Azure storage explorer is stuck at loading

Question

I’ve installed the latest version of Azure Storage Explorer, but nothing loads when I open it. I’ve been using Storage Explorer for a long time without issues. This problem started unexpectedly, possibly after installing updates on my machine. Can you help me resolve this?

Answer 1

Hi Sneha N. Patil,
Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Platform. Thank you for posting your query here!
If you are unable to load your storage account contents in Storage Explorer, there could be several reasons why this is happening. Here are some things you can check to troubleshoot the issue:

1. Check if you have the latest version of Storage Explorer installed. Make sure that you have the latest version of Storage Explorer installed on your machine. You can download the latest version from here
2. Try clearing the cache in Storage Explorer. You can clear the cache by going to the Help menu and selecting "Clear Cache".

Azure Storage has two layers of access: management and data. Subscriptions and storage accounts are accessed through the management layer. Containers, blobs, and other data resources are accessed through the data layer. For example, if you want to get a list of your storage accounts from Azure, you send a request to the management endpoint. If you want a list of blob containers in an account, you send a request to the appropriate service endpoint.

Azure roles can grant you permissions for management or data layer access. The Reader role, for example, grants read-only access to management layer resources.

As the Reader role provides no data layer permissions and isn't necessary for accessing the data layer.

Storage Explorer makes it easy to access your resources by gathering the necessary information to connect to your Azure resources. For example, to display your blob containers, Storage Explorer sends a "list containers" request to the blob service endpoint. To get that endpoint, Storage Explorer searches the list of subscriptions and storage accounts you have access to. To find your subscriptions and storage accounts, Storage Explorer also needs access to the management layer.

If you don't have a role that grants any management layer permissions, Storage Explorer can't get the information it needs to connect to the data layer.

This is due to user might have insufficient permissions. Please make sure that you have A data access role, such as Storage Blob Data Reader or Storage Blob Data Contributor and the Azure Resource Manager Reader role, at a minimum. Information about how to assign these roles can be found here. And then ensure you have configured the file level access Configure directory and file-level permissions over SMB

You can find more information in the Azure Storage Explorer troubleshooting guide.

Please let us know if you have any further queries. I’m happy to assist you further.

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Answer 2

Hi Sneha N. Patil,
Since the issue started after installing updates, it’s possible that something in the updates is causing a conflict, here few more steps you can try to identify and resolve the root cause:

1.Check for Known Issues: Sometimes, new updates can introduce bugs. Check the Azure Storage Explorer GitHub issues page to see if others are experiencing similar problems with version 1.35.0.

2.Review Update Logs: Look at the update logs on your machine to identify what was updated recently. This can help pinpoint any software that might be conflicting with Azure Storage Explorer. If possible, try rolling back the recent updates to see if that resolves the issue. This can help confirm if the updates are the cause.

3.Run as Administrator: Sometimes, running the application with elevated permissions can resolve loading issues. Right-click on the Azure Storage Explorer icon and select Run as administrator. Ensure that your system meets all the requirements for the latest version of Azure Storage Explorer. Sometimes, updates can change the requirements.

4.Check for Conflicting Software: Some software updates might conflict with Azure Storage Explorer. Check if any new software or updates might be causing the issue.Try running Azure Storage Explorer in compatibility mode for an earlier version of Windows. Right-click the application icon, go to Properties, then the Compatibility tab, and select an earlier version of Windows.

If these steps do not fix the problem, you might want to reach out to the Azure Storage Explorer support team for specific help.

Please let us know if you have any further queries. I’m happy to assist you further.

Answer 3

@Sneha N. Patil I'm glad that you were able to resolve your issue and thank you for posting your solution so that others experiencing the same thing can easily reference this!

Since the Microsoft Q&A community has a policy that "The question author cannot accept their own answer. They can only accept answers by others ", I'll repost your solution in case you'd like to "Accept " the answer. Accepted answers show up at the top, resulting in improved discoverability for others.

Issue: Azure storage explorer is stuck at loading.

Solution: Customer shared - "I reinstalled visual studio installer, azure core tools, azure storage explorer, all dot net sdks and then issue got resolved."