Backup not possible from Azure Portal with waagent + Ubuntu 26.04

[sebastian-dicecca]

Deployed the new Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and everything was working fine until the backup was configured.
Seems to be related to the similar issue with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS when it got released in 2024.
Ubuntu 26.04 is installed with Python 3.14 which does not have crypt or imp.

[stderr]
counting is deprecated, ignoring assignment: CPUAccounting=no
Running as unit: enable_5733d770-43a9-4362-a43a-8dfa1866776d.scope; invocation ID: fdb3594c441e4c0f9e1c0a450d34ff80
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/var/lib/waagent/Microsoft.Azure.RecoveryServices.VMSnapshotLinux-1.0.9225.0/main/Utils/WAAgentUtil.py", line 66, in
spec.loader.exec_module(waagent)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^
File "", line 759, in exec_module
File "", line 491, in _call_with_frames_removed
File "/var/lib/waagent/Microsoft.Azure.RecoveryServices.VMSnapshotLinux-1.0.9225.0/main/WaagentLib.py", line 26, in
import crypt
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'crypt'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/var/lib/waagent/Microsoft.Azure.RecoveryServices.VMSnapshotLinux-1.0.9225.0/main/Utils/WAAgentUtil.py", line 69, in
import imp
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'imp'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/var/lib/waagent/Microsoft.Azure.RecoveryServices.VMSnapshotLinux-1.0.9225.0/main/handle.py", line 40, in
from mounts import Mounts
File "/var/lib/waagent/Microsoft.Azure.RecoveryServices.VMSnapshotLinux-1.0.9225.0/main/mounts.py", line 25, in
from Utils.DiskUtil import DiskUtil
File "/var/lib/waagent/Microsoft.Azure.RecoveryServices.VMSnapshotLinux-1.0.9225.0/main/Utils/DiskUtil.py", line 29, in
import Utils.HandlerUtil
File "/var/lib/waagent/Microsoft.Azure.RecoveryServices.VMSnapshotLinux-1.0.9225.0/main/Utils/HandlerUtil.py", line 69, in
import Utils.WAAgentUtil
File "/var/lib/waagent/Microsoft.Azure.RecoveryServices.VMSnapshotLinux-1.0.9225.0/main/Utils/WAAgentUtil.py", line 76, in
raise Exception(str(e))
Exception: No module named 'imp'
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/var/lib/waagent/Microsoft.Azure.RecoveryServices.VMSnapshotLinux-1.0.9225.0/main/Utils/WAAgentUtil.py", line 66, in
spec.loader.exec_module(waagent)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^
File "", line 759, in exec_module
File "", line 491, in _call_with_frames_removed
File "/var/lib/waagent/Microsoft.Azure.RecoveryServices.VMSnapshotLinux-1.0.9225.0/main/WaagentLib.py", line 26, in
import crypt
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'crypt'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/var/lib/waagent/Microsoft.Azure.RecoveryServices.VMSnapshotLinux-1.0.9225.0/main/Utils/WAAgentUtil.py", line 69, in
import imp
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'imp'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/var/lib/waagent/Microsoft.Azure.RecoveryServices.VMSnapshotLinux-1.0.9225.0/main/handle.py", line 40, in
from mounts import Mounts
File "/var/lib/waagent/Microsoft.Azure., duration=0
2026-05-12T06:18:13.542963Z INFO ExtHandler ExtHandler ProcessExtensionsGoalState completed [etag_9836062535883227515 2061 ms]

2026-05-12T06:18:21.544287Z WARNING ExtHandler ExtHandler [PERIODIC] This status is being reported by the Guest Agent since no status file was reported by extension Microsoft.Azure.RecoveryServices.VMSnapshotLinux: [ExtensionStatusError] Status file /var/lib/waagent/Microsoft.Azure.RecoveryServices.VMSnapshotLinux-1.0.9225.0/status/2.status does not exist
2026-05-12T06:18:22.271698Z INFO ExtHandler ExtHandler Extension status: [('Microsoft.Azure.RecoveryServices.VMSnapshotLinux', 'transitioning')]
2026-05-12T06:19:03.244321Z INFO MonitorHandler ExtHandler Stopped tracking cpu cgroup Microsoft.Azure.RecoveryServices.VMSnapshotLinux-1.0.9225.0 [/sys/fs/cgroup/azure.slice/azure-vmextensions.slice/azure-vmextensions-Microsoft.Azure.RecoveryServices.VMSnapshotLinux.slice]

[adalfa]

Hello to all any news on the ETA for a ubuntu 26.04 update? thanks

[sebastian-dicecca]

No news about when Microsoft is due to fixing the issue.
We made a workaround installing python3.11.9 along with 3.14 which is on Ubuntu 26.04

The Microsoft.Azure.RecoveryServices.VMSnapshotLinux extension's handle.sh script has a hardcoded Python version list of python3.8 python3.7... On Ubuntu 26.04, none of these exist, and even the fallback python3 (3.14) no longer has crypt or imp.

Temporary Fix:
1. Build Python 3.11 from source with libcrypt support
sudo apt install -y build-essential libssl-dev zlib1g-dev
libncurses5-dev libncursesw5-dev libreadline-dev libsqlite3-dev
libgdbm-dev libdb5.3-dev libbz2-dev libexpat1-dev liblzma-dev
libffi-dev uuid-dev libcrypt-dev wget

wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.11.9/Python-3.11.9.tgz
tar -xf Python-3.11.9.tgz
cd Python-3.11.9

./configure --enable-optimizations --with-ensurepip=install
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make altinstall

altinstall ensures Python 3.14 remains the system default — nothing is overwritten.

2. Create a python3.8 symlink pointing to Python 3.11

sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/python3.11 /usr/local/bin/python3.8
This tricks handle.sh into finding python3.8 at a known path, while actually running Python 3.11 which still has crypt and imp.

3. Verify
/usr/local/bin/python3.8 -c "import crypt, imp; print('crypt and imp OK')"

4. Ensure waagent is healthy
sudo systemctl status walinuxagent --no-pager

waagent itself was left running on Python 3.14 — no changes were made to it.

Maybe not the best fix, but now we have backup working on the VM.

[greecemunky]

Install Ubuntu packages python3-crypt-r and python3-zombie-imp to add crypt and imp modules to Python 3.14. Tested and working in our Ubuntu 26.04 VM - backup's snapshot now completes.

apt install -y python3-crypt-r python3-zombie-imp

https://pypi.org/project/crypt-r/
https://pypi.org/project/zombie-imp/

Also restarted the Azure Linux Agent service via systemctl restart walinuxagent.service after installing the above but not sure if it was necessary.