Welcome to Storage Explorer version 1.18.1. Notable changes in this release compared to 1.17.0 include a refreshed connect experience, enhanced SAS support for ADLS Gen2, and improvements to startup performance. This version also hotfixes several issues introduced in 1.18.0. One year ago we released the very first version of Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer. At the beginning we only supported blobs on Mac OS and Windows. Since then, we've added the ability to interact with queues, tables and file shares. We started shipping for Linux and we've kept adding features to support the capabilities of Storage Accounts.
-->Sign-in is the recommended way to access your Azure storage resources with Storage Explorer. By signing in you take advantage of Azure AD backed permissions, such as RBAC and Gen2 POSIX ACLs.
How to sign in
To sign in to Storage Explorer, open the Connect dialog. You can open the Connect dialog either from the left-hand vertical toolbar, or by clicking on Add account... on the Account Panel.
Once you have the dialog open, choose Subscription as the type of resource you want to connect to and click Next.
You now need to choose what Azure environment you want to sign into. You can pick from any of the known environments, such as Azure or Azure China, or you can add your own environment. Once you have your environment selected, click Next.
At this point, your OS' default web browser will launch and a sign-in page will be opened. For best results, leave this browser window open as long as you're using Storage Explorer or at least until you've performed all expected MFA. When you have finished signing in, you can return to Storage Explorer.
Managing accounts
You can manage and remove Azure accounts that you've signed into from the Account Panel. You can open the Account Panel by clicking on the Manage Accounts button on the left-hand vertical toolbar.
In the Account Panel you'll see any accounts that you have signed into. Under each account will be:
- The tenants the account belongs to
- For each tenant, the subscriptions you have access to
By default, Storage Explorer only signs you into your home tenant. If you want to view subscriptions and resources from another tenant, you'll need to activate that tenant. To activate a tenant, check the checkbox next to it. Once you're done working with a tenant, you can uncheck its checkbox to deactivate it. You cannot deactivate your home tenant.
After activating a tenant, you may need to reenter your credentials before Storage Explorer can load subscriptions or access resources from the tenant. Having to reenter your credentials usually happens because of a conditional access (CA) policy such as multi-factor authentication (MFA). And even though you may have already performed MFA for another tenant, you might still have to do it again. To reenter your credentials, simply click on Reenter credentials.... You can also click on Error details... to see exactly why subscriptions failed to load.
Once your subscriptions have loaded, you can choose which ones you want to filter in/out by checking or unchecking their checkboxes.
If you want to remove your entire Azure account, then click on the Remove next to the account.
Changing where sign-in happens
By default sign-in will happen in your OS' default web browser. Signing-in with your default web browser streamlines how you access resources secured via CA policies, such as MFA. If for some reason signing in with your OS' default web browser isn't working, you can change where or how Storage Explorer performs sign-in.
Under Settings (gear icon on the left) > Application > Sign-in, look for the Sign in with setting. There are three options:
- Default Web Browser: sign-in will happen in your OS' default web browser. This option is recommended.
- Integrated Sign-In: sign-in will happen in a Storage Explorer window. This option may be useful if you're trying to log in with multiple Microsoft accounts (MSAs) at once. You may have issues with some CA policies if you choose this option.
- Device Code Flow: Storage Explorer will give you a code to enter into a browser window. This option isn't recommended. Device code flow isn't compatible with many CA policies.
Troubleshooting sign-in issues
If you're having trouble signing in, or are having issues with an Azure account after signing in, refer to the sign in section of the Storage Explorer troubleshooting guide.
Next steps
-->In this quickstart, you learn how to use Azure Storage Explorer to create a container and a blob. Next, you learn how to download the blob to your local computer, and how to view all of the blobs in a container. You also learn how to create a snapshot of a blob, manage container access policies, and create a shared access signature.
Prerequisites
To access Azure Storage, you'll need an Azure subscription. If you don't already have a subscription, create a free account before you begin.
All access to Azure Storage takes place through a storage account. For this quickstart, create a storage account using the Azure portal, Azure PowerShell, or Azure CLI. For help creating a storage account, see Create a storage account.
This quickstart requires that you install Azure Storage Explorer. To install Azure Storage Explorer for Windows, Macintosh, or Linux, see Azure Storage Explorer.
Log in to Storage Explorer
On first launch, the Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer - Connect window is shown. Storage Explorer provides several ways to connect to storage accounts. The following table lists the different ways you can connect:
| Task | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Add an Azure Account | Redirects you to your organization's sign-in page to authenticate you to Azure. |
| Use a connection string or shared access signature URI | Can be used to directly access a container or storage account with a SAS token or a shared connection string. |
| Use a storage account name and key | Use the storage account name and key of your storage account to connect to Azure storage. |
Select Add an Azure Account and click Sign in... Follow the on-screen prompts to sign into your Azure account.
When it completes connecting, Azure Storage Explorer loads with the Explorer tab shown. This view gives you insight to all of your Azure storage accounts as well as local storage configured through the Azurite storage emulator, Cosmos DB accounts, or Azure Stack environments.
Create a container
Blobs are always uploaded into a container. This allows you to organize groups of blobs like you organize your files on your computer in folders.
To create a container, expand the storage account you created in the proceeding step. Select Blob Containers, right-click and select Create Blob Container. Enter the name for your blob container. See the Create a container section for a list of rules and restrictions on naming blob containers. When complete, press Enter to create the blob container. Once the blob container has been successfully created, it is displayed under the Blob Containers folder for the selected storage account.
Upload blobs to the container
Blob storage supports block blobs, append blobs, and page blobs. VHD files used to back IaaS VMs are page blobs. Append blobs are used for logging, such as when you want to write to a file and then keep adding more information. Most files stored in Blob storage are block blobs.
On the container ribbon, select Upload. This operation gives you the option to upload a folder or a file.
Choose the files or folder to upload. Select the blob type. Acceptable choices are Append, Page, or Block blob.
If uploading a .vhd or .vhdx file, choose Upload .vhd/.vhdx files as page blobs (recommended).
Azure Microsoft Storage Explorer
In the Upload to folder (optional) field either a folder name to store the files or folders in a folder under the container. If no folder is chosen, the files are uploaded directly under the container.
When you select OK, the files selected are queued to upload, each file is uploaded. When the upload is complete, the results are shown in the Activities window.
View blobs in a container
In the Azure Storage Explorer application, select a container under a storage account. The main pane shows a list of the blobs in the selected container.
Download blobs
To download blobs using Azure Storage Explorer, with a blob selected, select Download from the ribbon. A file dialog opens and provides you the ability to enter a file name. Select Save to start the download of a blob to the local location.
Manage snapshots
Azure Storage Explorer provides the capability to take and manage snapshots of your blobs. To take a snapshot of a blob, right-click the blob and select Create Snapshot. To view snapshots for a blob, right-click the blob and select Manage Snapshots. A list of the snapshots for the blob are shown in the current tab.
Manage access policies
Storage Explorer provides the ability to manage access policies for containers within its user interface. There are two types of secure access policies (SAS), service level and account level. Account level SAS targets the storage account and can apply to multiple services and resources. Service level SAS are defined on a resource under a particular service. To generate a service level SAS, right-click any container and select Manage Access Policies.... To generate an account level SAS, right-click on the storage account.
Select Add to add a new access policy and define the permissions for the policy. When complete select Save to save the access policy. This policy is now available for use when configuring a Shared Access Signature.
Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer Ubuntu
Work with Shared Access Signatures
Shared Access Signatures (SAS) can be retrieved through Storage Explorer. Right-click a storage account, container, or blob and choose Get Shared Access Signature.... Choose the start and expiry time, and permissions for the SAS URL and select Create. The full URL with the query string as well as the query string by itself are provided and can be copied from the next screen.
Next steps
In this quickstart, you learned how to transfer files between a local disk and Azure Blob storage using Azure Storage Explorer. To learn more about working with Blob storage, continue to the Blob storage How-to.