diff --git a/tests/helix/send-to-helix-basictests.targets b/tests/helix/send-to-helix-basictests.targets
index 944f064920c..87af36af752 100644
--- a/tests/helix/send-to-helix-basictests.targets
+++ b/tests/helix/send-to-helix-basictests.targets
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
     <!-- needed to run 9.0 tests on helix -->
     <NeedsSdksForTesting>true</NeedsSdksForTesting>
     <IncludeDotNetCli>false</IncludeDotNetCli>
+    <!-- Enable Azure CLI for basic tests -->
+    <NeedsAzCli>true</NeedsAzCli>
 
     <TargetFrameworkSuffixRegex>^(.*?)(-net[\d.]+)?$</TargetFrameworkSuffixRegex>
   </PropertyGroup>
diff --git a/tests/helix/send-to-helix-inner.proj b/tests/helix/send-to-helix-inner.proj
index 0680692475d..0c8cb3bda3a 100644
--- a/tests/helix/send-to-helix-inner.proj
+++ b/tests/helix/send-to-helix-inner.proj
@@ -22,7 +22,11 @@
     <_AzureFunctionsCliUrl Condition="'$(OS)' == 'Windows_NT'">https://github.com/Azure/azure-functions-core-tools/releases/download/4.0.7512/Azure.Functions.Cli.min.win-x64.4.0.7512.zip</_AzureFunctionsCliUrl>
     <_AzureFunctionsCliUrl Condition="'$(OS)' != 'Windows_NT'">https://github.com/Azure/azure-functions-core-tools/releases/download/4.0.7512/Azure.Functions.Cli.linux-x64.4.0.7512.zip</_AzureFunctionsCliUrl>
 
+    <!-- Azure CLI URL for Helix runs - Windows x64 zip version -->
+    <_AzureCliWindowsUrl Condition="'$(OS)' == 'Windows_NT'">https://aka.ms/installazurecliwindowszipx64</_AzureCliWindowsUrl>
+
     <_DefaultSdkDirNameForTests>dotnet-tests</_DefaultSdkDirNameForTests>
+    <BuildHelixWorkItemsDependsOn Condition="'$(NeedsAzCli)' == 'true'">$(BuildHelixWorkItemsDependsOn);DownloadAzureCliForHelix</BuildHelixWorkItemsDependsOn>
   </PropertyGroup>
 
   <PropertyGroup>
@@ -165,6 +169,27 @@
 
   <Target Name="PrepareDependencies" DependsOnTargets="$(PrepareDependenciesDependsOn)" />
 
+  <!--
+    The file downloaded from the url doesn't have an extension, which causes Helix sdk to not
+    treat it as a zip file even when AsArchive=true is used.
+    So, we explicitly download and rename it to az-cli.zip before adding to HelixCorrelationPayload.
+  -->
+  <Target Name="DownloadAzureCliForHelix" Condition="'$(NeedsAzCli)' == 'true' and '$(OS)' == 'Windows_NT'">
+    <DownloadFile
+          SourceUrl="$(_AzureCliWindowsUrl)"
+          DestinationFolder="$(ArtifactsBinDir)">
+      <Output TaskParameter="DownloadedFile" ItemName="_AzureCliArchive" />
+    </DownloadFile>
+
+    <Move SourceFiles="@(_AzureCliArchive)" DestinationFiles="$(ArtifactsBinDir)\az-cli.zip" />
+
+    <ItemGroup>
+      <HelixCorrelationPayload Include="$(ArtifactsBinDir)\az-cli.zip" Destination="az-cli" AsArchive="true" />
+      <HelixPreCommand Include="set PATH=%HELIX_CORRELATION_PAYLOAD%\az-cli\bin%3B%PATH%" />
+      <HelixPreCommand Include="az --version" />
+    </ItemGroup>
+  </Target>
+
   <Target Name="BuildHelixWorkItems" DependsOnTargets="$(BuildHelixWorkItemsDependsOn)" BeforeTargets="Build">
     <MSBuild Projects="$(RepoRoot)\eng\dcppack\Aspire.Hosting.Orchestration.$(NETCoreSdkRuntimeIdentifier).csproj" Targets="GetDCPBinaryLocation">
       <Output TaskParameter="TargetOutputs" PropertyName="DCPBinaryLocation" />