Quickstart: Install the Azure Sphere SDK for Linux

You can install the Azure Sphere SDK on a computer running the Linux operating system to develop, deploy, and debug Azure Sphere applications.

Prerequisites

The Azure Sphere SDK installation requires the following prerequisites:

• An Azure Sphere development kit.
• A computer with an x86-64-based processor running 64-bit Ubuntu 24.04 LTS or Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Only Intel-compatible x86-64 processors are supported; other architectures such as ARM (including the Raspberry Pi), Itanium, or SPARC are not supported. The x86-64 architecture is also known as x64, x86_64, AMD64, and Intel 64.
• Linux sudo permission.
• An internet connection or a way to transfer files from a computer that has an internet connection to your computer. For more information, see Install the SDK without an internet connection.

Add required Linux packages

Before you run the SDK installation script, you need to add required Linux packages to your computer if they are not already installed. Enter the following lines in a Linux terminal. You may omit packages that are already installed.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y net-tools curl

Install the Azure Sphere SDK

Follow these steps:

1. Download the install script.

2. Navigate to the folder into which you downloaded the compressed file.

3. Extract the contents of the compressed file. For example, tar xvfz install_azure_sphere_sdk_<version>.tar.gz. The .tar.gz file contains the install_azure_sphere_sdk.sh file.

4. Run the install script using sudo as follows:

   sudo ./install_azure_sphere_sdk.sh
   

   If you see the error command not found when running the script, enable execution of the install script with this command:

   chmod +x install_azure_sphere_sdk.sh
   

5. During installation, the script displays confirmation messages. Confirmation messages can be skipped by invoking the script with the -y flag:

   sudo ./install_azure_sphere_sdk.sh -y
   

   Without the -y flag, the script will expect responses to the following prompts:

   The SDK tarball signature is valid. The fingerprint of the key used is:
   
   Primary key fingerprint: <hexadecimal>
   
   Please check that this fingerprint matches the Microsoft GPG public key fingerprint shown on https://aka.ms/AzureSphereSDKVerification/Linux before proceeding. Do not proceed if these values do not match.
   Proceed with installation? (Y/N)
   

   Select Y to start the installation.

   Navigate to Microsoft's public-key fingerprint site and verify that the hexadecimal fingerprint value displayed during installation matches matches the Microsoft Public Key Fingerprint that is shown on the page. Do not proceed if the two fingerprints don't match.

   By proceeding with this installation you agree to the license terms available at https://aka.ms/AzureSphereSDKLicense/Linux and which will be installed to /opt/azurespheresdk. Proceed? (Y/N) y
   Uninstalling previous instance.
   Installing SDK files.
   Installing toolchain version 'xx'.
   Installing toolchain version 'xx'.
   Installing toolchain version 'xx'.
   Installing toolchain version 'xx+Betaxxxx'.
   Installing CLI.
   SDK installed to '/opt/azurespheresdk'.
   Installing Device Communication service.
   Some device operations require root permissions, or permissions granted by a udev rule. Set up the default udev rule and group (azsphere), and add the current user to it? (Y/N)
   Add the Azure Sphere CLI to the PATH for all users (this will add a file to /etc/profile.d/)? (Y/N) y
   
   

   Tip

   Select Y to set up the azsphere group and create the udev rule.

6. When the installation completes, you must log in again to your desktop application or login shell to initialize the Azure Sphere (Legacy) CLI.

After installation, the azsphere command is on the PATH and the new udev rules for your device are at /etc/udev/rules.d/.

The script installs the SDK to /opt/azurespheresdk and the toolchains to /opt/azurespheresdk/Sysroots/sysroot-version/tools, where sysroot-version identifies a sysroot against which the SDK supports app development.

The installer installs the Azure Sphere (Legacy) CLI. You don't need to uninstall the current version because the installation will update any existing version.

Azure Sphere CLI is installed in /opt/azurespheresdk/Tools_v2. On Linux, you can run Azure Sphere CLI from a terminal using azsphere_v2 and azsphere if it was selected as the default CLI during the installation.

After installing the CLI for the first time, check that it's installed and you've got the correct version by running azsphere show-version.

Udev rules

The Azure Sphere SDK specifies udev rules for your computer's device information. The SDK creates a new group called azsphere and adds the currently logged-in user to the group. The udev rule grants ownership of USB devices matching the Azure Sphere device description. After you install the SDK and reboot your computer, you will not need to use sudo for device recovery or ARM Cortex-M4 debugging.

The azsphere group is added in order to grant permissions using the udev rule. Do not modify the group manually.

Install the SDK without an internet connection

If you don't have an internet connection on the computer on which you're installing the SDK, you need to download these files to a computer that is connected to the internet and transfer them to the installation computer.

1. Download these files and transfer them to the installation computer:

   • Azure Sphere SDK for Linux: choose from Ubuntu 24.04 LTS or Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. The downloaded file is a compressed tar file (.tar.gz file) with a name beginning Azure_Sphere_SDK_Bundle.
   • Install script: this is a compressed tar file (.tar.gz file) with a name beginning install_azure_sphere_sdk.
   • Microsoft's GPG public key: this is an ASCII text file.

2. On the installation computer, navigate to the folder into which you transferred the files.

3. Extract the contents of the compressed install script file. For example, tar xvfz install_azure_sphere_sdk_<version>.tar.gz. The .tar.gz file contains the install_azure_sphere_sdk.sh file. Leave the Azure Sphere SDK Bundle as a compressed tar file (tar.gz file).

4. Run the install script using sudo. Include the -i parameter to specify the path to the SDK bundle and the -k parameter to specify the path to the key. Your command should be similar to this:

   sudo ./install_azure_sphere_sdk.sh -i [pathtopackage]/[sdkbundle] -k [pathtokey]/microsoft.asc

   If you see the error command not found when running the script, enable execution of the install script with this command:

   chmod +x install_azure_sphere_sdk.sh
   

Proceed with the installation as described in Install the Azure Sphere SDK.

Set up your development environment

sudo apt-get install cmake ninja-build

Next steps