The Azure Files page contains a list of all the configured and linked Azure Files shares. You can perform various actions on the Azure Files shares such as creating, linking, or managing shares.
Nerdio Manager allows you to link to an existing Azure Files share.
To link to an existing Azure Files file share:
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At the Account level, navigate to Azure > Azure Files > List Azure Files.
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Select Link Azure Files.
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Enter the following information:
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Storage Account: From the drop-down list, select a storage account to use for the share.
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Performance: From the drop-down list, select a performance tier for the share.
Caution
We strongly recommend that you select Premium for the best user experience.
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Redundancy: From the drop-down list, select the redundancy model you want to use for the share:
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Locally redundant storage (LRS) copies your data synchronously three times within a single physical location in the primary region. LRS is the least expensive replication option, but isn't recommended for environments requiring high availability or durability.
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Zone redundant storage (ZRS) copies your data synchronously across three Azure availability zones in the primary region.
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For Azure File Share with the Premium performance tier, only locally-redundant storage (LRS) and zone redundant storage (ZRS) options are available.
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File Share Name: Type a name for the share.
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Provisioned Capacity (GiB): Type the size of the provisioned capacity.
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Permissions (SMB Share Contributors): Specify users/groups and/or security groups to have Storage File Data SMB Share Contributor role on the share.
Caution
This is required for read/write access to the share.
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Add users / groups from host pools: From the drop-down list, select one or more users/groups currently assigned to these host pools to be given Storage File Data SMB Share Contributor role on the share.
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Storage account: From the drop-down list, select the storage account.
Note
The drop-down list contains all storage accounts in the linked subscription, linked RG(s) and region of the linked network(s), excluding system storage accounts.
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File share: From the drop-down list, select the file share.
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Enable SMB Multichannel: Select this option to improve the Azure Files Premium performance.
Note
Azure Files SMB Multichannel enables clients to use multiple network connections that provide increased performance. Increased performance is achieved through bandwidth aggregation over multiple NICs and utilizing Receive Side Scaling (RSS) support for NICs to distribute the IO load across multiple CPUs.
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Once you have entered all the desired information, select OK.
After a few moments, the Azure Files file share is added to Nerdio Manager.
Nerdio Manager allows you to create a new Azure Files share.
To create a new Azure Files fshare:
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At the Account level, navigate to Azure > Azure Files > List Azure Files.
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Select Add Azure Files.
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Enter the following information:
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Join to AD: To directly join the share to an identity and management service,
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Check the box
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From the drop-down list, select an Entra ID profile, Entra Domain Services managed domain, or AD profile to join.
Note
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To use an Azure Files share as a storage location for FSLogix profiles and MSIX App Attach images, the storage account must be integrated with Entra Domain Services, Active Directory, or Entra ID.
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If you select to not join the storage account to AD, you can do so later.
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Joining the storage account to AD creates a temporary VM and uses the AD profile credentials to add the storage account as a Computer object in selected AD.
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Integrating the storage account with Entra Domain Services sets the appropriate flag in Azure.
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Joining the storage account to Entra ID uses Entra ID Kerberos authentication. This configuration allows you to store FSLogix profiles that can be accessed by hybrid user identities from Entra ID-joined or Hybrid Entra ID-joined session hosts without requiring network line-of-sight to domain controllers. Entra ID Kerberos enables Entra ID to issue the necessary Kerberos tickets to access the file share with the industry-standard SMB protocol.
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Select OK .
Nerdio Manager allows you to manage configured Azure Files shares.
To manage configured Azure Files shares:
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At the Account level, navigate to Azure > Azure Files > List Azure Files.
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Locate the Azure Files share you want to manage, and select the Manage dropown.
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The action menu allows you to perform the following functions:
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File handles: Unlock files/Close open file handles. See Manage Azure Files File Handles for details.
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Edit firewall: Enables you to edit the firewall and vNET settings.
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Copy UNC Path: Copy the UNC path to the clipboard.
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Set AES-256 encryption: Appears only for Azure Files shares that are joined to an on-premises Active Directory domain. Converts the share to AES-256 Kerberos encryption. See Migrate an Azure Files share to AES-256 encryption for details.
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Unlink: Remove the Azure Files file share from Nerdio Manager.
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From the action menu, select Manage to change some of the Azure Files share's parameters and permissions.
Note
You may only change the following:
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Provisioned capacity
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Permissions (SMB Share Contributors)
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Add users/groups from host pools
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Nerdio Manager allows you to manage Azure Files file handles. This enables you to unlock files/close open file handles.
To manage file handles
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At the Account level, navigate to Azure > Azure Files > List Azure Files.
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Locate the Azure Files share you want to manage.
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From the action menu select File handles.
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Type at least 3 characters of the file name or client IP to locate the open file handle.
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Select the open file handle and then select Close file.
Microsoft is retiring RC4 Kerberos encryption. This affects only Azure Files storage accounts that are joined to an on-premises Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) domain. Storage accounts that use Microsoft Entra Kerberos, Microsoft Entra Domain Services, or storage account key access are not affected.
Nerdio Manager can convert an AD DS-joined Azure Files share to AES-256 encryption. It cannot read the encryption type that a share currently uses, but it can set AES-256 on the share. To do this, Nerdio Manager creates a temporary virtual machine, joins it to the domain, runs the required script, and then removes the virtual machine. The process typically takes 20 to 30 minutes.
Important
Converting a share changes the encryption configuration of the storage account's Active Directory object. You need permission to update Azure Files shares.
To set AES-256 encryption on an Azure Files share:
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At the Account level, navigate to Azure > Azure Files > List Azure Files.
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Locate the Azure Files share you want to convert, and select the Manage dropdown.
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Select Set AES-256 encryption.
Note
This action is available only for shares that are joined to Active Directory.
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In the AZURE FILES SHARE AES-256 ENCRYPTION dialog, select the settings for the temporary virtual machine: the disk, image, VM size, and resource group.
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Select OK. OK is unavailable until the temporary VM settings are complete.
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Monitor the progress in the Tasks section at the bottom of the page.
Result: when the task completes, the share uses AES-256 encryption and the temporary virtual machine is removed.
For background on the Kerberos encryption change, see 2026-04-01 Kerberos Encryption Enforcement (RC4 Deprecation).
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