[BUG] Unable to Mount Storage with Disabled Storage Account Key Access

[ivanthewebber]

For security initiative reasons we would like to disable storage account key access on all our Azure storage accounts, but it seems cloud shell is not compatible with this. Is there any planned work to use managed identity (e.g. Entra ID) instead? If so what would be the ETA? If not is there any workaround?

To Reproduce

Use Azure Cloudshell with existing storage account. Got to portal.azure.com -> storage account -> settings/configuration -> Set "Allow storage account key access" to "Disabled" and save.

Observed Behavior

Expected behavior

Normal working (successful mount).

Is this specific to Cloud Shell?

Yes

Interface information

Accessing Cloud Shell via - https://shell.azure.com, https://portal.azure.com on Windows 11

Additional context

See top.

[alexweininger]

Experienced the same issue 😄

[dsajanice]

Due to technical limitations with Azure File Shares, Cloud Shell cannot mount storage if the "Allow storage account key access" is Disabled. The guidance for such scenarios is to use Ephemeral Sessions in Cloud Shell that do not require mounting storage.

[mbifeld]

Closing as alternative solution is offered (understanding that this does not allow the user to have file persistance) and we are blocked by Azure File Shares support for Managed Identity to allow mounting storage with disabled key access.

[mbifeld]

Reopening issue - The Cloud Shell team is now committed to support mounting storage in Cloud Shell without Storage Account Key Access needed. We are still blocked by Azure File Shares to support managed identity, but we are working with them on getting this feature built. ETA is Fall this year.

[mbifeld]

Azure File Share now supports mounting via managed identity. We're working on plugging that through in Cloud Shell. Updated ETA is March 2026.

[mbifeld]

Unfortunately, we ran into issues mounting File Shares onto our containers with the current managed identity implementation. We are working with the File Share team to resolve this. Their ETA is later this year. Apologies for the delay.