Use an Azure file share with Windows

Azure Files is Microsoft’s easy-to-use cloud file system. Azure file shares can be seamlessly used in Windows and Windows Server. This article discusses the considerations for using an Azure file share with Windows and Windows Server.

In order to use an Azure file share outside of the Azure region it is hosted in, such as on-premises or in a different Azure region, the OS must support SMB 3.0.

You can use Azure file shares on a Windows installation that is running either in an Azure VM or on-premises. The following table illustrates which OS versions support accessing file shares in which environment:

Windows version	SMB version	Mountable in Azure VM	Mountable on-premises
Windows Server 2019	SMB 3.0	Yes	Yes
Windows 10 1	SMB 3.0	Yes	Yes
Windows Server semi-annual channel 2	SMB 3.0	Yes	Yes
Windows Server 2016	SMB 3.0	Yes	Yes
Windows 8.1	SMB 3.0	Yes	Yes
Windows Server 2012 R2	SMB 3.0	Yes	Yes
Windows Server 2012	SMB 3.0	Yes	Yes
Windows 7 3	SMB 2.1	Yes	No
Windows Server 2008 R2 3	SMB 2.1	Yes	No

1 Windows 10, versions 1507, 1607, 1803, 1809, 1903, 1909, and 2004.
2 Windows Server, versions 1809, 1903, 1909, 2004.
3 Regular Microsoft support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 has ended. It is possible to purchase additional support for security updates only through the Extended Security Update (ESU) program. We strongly recommend migrating off of these operating systems.

We always recommend taking the most recent KB for your version of Windows.

Prerequisites

Ensure port 445 is open: The SMB protocol requires TCP port 445 to be open; connections will fail if port 445 is blocked. You can check if your firewall is blocking port 445 with the Test-NetConnection cmdlet. To learn about ways to work around a blocked 445 port, see the Cause 1: Port 445 is blocked section of our Windows troubleshooting guide.

Using an Azure file share with Windows

To use an Azure file share with Windows, you must either mount it, which means assigning it a drive letter or mount point path, or access it via its UNC path.

This article uses the storage account key to access the file share. A storage account key is an administrator key for a storage account, including administrator permissions to all files and folders within the file share you’re accessing, and for all file shares and other storage resources (blobs, queues, tables, etc.) contained within your storage account. If this is not sufficient for your workload, Azure File Sync may be used, or you may use identity-based authentication over SMB.

A common pattern for lifting and shifting line-of-business (LOB) applications that expect an SMB file share to Azure is to use an Azure file share as an alternative for running a dedicated Windows file server in an Azure VM. One important consideration for successfully migrating a line-of-business application to use an Azure file share is that many line-of-business applications run under the context of a dedicated service account with limited system permissions rather than the VM’s administrative account. Therefore, you must ensure that you mount/save the credentials for the Azure file share from the context of the service account rather than your administrative account.

Mount the Azure file share

The Azure portal provides you with a script that you can use to mount your file share directly to a host. We recommend using this provided script.

To get this script:

Navigate to the storage account that contains the file share you’d like to mount.

Select File shares.

Select the file share you’d like to mount.

Select Connect.

Select the drive letter to mount the share to.

Copy the provided script.

Paste the script into a shell on the host you’d like to mount the file share to, and run it.

You have now mounted your Azure file share.

Mount the Azure file share with File Explorer

Note that the following instructions are shown on Windows 10 and may differ slightly on older releases.

Open File Explorer. This can be done by opening from the Start Menu, or by pressing Win+E shortcut.

Navigate to This PC on the left-hand side of the window. This will change the menus available in the ribbon. Under the Computer menu, select Map network drive.

Select the drive letter and enter the UNC path, the UNC path format is \\ .file.core.windows.net\ . For example: \\anexampleaccountname.file.core.windows.net\example-share-name .

Use the storage account name prepended with AZURE\ as the username and a storage account key as the password.

Use Azure file share as desired.

When you are ready to dismount the Azure file share, you can do so by right-clicking on the entry for the share under the Network locations in File Explorer and selecting Disconnect.

Accessing share snapshots from Windows

If you have taken a share snapshot, either manually or automatically through a script or service like Azure Backup, you can view previous versions of a share, a directory, or a particular file from file share on Windows. You can take a share snapshot using Azure PowerShell, Azure CLI, or the Azure portal.

List previous versions

Browse to the item or parent item that needs to be restored. Double-click to go to the desired directory. Right-click and select Properties from the menu.

Select Previous Versions to see the list of share snapshots for this directory. The list might take a few seconds to load, depending on the network speed and the number of share snapshots in the directory.

You can select Open to open a particular snapshot.

Restore from a previous version

Select Restore to copy the contents of the entire directory recursively at the share snapshot creation time to the original location.

Securing Windows/Windows Server

In order to mount an Azure file share on Windows, port 445 must be accessible. Many organizations block port 445 because of the security risks inherent with SMB 1. SMB 1, also known as CIFS (Common Internet File System), is a legacy file system protocol included with Windows and Windows Server. SMB 1 is an outdated, inefficient, and most importantly insecure protocol. The good news is that Azure Files does not support SMB 1, and all supported versions of Windows and Windows Server make it possible to remove or disable SMB 1. We always strongly recommend removing or disabling the SMB 1 client and server in Windows before using Azure file shares in production.

The following table provides detailed information on the status of SMB 1 each version of Windows:

Windows version	SMB 1 default status	Disable/Remove method
Windows Server 2019	Disabled	Remove with Windows feature
Windows Server, versions 1709+	Disabled	Remove with Windows feature
Windows 10, versions 1709+	Disabled	Remove with Windows feature
Windows Server 2016	Enabled	Remove with Windows feature
Windows 10, versions 1507, 1607, and 1703	Enabled	Remove with Windows feature
Windows Server 2012 R2	Enabled	Remove with Windows feature
Windows 8.1	Enabled	Remove with Windows feature
Windows Server 2012	Enabled	Disable with Registry
Windows Server 2008 R2	Enabled	Disable with Registry
Windows 7	Enabled	Disable with Registry

Auditing SMB 1 usage

Applies to Windows Server 2019, Windows Server semi-annual channel (versions 1709 and 1803), Windows Server 2016, Windows 10 (versions 1507, 1607, 1703, 1709, and 1803), Windows Server 2012 R2, and Windows 8.1

Before removing SMB 1 in your environment, you may wish to audit SMB 1 usage to see if any clients will be broken by the change. If any requests are made against SMB shares with SMB 1, an audit event will be logged in the event log under Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > SMBServer > Audit .

To enable auditing support on Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1, install at least KB4022720.

To enable auditing, execute the following cmdlet from an elevated PowerShell session:

Removing SMB 1 from Windows Server

Applies to Windows Server 2019, Windows Server semi-annual channel (versions 1709 and 1803), Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2

To remove SMB 1 from a Windows Server instance, execute the following cmdlet from an elevated PowerShell session:

To complete the removal process, restart your server.

Starting with Windows 10 and Windows Server version 1709, SMB 1 is not installed by default and has separate Windows features for the SMB 1 client and SMB 1 server. We always recommend leaving both the SMB 1 server ( FS-SMB1-SERVER ) and the SMB 1 client ( FS-SMB1-CLIENT ) uninstalled.

Removing SMB 1 from Windows client

Applies to Windows 10 (versions 1507, 1607, 1703, 1709, and 1803) and Windows 8.1

To remove SMB 1 from your Windows client, execute the following cmdlet from an elevated PowerShell session:

To complete the removal process, restart your PC.

Disabling SMB 1 on legacy versions of Windows/Windows Server

Applies to Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows 7

SMB 1 cannot be completely removed on legacy versions of Windows/Windows Server, but it can be disabled through the Registry. To disable SMB 1, create a new registry key SMB1 of type DWORD with a value of 0 under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Services > LanmanServer > Parameters .

You can easily accomplish this with the following PowerShell cmdlet as well:

After creating this registry key, you must restart your server to disable SMB 1.

SMB resources

Next steps

See these links for more information about Azure Files:

Общий доступ к файлам Windows Windows file sharing

Для перемещения файлов на устройство и с него можно использовать общий доступ к файлам Windows. You can use Windows file sharing to transfer files to and from your device.

Доступ к файлам с помощью общего доступа к файлам Windows Accessing your files using Windows file sharing

Сервер общего доступа к файлам на устройстве Windows IoT базовая запускается автоматически при загрузке. The file sharing server on your Windows IoT Core device starts automatically on boot. Для подключения к нему требуется IP-адрес устройства. In order to connect to it, you need the IP address of your device. IP-адрес можно найти в приложении по умолчанию, которое загружается при запуске устройства. You can find the IP address on the default app that boots when your device starts.

Получив IP-адрес, откройте проводник на компьютере и введите \\ \c$ , где — это имя или IP-адрес устройства Windows IOT базовая, а затем нажмите клавишу ВВОД. Once you have the IP, open up File Explorer on your computer and type \\ \c$ , where is either the name or the IP Address of your Windows IoT Core device, then hit Enter.

При появлении запроса введите имя пользователя и пароль администратора. Enter your administrator username and password if prompted. Имя пользователя должно иметь префикс с IP-адресом устройства Windows IoT базовая. The username should be prefixed with the IP Address of your Windows IoT Core device. Пример: username: 192.168.1.118\Administrator пароль: . Example: Username: 192.168.1.118\Administrator Password: .

• Теперь вы можете получить доступ к файлам на устройстве, используя общий доступ к файлам Windows. Now you can access the files on your device using Windows file sharing.

Запуск и остановка сервера общего доступа к файлам Starting and stopping the file sharing server

Подключитесь к устройству с помощью PowerShell или SSH. Connect to your device through PowerShell or SSH.

По умолчанию сервер совместного использования файлов запускается при загрузке устройства. By default the file sharing server is started when the device is booted.

Чтобы отключить сервер общего доступа к файлам, введите net stop Server /y To stop the file sharing server, type net stop Server /y

Чтобы запустить сервер общего доступа к файлам, введите net start Server To start the file sharing server, type net start Server

Отключение и включение сервера общего доступа к файлам при запуске Disabling and enabling the file sharing server on startup

Подключитесь к устройству с помощью PowerShell или SSH. Connect to your device through PowerShell or SSH.

По умолчанию сервер совместного использования файлов запускается при загрузке устройства. By default the file sharing server is started when the device is booted.

Чтобы отключить сервер совместного использования файлов, чтобы он не запускался при запуске устройства, введите reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\lanmanserver /v Start /t REG_DWORD /d 0x3 /f To disable the file sharing server so that it does not start when the device starts, type reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\lanmanserver /v Start /t REG_DWORD /d 0x3 /f

Чтобы включить сервер общего доступа к файлам, который запускается при запуске устройства, введите reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\lanmanserver /v Start /t REG_DWORD /d 0x2 /f To enable the file sharing server, so that starts when the device starts, type reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\lanmanserver /v Start /t REG_DWORD /d 0x2 /f