Get started with AzCopy

AzCopy is a command-line utility that you can use to copy blobs or files to or from a storage account. This article helps you download AzCopy, connect to your storage account, and then transfer data.

Use cases for AzCopy

AzCopy can be used to copy your data to, from, or between Azure storage accounts. Common use cases include:

• Copying data from an on-premises source to an Azure storage account
• Copying data from an Azure storage account to an on-premises source
• Copying data from one storage account to another storage account

Each of these use cases has unique options. For example, AzCopy has native commands for copying and/or synchronizing data. This makes AzCopy a flexible tool that can be used for one-time copy activities and ongoing synchronization scenarios. AzCopy also allows you to target specific storage services such as Azure Blob Storage or Azure Files. This allows you to copy data from blob to file, file to blob, file to file, etc.

To learn more about these scenarios, see:

• Upload files to Azure Blob storage by using AzCopy
• Download blobs from Azure Blob Storage by using AzCopy
• Copy blobs between Azure storage accounts by using AzCopy
• Synchronize with Azure Blob storage by using AzCopy

Install AzCopy on Linux by using a package manager

You can install AzCopy by using a Linux package that is hosted on the Linux Software Repository for Microsoft Products.

sudo tdnf install azcopy

Download the AzCopy portable binary

As an alternative to installing a package, you can download the AzCopy V10 executable file to any directory on your computer.

• Windows 64-bit (zip)
• Windows 32-bit (zip)
• Linux x86-64 (tar)
• Linux ARM64 (tar)
• macOS (zip)
• macOS ARM64 Preview (zip)

These files are compressed as a zip file (Windows and Mac) or a tar file (Linux). To download and decompress the tar file on Linux, see the documentation for your Linux distribution.

For detailed information on AzCopy releases, see the AzCopy release page.

Run AzCopy

For convenience, consider adding the directory location of the AzCopy executable to your system path for ease of use. That way you can type azcopy from any directory on your system.

If you choose not to add the AzCopy directory to your path, you'll have to change directories to the location of your AzCopy executable and type azcopy or .\azcopy in Windows PowerShell command prompts.

As an owner of your Azure Storage account, you aren't automatically assigned permissions to access data. Before you can do anything meaningful with AzCopy, you need to decide how you'll provide authorization credentials to the storage service.

Authorize AzCopy

You can provide authorization credentials by using Microsoft Entra ID, or by using a Shared Access Signature (SAS) token.

Option 1: Use Microsoft Entra ID

By using Microsoft Entra ID, you can provide credentials once instead of having to append a SAS token to each command.

Option 2: Use a SAS token

You can append a SAS token to each source or destination URL that use in your AzCopy commands.

This example command recursively copies data from a local directory to a blob container. A fictitious SAS token is appended to the end of the container URL.

azcopy copy "C:\local\path" "https://account.blob.core.chinacloudapi.cn/mycontainer1/?sv=2018-03-28&ss=bjqt&srt=sco&sp=rwddgcup&se=2019-05-01T05:01:17Z&st=2019-04-30T21:01:17Z&spr=https&sig=MGCXiyEzbtttkr3ewJIh2AR8KrghSy1DGM9ovN734bQF4%3D" --recursive=true

To learn more about SAS tokens and how to obtain one, see Using shared access signatures (SAS).

Transfer data

After you've authorized your identity or obtained a SAS token, you can begin transferring data.

To find example commands, see any of these articles.

Get command help

To see a list of commands, type azcopy -h and then press the ENTER key.

To learn about a specific command, just include the name of the command (For example: azcopy list -h).

List of commands

The following table lists all AzCopy v10 commands. Each command links to a reference article.

Use in a script

Obtain a static download link

Over time, the AzCopy download link will point to new versions of AzCopy. If your script downloads AzCopy, the script might stop working if a newer version of AzCopy modifies features that your script depends upon.

To avoid these issues, obtain a static (unchanging) link to the current version of AzCopy. That way, your script downloads the same exact version of AzCopy each time that it runs.

To obtain the link, run this command:

The URL appears in the output of this command. Your script can then download AzCopy by using that URL.

Linux

wget -O azcopy_v10.tar.gz https://aka.ms/downloadazcopy-v10-linux && tar -xf azcopy_v10.tar.gz --strip-components=1

Windows PowerShell

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'https://azcopyvnext.azureedge.net/release20220315/azcopy_windows_amd64_10.14.1.zip' -OutFile 'azcopyv10.zip'
Expand-archive -Path '.\azcopyv10.zip' -Destinationpath '.\'
$AzCopy = (Get-ChildItem -path '.\' -Recurse -File -Filter 'azcopy.exe').FullName
# Invoke AzCopy 
& $AzCopy

PowerShell 6.1+

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'https://azcopyvnext.azureedge.net/release20220315/azcopy_windows_amd64_10.14.1.zip' -OutFile 'azcopyv10.zip'
$AzCopy = (Expand-archive -Path '.\azcopyv10.zip' -Destinationpath '.\' -PassThru | where-object {$_.Name -eq 'azcopy.exe'}).FullName
# Invoke AzCopy
& $AzCopy

Escape special characters in SAS tokens

In batch files that have the .cmd extension, you'll have to escape the % characters that appear in SAS tokens. You can do that by adding an extra % character next to existing % characters in the SAS token string. The resulting character sequence appears as %%. Make sure to add an extra ^ before each & character to create the character sequence ^&.

Run scripts by using Jenkins

If you plan to use Jenkins to run scripts, make sure to place the following command at the beginning of the script.

/usr/bin/keyctl new_session

Use in Azure Storage Explorer

Storage Explorer uses AzCopy to perform all of its data transfer operations. You can use Storage Explorer if you want to apply the performance advantages of AzCopy, but you prefer to use a graphical user interface rather than the command line to interact with your files.

Storage Explorer uses your account key to perform operations, so after you sign into Storage Explorer, you won't need to provide additional authorization credentials.

Configure, optimize, and fix

See any of the following resources:

• AzCopy configuration settings

• Optimize the performance of AzCopy

• Find errors and resume jobs by using log and plan files in AzCopy

• Troubleshoot problems with AzCopy v10

Use a previous version (deprecated)

If you need to use the previous version of AzCopy, see either of the following links:

• AzCopy on Windows (v8)

• AzCopy on Linux (v7)

Next steps

If you have questions, issues, or general feedback, submit them on GitHub page.