The underlying compression routine could not be loaded correctly error when deplying Function App

Tried running in vs code this command:

func azure functionapp publish [the function app name]

got this output:

Getting site publishing info...
[2025-04-23T12:26:20.365Z] Starting the function app deployment...
Creating archive for current directory...
Performing remote build for functions project.
Deleting the old .python_packages directory
The underlying compression routine could not be loaded correctly.

Validations

• Using powershell, the ls command, I validated that I was running the actual function app project I want to deploy. This is the file/folder structure for the project:

Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
d-----         4/22/2025   9:56 PM                .vscode
-a----         4/21/2025  11:12 AM            517 .gitignore
-a----         4/21/2025  10:06 PM            391 additional_functions.py
-a----         4/22/2025  10:11 PM            560 function_app.py
-a----         4/21/2025  11:12 AM            302 host.json
-a----         4/22/2025   6:13 PM            206 local.settings.json
-a----         4/22/2025   9:39 PM            207 requirements.txt

• Checked host.json properties, see them below:

{
  "version": "2.0",
  "logging": {
    "applicationInsights": {
      "samplingSettings": {
        "isEnabled": true,
        "excludedTypes": "Request"
      }
    }
  },
  "extensionBundle": {
    "id": "Microsoft.Azure.Functions.ExtensionBundle",
    "version": "[4.*, 5.0.0)"
  }
}

• Checked local.settings.json properties, see them below:

{
  "IsEncrypted": false,
  "Values": {
    "FUNCTIONS_WORKER_RUNTIME": "python",
    "AzureWebJobsFeatureFlags": "enableWorkerIndexing",
    "AzureWebJobsStorage": "UseDevelopmentStorage=true"
  }
}

• requirements.txt has the following module:

azure-functions

• Both the function app in Azure and the local project are running on Python 3.10.

• Checked the environment variables in azure for the function app, they are the following:

• I have the latest az cli version installed:

az --version
azure-cli                         2.71.0
core                              2.71.0
telemetry                          1.1.0
Dependencies:
msal                            1.31.2b1
azure-mgmt-resource               23.1.1

• Checked Azure Core Tools version, it's 4.0.7030.

• Made sure I was logged in before, running az login.

The underlying compression routine could not be loaded correctly.

The error occurs due to issues with the Azure Functions Core Tools installation when installed via the Windows installer.

To resolve the issue, reinstall the Azure Functions Core Tools using npm instead of the Windows installer. The below command makes sure the tools are installed.

npm install -g azure-functions-core-tools@4 --unsafe-perm true

After reinstalling with npm, re-run the deployment command below.

func azure functionapp publish <FunctionAppName>