diff --git a/extensions/sql-database-projects/src/common/constants.ts b/extensions/sql-database-projects/src/common/constants.ts
index 04bcfffdcd..599dcf3116 100644
--- a/extensions/sql-database-projects/src/common/constants.ts
+++ b/extensions/sql-database-projects/src/common/constants.ts
@@ -433,6 +433,7 @@ export function generatingProjectFailed(errorMessage: string) { return localize(
 export const noSqlFilesGenerated = localize('noSqlFilesGenerated', "No .sql files were generated by Autorest. Please confirm that your spec contains model definitions, or check the output log for details.");
 export function multipleMostDeploymentScripts(count: number) { return localize('multipleMostDeploymentScripts', "Unexpected number of {0} files: {1}", autorestPostDeploymentScriptName, count); }
 export const specSelectionText = localize('specSelectionText', "OpenAPI/Swagger spec");
+export function generatingProjectFromAutorest(specName: string) { return localize('generatingProjectFromAutorest', "Generating new SQL project from {0}...  Check output window for details.", specName); }
 
 // System dbs
 export const systemDbs = ['master', 'msdb', 'tempdb', 'model'];
diff --git a/extensions/sql-database-projects/src/controllers/projectController.ts b/extensions/sql-database-projects/src/controllers/projectController.ts
index b75701be26..6300933a32 100644
--- a/extensions/sql-database-projects/src/controllers/projectController.ts
+++ b/extensions/sql-database-projects/src/controllers/projectController.ts
@@ -914,7 +914,14 @@ export class ProjectsController {
 	}
 
 	public async generateAutorestFiles(specPath: string, newProjectFolder: string): Promise<string | undefined> {
-		return this.autorestHelper.generateAutorestFiles(specPath, newProjectFolder);
+		return vscode.window.withProgress(
+			{
+				location: vscode.ProgressLocation.Notification,
+				title: constants.generatingProjectFromAutorest(path.basename(specPath)),
+				cancellable: false
+			}, async (_progress, _token) => {
+				return this.autorestHelper.generateAutorestFiles(specPath, newProjectFolder);
+			});
 	}
 
 	public async openProjectInWorkspace(projectFilePath: string): Promise<void> {