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Unlocking the Power of Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer: A Must-Have Tool for Azure Administrators

 

Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer version 1.39.1

Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer is a free, standalone application that streamlines how Azure Administrators interact with storage accounts. Whether you’re managing blobs, file shares, queues, or tables, this versatile tool brings consistency, speed, and clarity to every operation—far beyond what the Azure portal alone can provide.

Why Azure Storage Explorer Matters

Managing storage through the Azure portal is intuitive, but for heavy-duty or repetitive tasks, it falls short:

  • Manual clicks become tedious when transferring hundreds of files.
  • The web UI can feel sluggish on large containers.
  • Scripting small tasks often requires context switching between CLI and portal.

Azure Storage Explorer fills these gaps by offering:

  • A desktop client optimized for high-throughput transfers.
  • A unified interface for all storage types.
  • Built-in support for SAS tokens, Azure Active Directory, and emulator endpoints.

These capabilities translate into faster workflows and fewer mistakes.

Key Features and Advantages

  • Unified Storage View across Blob Containers, File Shares, Queues, and Tables.
  • High-Performance Data Transfers with parallel upload/download threads, drag-and-drop, and pause/resume support.
  • Fine-Grained Access Control via Azure AD, service principals, or SAS tokens.
  • Local Dev/Test Integration with Azurite and the legacy Storage Emulator.

Security and Compliance

Azure Storage Explorer adheres to Azure’s stringent security standards, ensuring your data remains protected at every stage:

  • Data Encryption
    • All data in transit is secured via HTTPS/TLS.
    • Data at rest uses Azure Storage Service Encryption (AES-256).
  • Authentication and Authorization
    • Native Azure Active Directory (AAD) integration for RBAC.
    • Support for service principals, managed identities, and SAS tokens.
    • Option to connect with access keys when needed.
  • Network Security
    • Compatible with private endpoints to restrict traffic to your Virtual Network.
    • Honors storage account firewall rules and trusted Microsoft services only.
  • Audit Logging and Monitoring
    • Leverage Azure Monitor’s diagnostic settings to capture Storage Explorer activity.
    • Integrate with Azure Sentinel or third-party SIEM tools for real-time alerts.
  • Compliance Certifications
    • Inherits Azure Storage’s compliance portfolio, including ISO, SOC, GDPR, and HIPAA standards.

Quick Comparison: Portal vs. Storage Explorer

Capability Azure Portal Azure Storage Explorer
Bulk Upload/Download Limited parallelism, manual UI High-performance parallelism
Authentication Methods Primarily Azure AD Azure AD, SAS, connection strings, emulator
Local Emulator Support Requires separate installation Native support for Azurite and emulator
CLI/Scripting Integration CLI or PowerShell separately Built-in scripting via PowerShell snippets
Cross-Subscription Browsing Tab per subscription All subscriptions in one pane

Real-World Scenarios

  1. Disaster Recovery Testing
    Quickly seed a secondary storage account from backups stored in local Azurite for non-production failover drills.
  2. Mass Data Migration
    Move terabytes of logs or media assets between subscriptions without crafting custom AzCopy scripts.
  3. Role-Based Troubleshooting
    Verify user permissions by connecting under different service principals, then audit and correct access policies on the fly.

Getting Started in Minutes

  1. Download & Install
    Grab the latest MSI/DMG from Microsoft’s official download page.
  2. Connect Your Account
    • Choose Azure AD for seamless single sign-on.
    • Or paste a SAS URL for granular, time-limited access.
  3. Explore & Operate
    • Expand subscriptions and storage accounts in the left pane.
    • Drag files into blob containers or right-click tables to run C# or PowerShell snippets.
  4. Automate Common Tasks
    • Record frequent operations as scripts.
    • Export and share connection profiles with your team for consistent setups.

Here you see the simple installation steps of Azure Storage Explorer:

Download Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer

Right click the file and run as Administrator.

This is for me only, so I clicked on Install for me only

Accept the agreement and click on Install

An old installation was detected on my machine, Setup will uninstall it before continuing.
Click on Next

Select your folder or keep it default and click on Next

Click on Next
When you don’t want a start Menu Folder mark the box on the left.

Click on Finish

Microsoft Azure storage Explorer.

Sign in with your Azure Account.

Select your Azure Environment and click on Next

Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer connected with your Azure Subscription.

 

Tips & Best Practices

  • Use AzCopy integration for scripting large-scale migrations and include –recursive for deep folder copies.
  • Leverage table filtering to preview query results before exporting datasets.
  • Keep your Storage Explorer version up to date—the team delivers monthly enhancements and bug fixes.
  • Store connection profiles in source control (encrypted) so every teammate uses the exact same environment.

Conclusion

Azure Storage Explorer transforms tedious, repetitive storage tasks into a seamless, high-speed experience. For any Azure Administrator juggling blobs, files, queues, or tables, it’s the go-to tool to boost productivity, ensure security, and tame your data sprawl.

Next Steps

  • Download Azure Storage Explorer and connect a demo subscription today.
  • Explore built-in script samples to automate your top five storage tasks.
  • Join the Azure Storage community on GitHub to suggest features or report issues.

More information about Azure Storage Explorer on Microsoft Learn


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Get Started with the #Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer #AzOps #Azure #Cloud #Storage

Upload, download, and manage Azure blobs, files, queues, and tables, as well as Azure Cosmos DB and Azure Data Lake Storage entities. Easily access virtual machine disks, and work with either Azure Resource Manager or classic storage accounts. Manage and configure cross-origin resource sharing rules.

Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer

The Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer App is standalone and available for Windows, Linux and MacOS operating systems.
Here you find the Prerequisites and the Download files for Azure Storage Explorer.

Here you see how easy it is to create a snapshot before you begin with a Installation on the Azure Virtual Machine.

Create a Snapshot

Give the Snapshot a Name and select the Resource Group.

Snapshot Created Successfully 😉

When you open the Azure Portal and search for snapshots :

Phantom OS Disk with a Full Snapshot.

Azure Storage Explorer Emulator for Developers

Azurite open source Azure Storage API compatible server (emulator)

Azurite is an open source Azure Storage API compatible server (emulator). Based on Node.js, Azurite provides cross platform experiences for customers wanting to try Azure Storage easily in a local environment. Azurite simulates most of the commands supported by Azure Storage with minimal dependencies.

Azurite V2 is manually created with pure JavaScript, popular and active as an open source project. However, Azure Storage APIs are growing and keeping updating, manually keeping Azurite up to date is not efficient and prone to bugs. JavaScript also lacks strong type validation which prevents easy collaboration.

Compared to V2, Azurite V3 implements a new architecture leveraging code generated by a TypeScript Server Code Generator we created. The generator uses the same swagger (modified) used by the new Azure Storage SDKs. This reduces manual effort and facilitates better code alignment with storage APIs.

3.0.0-preview is the first release version using Azurite’s new architecture.

Features & Key Changes in Azurite V3

  • Blob storage features align with Azure Storage API version 2020-04-08 (Refer to support matrix section below)
    • SharedKey/Account SAS/Service SAS/Public Access Authentications
    • Get/Set Blob Service Properties
    • Create/List/Delete Containers
    • Create/Read/List/Update/Delete Block Blobs
    • Create/Read/List/Update/Delete Page Blobs
  • Queue storage features align with Azure Storage API version 2020-04-08 (Refer to support matrix section below)
    • SharedKey/Account SAS/Service SAS
    • Get/Set Queue Service Properties
    • Preflight Request
    • Create/List/Delete Queues
    • Put/Get/Peek/Updata/Deleta/Clear Messages
  • Features NEW on V3
    • Built with TypeScript and ECMA native promise and async features
    • New architecture based on TypeScript server generator. Leverage auto generated protocol layer, models, serializer, deserializer and handler interfaces from REST API swagger
    • Flexible structure and architecture, supports customizing handler layer implementation, persistency layer implementation, HTTP pipeline middleware injection
    • Detailed debugging log support, easy bug locating and reporting
    • Works with storage .Net SDK basic and advanced sample
    • SharedKey, AccountSAS, ServiceSAS, OAuth, Public Access authentication support
    • Keep updating with latest Azure Storage API version features (Refer to support matrix)

Introducing the ADF Azure Storage Explorer Extension

Azure Data Factory extension for Storage Explorer

Conclusion

Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer tool can make your life easier to do your Azure Storage Management. Copy – Paste data is a Great and handy feature for Administrators.
Hope this is useful and go try it yourself.


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Download the Microsoft Azure Migrate E-Book for your Cloud Migration #Azure #Migrate #Cloud

Microsoft Azure Migrate E-Book

Download this e-book to learn about Azure Migrate, Microsoft’s central hub of tools for cloud migration. In this e-book, Microsoft will cover:

  • What is Azure Migrate
  • How Azure Migrate can help your migration journey
  • Running a datacenter discovery and assessment
  • Migrating your infrastructure, applications, and data
  • Additional learning resources

Download the Free Azure Migrate E-Book here

More information about Microsoft Azure Migrate Tools on my Blog :

Microsoft Azure Migrate Assessments in Action VMWare to Cloud


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Windows Insiders – WSL 2 – Windows Terminal #WIMVP #WindowsInsiders #Kali #Azure

Windows Insiders Preview Build 19613

If you like to test the new features of Windows 10 and give feedback to the Microsoft product team, then the Windows Insiders Program is the place to Join. Here you can become a Windows Insider

I’m a Windows Insider since 2014 and a Windows Insider MVP since July 2019 and I love the collaboration with the Community and with the Microsoft Product Team to make a better product like Windows 10 together.

On my windows Insiders Build version 19613, I like to have my tools and Apps installed like :

I’m in the Microsoft Windows Insiders FAST Ring, and I want to test everything like Windows 10 operating system but my Tools must also be working on every new Windows Insiders Build.

Installing WSL 2 and Windows Terminal on Windows Insider Build version

Open Powerhell in Administrator modus

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows–Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart

When both dism commands are successfully completed, you have to restart your machine.

wsl –set-default-version 2

Now you have set WSL 2 version in the basic, but you have to install a Linux distro where you can find
here in the Microsoft Store

I installed Kali Linux distro from the Microsoft Store.

Enter a New User name and password.

Kali Linux distro is now running on WSL 2 on my Windows Insiders Build.

One of the Cool features in Windows Insiders Build version 19613 is that you can use your File explorer for Kali Linux 😉


Linux in Windows Insider Explorer.

Exploring Kali Linux

And of course updating the Kali Linux distro with

Sudo apt-get update

And at last…….

sudo apt-get upgrade

The Next tool is Windows Terminal (Preview) from the Microsoft Store

Just Click on Get ( in the Microsoft Store)

Click on Launch

This Windows Terminal Preview version on Windows Insiders can run :

  • Command Prompt
  • Powershell
  • Kali Linux distro (WSL 2)
  • Azure CloudShell

From here I can Manage and Install Microsoft Azure Cloud Services with Cloud Shell running on my Windows Insiders Build
for testing all the new features and this goes really easy :

Click next to PowerShell in the pulldown bar on Azure Cloud Shell and copy the Code
into the next URL https://microsoft.com/devicelogin

Enter here your Code from Windows Terminal.

Done you are logged-In Azure via Windows Terminal on Windows Insiders Build.

Azure Cloud Shell in Windows Terminal 😉

Conclusion

The Windows Insiders Program is Awesome to join when you like to test the Newest features of Windows 10 but also the Tools and applications running on the newest Windows Insiders Build version are Cool. When you work with Fast ring releases and Preview versions of tools you can hit a bug, or something is not working. That’s the moment you give feedback in the Windows Insider Feedback HUB to support the Microsoft Windows Insiders Product Team to fix the Bug.

Together we are building for the future of Windows 10 !

Windows Insider Program Feedback Hub.

And as a Windows Insider you can earn Badges for your Support 😉


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#Microsoft Azure Migrate Assessments in Action #VMWare to #Cloud

Azure Migrate

This blogpost is about the Microsoft Azure Migrate tool in the Cloud doing Azure Migrate assessments to see if your on-premises Datacenter is ready for Azure Cloud Services. Before you migrate your workloads with Azure Migrate to the Microsoft Azure Cloud, you want to know the costs before the migration and what your options are in the transition. For example when you have hardware in your on-premises Datacenter which is too high qua hardware specs like Memory, CPU and storage and you can do with less Compute power, then the performance assessments are really interesting. From here you see a step-by-step guide for VMWare workload assessment(s) to Azure Cloud.

Azure Migrate preparation for VMware workload

When you search for ‘Azure Migrate’ in your Azure Subscription and click on the services you will see the Azure Migrate Overview screen. When you don’t have a Microsoft Azure subscription yet, you can get one here

Click on Assess and Migrate Servers.

Before we go further with the server migration assessments for VMware, there are more Azure Migration tools available to do assessments and migrations like the following goals :

 

For Databases Microsoft Azure Migrate uses the Data Migration Assistant for the Assessment and the Data migration to Azure SQL Cloud.
The Data Migration Assistant (DMA) helps you upgrade to a modern data platform by detecting compatibility issues that can impact database functionality in your new version of SQL Server or Azure SQL Database. DMA recommends performance and reliability improvements for your target environment and allows you to move your schema, data, and uncontained objects from your source server to your target server.

 

To identify the right Azure SQL Database / Managed Instance SKU for your on-premises Database you can use the CLI with a Script :

Here you find more detailed information about the Data Migration Assistant

When you have a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure on-premises and you want to migrate to Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) you can use this Azure Migrate tool :

ISV Lakeside with SysTrack

You can vote for the tools or scenarios that you would like to be integrated with Azure Migrate via this Online form

When you are in the beginning of your Cloud Transition journey, what will go first to the Cloud?

  1. On-premises mail to Microsoft Office 365
  2. File Server Clusters to Office 365 into Teams, Onedrive for Business
  3. From Apps On-premises to SaaS or Paas solutions
  4. From On-premises Websites to Azure Cloud Solutions like Azure Web App.
  5. From SQL Clusters On-Premises to Azure SQL Managed Instances in the Cloud
  6. And at last Migrate Servers to Azure IaaS

Of course there are much more scenarios like Lift and Shift or modernize your workload in the Cloud like moving to Azure Kubernetes Services for example instead of IaaS Virtual Machines.

So when you want to start moving your On-premises Website(s) or WebApp, Microsoft Azure Migrate Services has a tool for that too :

Assess any app with an endpoint scan. Download the Migration Assistant and start your .NET and PHP app migration to Azure App Service.

Click on Assess

and from here you can plan your migration.

At last when you have to move a big enterprise On-premises Datacenter to the Azure Cloud with a lot of Servers for example 10.000, you can use Azure Data Box Migration
The Microsoft Azure Data Box cloud solution lets you send terabytes of data into Azure in a quick, inexpensive, and reliable way. The secure data transfer is accelerated by shipping you a proprietary Data Box storage device. Each storage device has a maximum usable storage capacity of 80 TB and is transported to your datacenter through a regional carrier. The device has a rugged casing to protect and secure data during the transit.

Azure Data Box

When you want to read more about Microsoft Azure Migrate go to the website.

Microsoft Azure Migrate assessment for VMware platform

First we make the Azure Migrate Project ready in the Microsoft Azure Portal.

Select the right Azure Subscription and Resource group to collect the metadata reported by your On-premises environment. Give your Migrate project a name and select the geography.

Here you can select from different Assessment Tools
Select Azure Migrate Server Assessment

Here you can select from different Migration Tools
Select Azure Migrate Server Migration

Add your Tools in the Azure Portal.

Here you see both Microsoft Azure Migrate tools for the Assessment and the Migration as well.
We are going for the Assessment quick start, so click on discover

From here we select with VMware vShere Hypervisor, so you can download the Azure Migrate Appliance for VMware ( 12GB Ova file).

You can also work with an Import CSV file but that’s Preview.

Now you can download and Install the Azure Migrate Virtual Appliance on VMware.
Follow the instructions here

When you have installed the Microsoft Azure Migrate Virtual Appliance for VMware successfully in your environment and has access to all the Virtual Machines then you can run the setup in the Appliance to make connectivity with your Azure subscription.

This will check all the prerequisites and get the updates.

Getting access to vCenter Server with the right permissions.

Now when your Azure Migrate Virtual Appliance for VMware is ready and collecting metadata, we see in the Microsoft Azure Portal the discovery running :

Discovery is in Progress.

After a view minutes we have discovered the Servers running on VMware platform On-premises.

Discovered Servers

Now we have the Servers in our metadata, we can do the Assessment(s) to get all the information we want for preparing to migrate to Azure Cloud Services. Click on Assess.

From here you give the Assessment a name and then you go to the properties of the assessment by clicking on View All

Here you can set the parameters for the assessment for example based on :

  1. Reserved instances
  2. Storage types
  3. Sizing criterion like Performance-Based
  4. Percentile Utilization
  5. Azure VM series to use
  6. Discount
  7. VM Uptime
  8. Offer pricing like Enterprise Agreement Support or Pay-As-You-Go
  9. Hybrid Benefit offer.

Here I made different Azure Migrate Assessment groups with different parameters to see the difference in Costs.

Here you see for example Migrate As Is On-Premises and Performance-Based, but also an Azure Migrate Assessment without SQL Cluster Nodes. In this way you can make your own Azure Migrate Assessment with all your Servers or just a view Servers of your On-premises solution which you want to Migrate to Azure Cloud Services.

Overview of your Azure Migrate Assessment

Server is ready for migration

 

Server Ready but with conditions

Microsoft Azure Migrate gives you all the information to make the right decisions to migrate you workload from VMware to Microsoft Azure Cloud. When the Azure Migrate Assessment(s) are ready you can make a CSV export file to check the information before you migrate.

Overview of the Azure Migrate Assessment

Azure Migrate Assessment based on Performance for the VM
and there is a separated tab for Storage.

When your assessment is done, you can do the migration by replicating them to Microsoft Azure.

Here you can see the Azure Migrate for VMware (Agentless) steps

More Microsoft Azure Feature resources :

Dependency mapping helps you to visualize dependencies across machines

Setup Agentless Dependency visualization for assessment (Preview) 

Assess the readiness of a SQL Server data estate migrating to Azure SQL Database using the Data Migration Assistant

Conclusion

Microsoft Azure Migrate gives you insight information about your own On-Premises Datacenter by doing assessments to get the right migration information to move to Microsoft Azure Cloud. It gives you Azure Cloud costs before you do any migration at all, based on Total Cost of Owner (TCO) ship you can calculate if your solution in the Microsoft Azure Cloud is cheaper or not. Realize that’s it is not always about the money but also :

  • Innovations
  • Time to market
  • New Features
  • Flexibility
  • Scalability
  • Availability
  • Not owning hardware anymore
  • Less management (Hardware)

Hope this blog post helps you by your transition journey to Microsoft Azure Cloud