diff --git a/docker/base-deps/Dockerfile b/docker/base-deps/Dockerfile
index eec1e564d8c0..5b53760712a8 100644
--- a/docker/base-deps/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/base-deps/Dockerfile
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ ENV LANG=C.UTF-8
 # TODO(ilr) $HOME seems to point to result in "" instead of "/home/ray"
 ENV PATH "/home/ray/anaconda3/bin:$PATH"
 ARG DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
-ARG PYTHON_VERSION=3.8.16
+ARG PYTHON_VERSION=3.9
 ARG HOSTTYPE=${HOSTTYPE:-x86_64}
 
 ARG RAY_UID=1000
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ RUN sudo apt-get update -y && sudo apt-get upgrade -y \
         cmake \
         g++ \ 
         zlib1g-dev \
-        $(if [ "$AUTOSCALER" = "autoscaler" ]; then echo \
+        $(if [[ "$AUTOSCALER" == "autoscaler" ]]; then echo \
         tmux \
         screen \
         rsync \
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ RUN sudo apt-get update -y && sudo apt-get upgrade -y \
         g++; fi) \
     && sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
     && sudo apt-get clean \
-    && (if [ "$AUTOSCALER" = "autoscaler" ]; \
+    && (if [[ "$AUTOSCALER" == "autoscaler" ]]; \
         then $HOME/anaconda3/bin/pip --no-cache-dir install \
         "redis>=3.5.0,<4.0.0" \
         "six==1.13.0" \
@@ -83,12 +83,7 @@ RUN sudo apt-get update -y && sudo apt-get upgrade -y \
         "cryptography==38.0.1" \
         "google-api-python-client==1.7.8" \
         "google-oauth" \
-        "azure-cli-core==2.40.0" \
-        "azure-identity==1.10.0" \
-        "azure-mgmt-compute==23.1.0" \
-        "azure-mgmt-network==19.0.0" \
-        "azure-mgmt-resource==20.0.0" \
-        "msrestazure==0.6.4"; \
+        ; \
     fi;)
 
 WORKDIR $HOME
diff --git a/python/ray/autoscaler/azure/example-full.yaml b/python/ray/autoscaler/azure/example-full.yaml
index a043603bfaaa..dbb674d3ab24 100644
--- a/python/ray/autoscaler/azure/example-full.yaml
+++ b/python/ray/autoscaler/azure/example-full.yaml
@@ -164,9 +164,8 @@ setup_commands: []
     # - pip install -U "ray[default] @ https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ray-wheels/latest/ray-3.0.0.dev0-cp38-cp38-manylinux2014_x86_64.whl"
 
 # Custom commands that will be run on the head node after common setup.
-# NOTE: rayproject/ray-ml:latest has azure packages bundled
 head_setup_commands: []
-    # - pip install -U azure-cli-core==2.22.0 azure-mgmt-compute==14.0.0 azure-mgmt-msi==1.0.0 azure-mgmt-network==10.2.0 azure-mgmt-resource==13.0.0
+    - pip install -U azure-cli-core==2.22.0 azure-mgmt-compute==14.0.0 azure-mgmt-msi==1.0.0 azure-mgmt-network==10.2.0 azure-mgmt-resource==13.0.0
 
 # Custom commands that will be run on worker nodes after common setup.
 worker_setup_commands: []
diff --git a/python/ray/autoscaler/azure/example-gpu-docker.yaml b/python/ray/autoscaler/azure/example-gpu-docker.yaml
index 6faaed48fb64..e16574ee9356 100644
--- a/python/ray/autoscaler/azure/example-gpu-docker.yaml
+++ b/python/ray/autoscaler/azure/example-gpu-docker.yaml
@@ -117,9 +117,8 @@ setup_commands: []
 #     - pip install -U "ray[default] @ https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ray-wheels/latest/ray-3.0.0.dev0-cp38-cp38-manylinux2014_x86_64.whl"
 
 # Custom commands that will be run on the head node after common setup.
-# NOTE: rayproject/ray-ml:latest has azure packages bundled
 head_setup_commands: []
-    # - pip install -U azure-cli-core==2.22.0 azure-mgmt-compute==14.0.0 azure-mgmt-msi==1.0.0 azure-mgmt-network==10.2.0 azure-mgmt-resource==13.0.0
+    - pip install -U azure-cli-core==2.22.0 azure-mgmt-compute==14.0.0 azure-mgmt-msi==1.0.0 azure-mgmt-network==10.2.0 azure-mgmt-resource==13.0.0
 
 # Custom commands that will be run on worker nodes after common setup.
 worker_setup_commands: []