**Check whether Azure CLI is installed at all.** Look for Azure CLI in the installed apps list, or check for its folder under Program Files. Expected: an Azure CLI install entry exists. If nothing is there, install Azure CLI from the official Microsoft installer and skip to step 4.

**Find the az executable.** In the Azure CLI install folder, open the bin subfolder and confirm az.cmd is present. Success check: the file exists, so the install is good and only PATH is broken.

**Add the bin folder to PATH.** In the Windows environment variables editor, add the Azure CLI bin folder path to the system PATH variable and save. Expected: the new entry appears in the PATH list exactly once, with no quotes around it.

**Restart the terminal completely.** Close every open Command Prompt, PowerShell, and editor terminal window, then open a fresh one. Success check: a fresh shell is required because running shells never pick up PATH changes.

**Verify in the fresh shell.** Run az --version. Expected: it prints the Azure CLI version and component versions instead of the not recognized error. Then run az login if you need to work with a subscription.