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In this articleAzure 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 via the public endpoint 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.x. Older versions of Windows that support only SMB 2.1 cannot mount Azure file shares via the public endpoint.
1Regular 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. Note We always recommend taking the most recent KB for your version of Windows. Applies to
PrerequisitesEnsure 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 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 an LOB application to use an Azure file share is that many 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. 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:
You have now mounted your Azure file share. Note Note that the following instructions are shown on Windows 10 and may differ slightly on older releases.
You don't need to mount the Azure file share to a particular drive letter to use it. You can directly access your Azure file share using the UNC path by entering the following into File Explorer. Be sure to replace storageaccountname with your storage account name and myfileshare with your file share name:
You'll be asked to sign in with your network credentials. Sign in with the Azure subscription under which you've created the storage account and file share. For Azure Government Cloud, simply change the servername to:
If you've 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 a file share on Windows. You can take a share snapshot using the Azure portal, Azure PowerShell, or Azure CLI. List previous versionsBrowse 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 versionSelect Restore to copy the contents of the entire directory recursively at the share snapshot creation time to the original location. Enable SMB MultichannelSupport for SMB Multichannel in Azure Files requires ensuring Windows has all the relevant patches applied to be up-to-date. Several older Windows versions, including Windows Server 2016, Windows 10 version 1607, and Windows 10 version 1507, require additional registry keys to be set for all relevant SMB Multichannel fixes to be applied on fully patched installations. If you are running a version of Windows that is newer than these three versions, no additional action is required. Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10 version 1607To enable all SMB Multichannel fixes for Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10 version 1607, run the following PowerShell command:
Windows 10 version 1507To enable all SMB Multichannel fixes for Windows 10 version 1507, run the following PowerShell command:
Next stepsSee these links for more information about Azure Files:
FeedbackSubmit and view feedback for Additional resourcesAdditional resourcesIn this articleWhich of the following can be used to graphically remotely administer a Linux machine?Which of the following can be used to graphically remotely administer a Linux machine? Correct. VNC is Virtual Network Computing and is a cross-platform method of graphically connecting to a remote system.
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Which command in Linux gives you extensive help on how to use a command?If you are new to LINUX operating system and having trouble dealing with the command-line utilities provided by LINUX then you really need to know first of all about the help command which as its name says help you to learn about any built-in command.
Which item is not included in a system state backup of a member server?A system state backup does not include Hyper-V settings or virtual machine data.
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