packer build fails on getting/using azure-arm module

[DevOpsAzurance]

Description

In the hcl template the:

packer {
  required_plugins {
    azure = {
      source  = "github.com/hashicorp/azure"
      version = "1.4.5"
    }
  }
}

is missing in the newer versions of the hcl templates. The SKUs by default do not come with the packer modules needed to properly run.

Platforms affected

• Azure DevOps
• GitHub Actions - Standard Runners
• GitHub Actions - Larger Runners

Runner images affected

• Ubuntu 20.04
• Ubuntu 22.04
• Ubuntu 24.04
• macOS 13
• macOS 13 Arm64
• macOS 14
• macOS 14 Arm64
• macOS 15
• macOS 15 Arm64
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2022
• Windows Server 2025

Image version and build link

Current image version: '1.0.13'

Is it regression?

N/A

Expected behavior

The above packer clause should be in the template to run a proper:

packer init <Template>

To download the required plugins:

No plugins requirement found, make sure you reference a Packer config
containing a packer.required_plugins block. See
https://www.packer.io/docs/templates/hcl_templates/blocks/packer
for more info.

Actual behavior

The lack of the clause results in improper download or no download of the modules. This breaks the packer build command.

Repro steps

run the build

[kishorekumar-anchala]

Thanks for bringing the issue to us , it would be helpful if you share the repr steps, how you're testing ? or repo link ? .

[Alexey-Ayupov]

Hi @DevOpsAzurance, this block from packer templates was removed intentionally to allow customers to freely choose the Azure plugin version.

Please update your pipeline with the following snippet

packer plugins install github.com/hashicorp/azure 1.4.5

Where 1.4.5 is the desired plugin version.

This snippet could be placed before or instead of the packer init <Template> command.
Read more about init and plugins install commands here