Cloud shell: Warning: Failed to mount the Azure file share. Your cloud drive won't be available.

Michael Cameron 587

Due to a number of limitations in my current environment I have been using cloudshell on a regular basis. Recently I keep getting this message (bash):

Warning: Failed to mount the Azure file share. Your cloud drive won't be available.

Your Cloud Shell session will be ephemeral so no files or system changes will persist beyond your current session.

Or this one (powershell):
Your Cloud Shell session will be ephemeral so no files or system changes will persist beyond your current session.

The thing is, the clouddrive shows as mounted, I can write to it and the changes are persisted. I'm just worried that sometimes they won't be and I will lose data. I have tried running clouddrive unmount then remounting both my existing file share and a new file share but still get this message. I also tried the "Reset User Settings" option but it does the same.

It is also inconsistent, it seems to appear for a long period then disappear for a long period.

Anyone else seeing this? Any suggestions for a root cause or what can be done to ensure the drive is definitely not ephemeral?

Vinodh247 13,716 Reputation points

2024-07-17T10:10:58.8166667+00:00
Michael Cameron: Hope you have verified the following, if not can you perform the basic checks as below and let me know?

Storage Resource Deletion:

If you have deleted the storage resource that was created for you when first launching Cloud Shell, you will need to recreate it. Follow these steps:

Run clouddrive unmount.

Restart Cloud Shell via the restart icon or exit and relaunch.

You should be prompted with the storage creation dialog again.

Security Settings:

Misconfigured security settings can also cause this issue. Ensure that the Azure Storage firewall settings are correctly configured to allow Cloud Shell access.

File Share Location:

If the storage account is not in the valid location, you might encounter this error. You can try to mount a new file share in a different location to see if it resolves the issue.

User Settings Reset:

Resetting user settings can sometimes resolve the issue. This can be done by clicking on the user icon in the top right corner of the Cloud Shell, selecting "Reset User Settings," and then restarting Cloud Shell.

PowerShell Command:

If you are using PowerShell in Cloud Shell, use the Dismount-CloudDrive command instead of clouddrive unmount.

The issue might appear for a long period and then disappear for a long period. This could be due to temporary issues or changes in the underlying infrastructure.
KarishmaTiwari-MSFT 18,957 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2024-07-18T00:37:08.11+00:00

@Michael Cameron The first time you start Cloud Shell, you're prompted to select your storage options. If you want to store files that can be used every time you use Cloud Shell, you must create new or choose existing storage resources. Cloud Shell uses a Microsoft Azure Files share to persist files across sessions.

How long have you been seeing this issue? How often do you use Cloud shell? This could be a temporary issue, but I would like to check with the internal teams on this. Let me know.
McDonald, Matthew 126 Reputation points

2024-07-18T00:44:48.8033333+00:00

What are you MSFT guys not getting? The OP clearly states the drive is mounted, they can write to it, and the writes persist. Why would you remotely suggest the storage may no longer exist???

At any rate, I'm having the same issue now with same symptoms. I've gone as far as deleting my actual file share and let it recreate during the new cloudshell session, which gets recreated successfully, but cloudshell continues to warn it was unable to connect to storage. Yet I can upload files fine, unmount the storage, start up a new session, reconnect to the existing storage/share, and the file(s) I uploaded are still there.

There is clearly a bug with the shell.
Michael Cameron 587 Reputation points

2024-07-18T08:08:13.4233333+00:00

I have to say Matthew has nailed it - the suggested answers so far largely seem to be cut and paste from docs which I have (clearly) already read or irrelevant as I have explained in my question.

I'm afraid this points to a flaw in the MS Q&A forums more than anything else. There is incentivisation to post answer and have them accepted and I am getting more and more convinced that some answers are just AI generated meaningless mince.

To reiterate:
My clouddrive appears to be working as it should BUT I am getting this warning. I would hate to lose the data that is allegedly ephemeral (but appears persistent) so I would like to get to the bottom of why the message is appearing and whether I need to take any action.

Given that Matthew is also experiencing the same issues (and now that I have asked around, other members of my extended team are too) I believe this is not isolated to my account or even my tenant.

The forums are for helping each other, not scoring points and winning gift cards with a splatter gun approach to answers hoping that something sticks. Please think about your answers before posting them.

Thanks for all the responses, I do appreciate that people believe they are being helpful but a little more thought wouldn't go amiss.
Michael Cameron 587 Reputation points

2024-07-18T08:10:24.2933333+00:00

How long has this been happening? Maybe a few weeks, not entirely certain but it was intermittent but seems consistent over the last few days.
McDonald, Matthew 126 Reputation points

2024-07-18T15:21:37.0433333+00:00

It will likely be more productive to just reach out to Azure support. Clearly these answer forums are not the place to receive actual assistance.
Michael Cameron 587 Reputation points

2024-07-18T18:11:31.39+00:00

Currently that means going through a CSP, it's not as simple as a request via the portal
KarishmaTiwari-MSFT 18,957 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2024-07-18T18:42:13.35+00:00

@Michael Cameron Thanks for sharing the details.

As I shared earlier, I have now reached out to the internal teams to confirm this issue and the potential cause for it. Thanks for your patience.

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Cloud shell: Warning: Failed to mount the Azure file share. Your cloud drive won't be available.