Getting an Access Denied error when accessing a file in Azure Blob Storage

Question

Getting an Access Denied error when accessing a file in Azure Blob Storage

IAA Dashboard 0

Files have been loaded into a blob container, and through PowerShell, that data has been loaded into the Azure SQL database successfully for over 2 years. As of last week, this process was functioning correctly.

Currently encountering an Access Denied error:

Error merging 2025-04-05 00:00:00: ('42000', '[42000] [Microsoft][ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server][SQL Server]Cannot bulk load because the file "brandong2/docs-20250405 - US.json" could not be opened. Operating system error code 5(Access is denied.). (4861) (SQLExecDirectW)')

Despite checking permissions, nothing appears to have changed. Seeking options that may have been overlooked.

Mahesh Kurva 4,310 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-05-30T20:53:28.1366667+00:00
Hi IAA Dashboard,

Greetings!

It looks like you're running into an "Access Denied" error when trying to access a file in Azure Blob Storage, which has disrupted your usual process of loading data into an Azure SQL database.

You need to enable "Allow trusted Microsoft services to access this storage account" in the Networking settings of your Azure Storage Account.

Go to Storage Accounts

For each storage account, click on the settings menu called Firewalls and Virtual Networks.

Ensure that Allow access from selected networks is enabled.

Enable Allow trusted Microsoft services to access this storage account.

Click Save to apply your changes.

For more information, please refer the document:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/import-export/examples-of-bulk-access-to-data-in-azure-blob-storage?view=sql-server-ver16#known-issues

https://docs.datadoghq.com/security/default_rules/mpx-tee-gng/

I hope this information helps. Please do let us know if you have any further queries.
IAA Dashboard 0 Reputation points

2025-06-03T17:20:07.06+00:00

@Anonymous

I had seen this set of directions before but retried again. On the Firewall & Virtual Network settings we were originally on "Enabled from all Networks" but I have switched to "Selected Networks", entered IP address and selected "Allow Trusted Services" but am still getting the same error.
Hugo Queiroz 81 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2025-06-03T21:28:05.8033333+00:00

@IAA Dashboard We'll need more information about your environment to help troubleshooting the issue. Could you please open a support ticket? Once you do, you can also email me the number.

Also, do you mind giving more details about the ingestion piece? Are you using BULK INSERT for it?
Mahesh Kurva 4,310 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-04T18:21:41.1133333+00:00

Hi IAA Dashboard,

Could you please share the details requested in the private message?

1 answer

Your answer

Mahesh Kurva 4,310 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-05-30T20:53:28.1366667+00:00

Hi IAA Dashboard,

Greetings!

It looks like you're running into an "Access Denied" error when trying to access a file in Azure Blob Storage, which has disrupted your usual process of loading data into an Azure SQL database.

You need to enable "Allow trusted Microsoft services to access this storage account" in the Networking settings of your Azure Storage Account.

Go to Storage Accounts

For each storage account, click on the settings menu called Firewalls and Virtual Networks.

Ensure that Allow access from selected networks is enabled.

Enable Allow trusted Microsoft services to access this storage account.

Click Save to apply your changes.

For more information, please refer the document:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/import-export/examples-of-bulk-access-to-data-in-azure-blob-storage?view=sql-server-ver16#known-issues

https://docs.datadoghq.com/security/default_rules/mpx-tee-gng/

I hope this information helps. Please do let us know if you have any further queries.
IAA Dashboard 0 Reputation points

2025-06-03T17:20:07.06+00:00

@Anonymous

I had seen this set of directions before but retried again. On the Firewall & Virtual Network settings we were originally on "Enabled from all Networks" but I have switched to "Selected Networks", entered IP address and selected "Allow Trusted Services" but am still getting the same error.
Hugo Queiroz 81 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2025-06-03T21:28:05.8033333+00:00

@IAA Dashboard We'll need more information about your environment to help troubleshooting the issue. Could you please open a support ticket? Once you do, you can also email me the number.

Also, do you mind giving more details about the ingestion piece? Are you using BULK INSERT for it?
Mahesh Kurva 4,310 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-04T18:21:41.1133333+00:00

Hi IAA Dashboard,

Could you please share the details requested in the private message?

Answer 1

Hi @IAA Dashboard here are a few things that might be worth re-checking (sometimes the root cause isn’t immediately apparent):

make sure the account running the SQL Server service has explicit read access to both the file and its parent directory. The permissions needed are for the SQL service account, not your personal account
If you’re using a local or network path, verify that the file is accessible from the SQL Server machine and that the path hasn’t changed. If you're accessing an Azure Blob, ensure any SAS tokens, access keys, or managed identity permissions are still valid and haven't expired or been rotated
if there have been any recent updates to OS, group policy, antivirus, or firewall rules that might be affecting access
the file isn’t open or being used by another process, which can sometimes cause access errors
Make sure the SQL login being used has the necessary bulk operations permissions
If this is running against Azure SQL Database (not SQL Server in a VM), direct file system access isn’t supported—use external data sources and make sure your authentication method is still valid

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Getting an Access Denied error when accessing a file in Azure Blob Storage

1 answer

Your answer