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Azure's Windows 2008R2 based hosts currently use blob storage for something called XDrive.

Since this is just a driver and a few other system components, has anyone figured out what files need to be present on a (non Azure hosted) 2008R2 server to mount blob storage as local?

What is needed to mount blob storage as a local drive on my Windows 7 machine or 2008R2 server?

David Makogon
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makerofthings7
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1 Answers1

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You cannot mount a page blob (as NTFS drive with drive letter) from outside of Windows Azure. This is only for Compute instances within Windows Azure.

I answered this on StackOverflow as well [link].

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David Makogon
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  • Since the PageBlob technology is HTTPS I simply don't understand why someone hasn't replicated this in their own datacenter (albiet with high latency) http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazurestorage/archive/2011/04/16/using-smb-to-share-a-windows-azure-drive-among-multiple-role-instances.aspx – makerofthings7 Mar 28 '12 at 16:14
  • The link you have is referencing how to create smb shares across Windows Azure instances, with one of those instances (in Windows Azure Compute, not locally) mounting and sharing a drive. You cannot replicate this functionality locally as it's not an offered feature today. – David Makogon Mar 29 '12 at 02:12
  • I guess the angle I was going is that it appears the functionality can be hacked together to work regardless of the "official" status. One could get an Azure account, copy the relevant drivers to a Windows 2008R2 instance, and have an unlicensed hack working. But since you're a respected Azure MVP I'm pretty sure you can't say this or advise on any experiment that attempts to do the same – makerofthings7 Mar 29 '12 at 04:32
  • I'm a *former* MVP. I now work for Microsoft. – David Makogon Apr 02 '12 at 14:44