ca5fb6da 100644
--- a/vhdbuilder/packer/install-dependencies.sh
+++ b/vhdbuilder/packer/install-dependencies.sh
@@ -521,6 +521,17 @@ while IFS= read -r p; do
     "acr-mirror")
       # acr-mirror is handled separately below via installAndConfigureArtifactStreaming.
       ;;
+    "aznfs")
+      for version in ${PACKAGE_VERSIONS[@]}; do
+        evaluatedURL=$(evalPackageDownloadURL "${PACKAGE_DOWNLOAD_URL}")
+        mkdir -p "${downloadDir}"
+        aznfsFilename=$(basename "${evaluatedURL}")
+        echo "Downloading aznfs RPM from ${evaluatedURL} to ${downloadDir}/${aznfsFilename}"
+        retrycmd_curl_file 120 5 25 "${downloadDir}/${aznfsFilename}" "${evaluatedURL}" || exit $ERR_MS_PROD_DEB_DOWNLOAD_TIMEOUT
+        echo "  - aznfs version ${version}" >> ${VHD_LOGS_FILEPATH}
+      done
+      installAznfsPkgFromPMC
+      ;;
     *)
       echo "Package name: ${name} not supported for download. Please implement the download logic in the script."
       # We can add a common function to download a generic package here.