diff --git a/.azure-pipelines-templates/release.yml b/.azure-pipelines-templates/release.yml
index e75fb7ed8..fa75d1388 100644
--- a/.azure-pipelines-templates/release.yml
+++ b/.azure-pipelines-templates/release.yml
@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@ jobs:
 
       - script: |
           set -ex
-          echo "@microsoft:registry=//registry.npmjs.org/" > .npmrc.json
-          echo "//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=\${NPM_TOKEN}" >> .npmrc.json
+          echo "@microsoft:registry=\"https://registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=\${NPM_TOKEN}\"" > .npmrc
+          echo "//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=\${NPM_TOKEN}" >> .npmrc
           npm publish $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/**/microsoft-ccf-app*.tgz --access public
         env:
           NPM_TOKEN: $(npm_token)