How to fix Error: Cannot register providers in Terraform

For AzureRM provider versions 3.x and earlier, add the skip_provider_registration flag to disable automatic provider registration:

provider "azurerm" {
  features {}
  skip_provider_registration = true
}

For AzureRM provider version 4.x and later, use:

provider "azurerm" {
  features {}
  resource_provider_registrations = "none"
}

This prevents Terraform from attempting to register providers automatically.

If you prefer to keep automatic registration enabled, manually register the providers that your Terraform code uses with a privileged account:

# Register a specific provider
az provider register -n Microsoft.Compute --wait

# Or register multiple providers
az provider register -n Microsoft.Compute --wait
az provider register -n Microsoft.Storage --wait
az provider register -n Microsoft.Network --wait

Use az provider list to see all registered and pending providers.

Ensure your Azure authentication is correctly configured and your account has the necessary permissions:

# Check current Azure CLI authentication
az account show

# List subscriptions to verify access
az account list

# Check role assignment for provider registration
az role assignment list --scope /subscriptions/{subscriptionId}

Confirm that your account has 'Owner' or 'Contributor' role at the subscription level, or has a custom role with Microsoft.Authorization/roleAssignments/write and Microsoft.*/register/action permissions.

If you don't have sufficient permissions, contact your Azure subscription administrator to either:

1. Grant your service principal or user account the 'Contributor' role at the subscription level
2. Manually register all required providers before running Terraform
3. Create a custom IAM role that grants Microsoft.*/register/action permission

Once permissions are granted, retry terraform plan and apply.

Ensure you're using the latest versions of both tools:

# Update Azure CLI
az upgrade

# Check Azure CLI version
az --version

# Update Terraform AzureRM provider in your configuration
terraform init -upgrade

Newer versions often include bug fixes and improved error handling for provider registration issues.