Unable to configure Azure Arc on Linux Servers

Question

Unable to configure Azure Arc on Linux Servers

Omkar Chalke 5

Hello Team,

I’m currently facing an issue while configuring Azure Arc on a Linux server. The agent installation completes successfully, but the configuration step fails.

I have attempted both approaches:

The script generated from the Azure Arc portal
The manual installation and configuration method

However, the outcome remains the same in both cases. This issue is occurring on one specific server.

The error received is: AZCM0101: Command Execution Error, and the Arc proxy service remains stuck in an activating state. This persists even after deleting the localconfig.json file and retrying the configuration.

Could you please assist in identifying the root cause and suggest a resolution?

Thanks,

Bharath Y P 7,080 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-24T11:29:56.1033333+00:00

Hello Omkar, Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Q&A platform.

We are looking into your issue and will keep you posted updates.

Thanks,
Omkar Chalke 5 Reputation points

2026-03-24T12:50:51.3366667+00:00

Hello @Bharath Y P Already followed the provided steps but its still the same.
Bharath Y P 7,080 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-24T13:18:23.0233333+00:00
Hello Omkar, Thanks for the update. Could you please help us with the below details.

The Linux distro and version you’re using ?

The Arc agent version (from azcmagent show) ?

Also you can check Logs: Even if users/groups exist, something might prevent the service from actually running as arcproxy.

sudo journalctl -u himds.service -u azcmagent.service -u arcproxy.service -f

Identify whether the failure is due to missing libraries, denied permissions(on /var/lib/waagent or /etc/opt/azure/azureconnectedmachineagent), or network errors.

Run Connectivity Test

Run:

azcmagent check

Confirms whether the server can reach required Azure Arc endpoints.
Bharath Y P 7,080 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-26T09:53:47.37+00:00

Hello Omkar Chalke, Just a gentle follow-up if you found Alex’s answer helpful, we’d appreciate it if you could accept it and give it an up‑vote. This will help other community members who may encounter the same issue. Thank you.

2 answers

Your answer

Bharath Y P 7,080 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-24T11:29:56.1033333+00:00

Hello Omkar, Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Q&A platform.

We are looking into your issue and will keep you posted updates.

Thanks,
Omkar Chalke 5 Reputation points

2026-03-24T12:50:51.3366667+00:00

Hello @Bharath Y P Already followed the provided steps but its still the same.
Bharath Y P 7,080 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-24T13:18:23.0233333+00:00

Hello Omkar, Thanks for the update. Could you please help us with the below details.

The Linux distro and version you’re using ?

The Arc agent version (from azcmagent show) ?

Also you can check Logs: Even if users/groups exist, something might prevent the service from actually running as arcproxy.

sudo journalctl -u himds.service -u azcmagent.service -u arcproxy.service -f

Identify whether the failure is due to missing libraries, denied permissions(on /var/lib/waagent or /etc/opt/azure/azureconnectedmachineagent), or network errors.

Run Connectivity Test

Run:

azcmagent check

Confirms whether the server can reach required Azure Arc endpoints.
Bharath Y P 7,080 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-26T09:53:47.37+00:00

Hello Omkar Chalke, Just a gentle follow-up if you found Alex’s answer helpful, we’d appreciate it if you could accept it and give it an up‑vote. This will help other community members who may encounter the same issue. Thank you.

Answer 1

Alex Burlachenko 19,695 Volunteer Moderator

Omkar Chalke hi and thx for join us at Q&A :)

yeah AZCM0101 + proxy stuck activating… thats usually not random, something on that host is blocking it

since install works but config fails > agent is fine, connection/setup is breaking

first thing id check network. arc agent needs outbound https to Azure

if that server has:

proxy
firewall
restricted outbound

then proxy service just sits there activating forever

quick test:

curl https://management.azure.com

if that fails > thats ur problem

second common one broken proxy config inside arc

check:

/opt/azcmagent/config/agentconfig.json

or run:

azcmagent show

if proxy is set but unreachable > it will hang exactly like u described

u can reset it:

azcmagent config clear proxy.url

third thing (very common tbh) time / cert issues

if server time is off > TLS fails > config dies

check:

timedatectl

also check service logs, they usually tell the real story:

journalctl -u azcmagent -f

or:

/var/opt/azcmagent/log/azcmagent.log

u will probably see timeout or TLS error there

important detail u said: only ONE server

that basically confirms its not Azure side its something local on that machine:

network rules
proxy
DNS
time sync

tldr agent installs fine > config fails > almost always outbound connectivity or proxy misconfig
rgds,

Alex

Omkar Chalke 5 Reputation points

2026-03-25T06:36:02.1033333+00:00

@Alex Burlachenko and @Bharath Y P As checked there is no TLS errors but errors related to token and yes we are using proxy for Azure Arc on all the servers.
Alex Burlachenko 19,695 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-03-25T08:13:42.2+00:00

hi agai,
yeah from that log this does not look like TLS

the useful part is here Failed to obtain change token Cannot onboard/disconnect until agent is initialized Configuration operation failed error sending signal hangup: os: process not initialized

so the real problem looks more like this: the Arc proxy/agent process never fully starts, and then config tries to push proxy settings or reload it, but theres no live process behind it yet. basically config is talking to a half-dead service, since u said proxy is used on all servers and only this one fails, then the proxy itself is probably not the root issue. more likely on this host one of these is broken.

the azcmagent service is not actually starting cleanly the local service state is corrupted the proxy config on this box is malformed or applied too early something in systemd / service startup is preventing the proxy component from initializing

that os: process not initialized line is the giveaway. not a cert problem. not really a token problem either. token failure is more like a symptom bc the agent never got to a healthy initialized state

id do this in order, check service state directly:

systemctl status azcmagent

journalctl -u azcmagent -n 100 --no-pager

then check whether the proxy service child process is even coming up. if it keeps cycling or never enters running, thats the issue

then dump current Arc config:

azcmagent config list

i would compare that output against one of the working servers. same proxy URL, same bypass, same service settings. one stupid typo or bad format can break just one host and waste half a day bc of course it can.

then I would fully reset the local agent state on that server, not just delete localconfig.json. that file alone is usually not enough when the service state is already messed up

something like

azcmagent disconnect

systemctl stop azcmagent

rm -rf /var/opt/azcmagent/*

systemctl daemon-reload

systemctl start azcmagent

then reconfigure from scratch

if proxy is required, apply it only after the service is up cleanly, or use the exact same method as on a known good server. right now ur log shows config is trying to set proxy.url, then failing bc the process is not initialized

so yeah, my read is

not TLS not Azure side not really token auth first

its a local agent startup / proxy service initialization problem on that one Linux box

if u want send systemctl status azcmagent and azcmagent config list from the bad server and one good server and I can tell u what is off pretty fast.

rgds,

Alex
Alex Burlachenko 19,695 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-03-26T08:34:58.9033333+00:00

Omkar Chalke hi again is my answer was sutiable?

rgds,

Alex

Answer 2

Hello Omkar, We understand that you successfully installed the Azure Arc agent on a Linux server. The configuration step fails with AZCM0101: Command Execution Error. The Arc proxy service remains stuck in an activating state.

Arc Proxy Service Stuck “Activating” might be because of the Arc agent relies on the arcproxy user and himds group to run its systemd service (arcproxyd.service). If these accounts do not exist, the service cannot start, and you see errors like: AZCM0101: Command Execution Error or AZCM0004: Service start failure.

Validate the service unit:

Validate the service unit:

cat /usr/lib/systemd/system/arcproxyd.service | grep -E "User|Group"

Expected output:

User=arcproxy
Group=himds

Check if the system accounts exist:

id arcproxy
id himds

If not found, the commands will fail, confirming the root cause.

Create the Missing User/Group:

sudo groupadd --system himds 
sudo useradd --system --no-create-home --gid himds arcproxy

Reload and Restart Service

sudo systemctl daemon-reload 
sudo systemctl restart arcproxyd 
sudo systemctl status arcproxyd

Service should now be in active (running) state.

Confirm Agent Connection: Run the below command

azcmagent show

Ensure you get "Agent Status: Connected" and no errors.

Additional Checks

Supported OS/architecture: Arc supports mainstream Linux distros (RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu, SLES, etc.) with x86_64 or ARM64.
Outbound connectivity: required to reach Azure endpoints:

azcmagent check --location "<your-region>"

Hope this helps! If you still hit issues after that, could you help us with the below details:

The Linux distro and version you’re using ?
The Arc agent version (from azcmagent show) ?
Output of systemctl status arcproxyd and any recent journalctl -u arcproxyd logs ?

Reference:

Troubleshoot Azure Connected Machine agent connection issues - Azure Arc | Microsoft Learn

CLI reference for azcmagent connect - Azure Arc | Microsoft Learn

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Unable to configure Azure Arc on Linux Servers

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