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Creating an Azure File Share gives you an enterprise-grade, cloud-hosted file share that can be mounted from Windows, Linux, and macOS clients. This guide explains what Azure Files provides, typical usage scenarios, and how to create and mount a file share from the Azure portal. Azure Files at a glance:
  • Share files across multiple Azure VMs and non-Azure machines simultaneously.
  • Supports backup and snapshots for point-in-time recovery.
  • Portal generates platform-specific mount scripts for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
  • Clients interact with Azure Files similarly to on-premises SMB file shares.
  • SMB requires TCP port 445. Azure Files also supports NFS (v4.1) on supported storage account types for appropriate Linux workloads.
Use cases:
  • Replace on-premises file servers by migrating file shares to Azure Files.
  • Store and share diagnostic data, tools, and utilities across teams.
  • Host shared configuration, media, or build artifacts accessible to multiple VMs or services.
Step-by-step: create and mount a file share from the portal
  1. Open your storage account in the Azure portal and navigate to the File shares blade.
  2. Click Add file share.
  3. Provide a name (for example, files-01) and select an access tier.
  4. Optionally enable backup during creation.
  5. Click Review + create, then Create.
  6. After provisioning, open the file share and click Connect to get OS-specific mount commands.
A screenshot of the Microsoft Azure portal showing the Overview page for a storage account named "demoaz0753553." The page displays essentials (resource group, location, subscription), properties, blob/file service settings, and security/networking details.
When creating the file share you’ll choose an access tier. Select the tier that best fits your access pattern and cost requirements. The portal also displays the maximum capacity for the selected tier during creation (for this example the portal shows 5 TB). Actual limits vary by tier and subscription—refer to the Azure Files scale and quotas documentation for current targets:
A screenshot of the Microsoft Azure portal showing the "New file share" creation page with the Tier dropdown open (Transaction optimized highlighted) and the Name field set to "files-01." The Basics tab and buttons like "Review + create" and "Next: Backup" are visible.
You can optionally enable backup for the share during creation, which helps with recovery from accidental deletes or corruption.
A screenshot of the Microsoft Azure portal on the "New file share" page, open to the "Backup" tab with an "Enable backup" checkbox being clicked. Navigation buttons ("Review + create", "< Previous", "Next: Review >") are visible along the bottom.
Click Review + create and then Create to provision the file share. After creation, open the share in the portal and choose Connect. The portal will generate mount commands for Windows, Linux, and macOS that you can copy to the target client.
The portal provides ready-to-run mount scripts for each operating system. Copy the script matching your client OS and run it on the target machine to mount the share.
Example: mount using PowerShell on Windows Below is an example PowerShell script to test connectivity to the storage account, store credentials so the drive persists, and mount the share as drive Z:. Replace the account name, share name, and storage key as appropriate for your environment.
After the script runs successfully, the share appears as a mapped drive (for example, Z:). Files created locally will be stored in the Azure File Share and visible in the portal under the Files view.
Some ISPs and corporate networks block outbound TCP port 445. If you cannot reach the storage account on port 445, consider using an Azure VPN (P2S or S2S), ExpressRoute, or private endpoints to provide private connectivity to Azure.
Security and connectivity considerations
  • Public Internet vs. private connectivity: The steps above use the public internet. For production workloads, consider isolating storage access.
  • Options to secure and restrict access:
Quick reference table Further reading and references

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