Terraform on Windows

This tutorial gets a Terraform toolchain installed on Windows using Chocolatey: Terraform itself, Packer, the Azure CLI, and the AWS CLI, plus VS Code as an editor. By the end you’ll have the binaries on PATH and a working directory ready for terraform init.

The install block below also bootstraps Chocolatey, so you don’t strictly need it preinstalled — but if you already have it, that first line is a no-op.

Before You Start

• PowerShell running as Administrator
• Internet connection
• Chocolatey installed — run choco -v to verify (if missing, see chocolatey.org/install)
• An Azure subscription (optional — only needed for cloud resource creation)

Success Criteria

You’ve completed this tutorial when:

• terraform -v returns a version string
• packer -v returns a version string
• az -v returns a version string
• terraform init succeeds in a new directory

Step 1: Install the toolchain

Run this from an elevated PowerShell window. It installs Chocolatey (if it isn’t already there), then pulls down VS Code and the IaC tooling. Chocolatey Package Management

# Open powershell as administrator
# Install Chocolatey first
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

# Install Terraform editing software
choco install vscode -y

# Install infrastructure as code tool - Terraform.io and Packer.io
choco install terraform -y
choco install packer -y
choco install azure-cli -y
choco install awscli -y

# Run an updated on Terraform related components
choco upgrade chocolatey terraform packer azure-cli awscli -y

# Confirm Installation editions
choco -v
Terraform -v
az -v
aws --v

# Navigated to Terraform folders
$terraformPath = "~\Documents\Terraform\"
New-Item -Path $terraformPath -Type Directory
Push-Location $terraformPath

# Open Microsoft Visual Code with the active folder loaded
Code . -n

Pop-Location
# Review Terraform Extensions (currently they have not been ported to Chocolately installations)
Write-Output("Review Extensions - Terraform")

Source: Install Terraform Download

The confirmation commands in the block above are choco -v, Terraform -v, az -v and aws --v. The casing on Terraform and the --v flag on aws are reproduced exactly as scripted; if aws --v doesn’t return a version on your machine, try aws --version.

Step 2: Upgrade later

Re-run these periodically to keep the toolchain current. VS Code self-updates, but the line is here as a backstop.

# ** Open powershell as administrator

# VSCode will self update (but just in case)
choco upgrade vscode

# Upgrade CLI software (periodically)
choco upgrade Chocolatey
choco upgrade Terraform
choco upgrade azure-cli
choco upgrade awscli

References

Chocolatey

Terraform

Next Steps

• Azure Pipelines — automate Terraform in CI/CD
• AWS Cloud DevOps — Terraform for AWS environments
• Desired State Configuration — Windows-native alternative to Terraform for server config