How to fix: A configuration issue prevents CDN from working: The "Account name", "Account key" and "Container" fields cannot be empty.

Question

How to fix: A configuration issue prevents CDN from working: The "Account name", "Account key" and "Container" fields cannot be empty.

Phil Huhn 0

I'm running WordPress under Azure. Within WordPress on the Pluggins panel I'm getting an error alert stating the follows:

A configuration issue prevents CDN from working: The "Account name", "Account key" and "Container" fields cannot be empty.

WordPress does have a link stating, "Specify it here." but it doesn't work and states, "Sorry, you are not allowed to access this page.". How do I configure account name, key and container?

Another side effect is I can't upload new images/media.

Ganesh Patapati 12,170 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-05T23:45:09.8033333+00:00
Hello Phil Huhn

Make sure the values are actually getting saved/used by the plugin page you’re editing.

Your browser being blocked from “Specify it here” with “Sorry, you are not allowed to access this page.” suggests you may be hitting an authorization/permissions issue (either the WordPress user role, or the plugin’s settings page/API endpoint permissions). The CDN fields still need correct storage values, but you also need access to configure them properly.

Because the Azure Storage configuration is incomplete, WordPress cannot upload media files to the configured Azure Blob Storage container, which explains why new images and media uploads are failing. Azure WordPress deployments that use Blob Storage require valid Storage Account and Container settings for media offloading to function correctly.

Blob Storage is configured with WordPress using W3 Total Cache plugin and its settings can be seen in the CDN tab of the plugin's settings. In this tab, it is not recommended to change settings to host wp-includes/ files, theme files or other non-Media files that are not in wp-content/uploads folder. Enabling these settings will change these files' URL that point to Blob Storage and this can lead to issues if the files are not present in Blob Storage (which usually would be the case since non-Media files are not spontaneously uploaded to Blob Storage).

Storage Account settings are defined in W3 Total Cache CDN tab. Storage Account Key can be visible to Administrators. Azure Blog Storage container setting is set to ‘public, read-only’ blob access.

In case Blob Storage needs to be disabled, then in addition to disabling CDN in W3Total Cache settings, files from Blob Container need to be moved to wp-content/uploads folder in AppService if not already present.

You can upload media files to the blob storage using the WordPress Admin dashboard (Media -> Add New) or the Azure Portal. In Azure Portal, you can find the storage account resource in the same resource group where your WordPress App Service is deployed. Go to the storage account and select 'Containers' under 'Data storage' section. Open the appropriate blob container and click on Upload option shown at the top.

Meantime,

In Azure, open your Storage account and confirm:

the storage account name

the Blob container name

the Access Key

In WordPress, update the CDN configuration fields with those exact values.

If the “Specify it here” link is blocked:

verify you’re using a WordPress account with sufficient permissions to access that settings page,

and ensure the plugin/theme isn’t restricting access based on role.

Reference Docs:

How to Configure Azure Blob Storage with WordPress

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/2183042/how-do-you-fix-an-azure-portal-web-app-with-no-per

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/spfx/web-parts/get-started/deploy-web-part-to-cdn?wt.mc_id=knowledgesearch_inproduct_azure-cxp-community-insider#configure-an-azure-storage-account

I hope this has been helpful!

If the above is unclear or you are unsure about something, please add a comment below.

Should there be any follow-up questions or concerns, please let us know and we shall try to address them.

1 answer

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Answer 1

Phil Huhn 0

Thanks a lot. I didn't know that the CDN is configured via the W3 Total Cache plugin.

When I go to that part in W3 Total Cache plugin, it has an Account Name and a Container Name that is identical to the Account Name but it has "blob" in front of it. The Account Key is blank. In Azure I found the blob storage Account Name that matches the Account Name in WordPress. This blob storage configuration has an Account Key and a Connection String. I'm assuming I do the following

copy the Azure Account Key into W3 Total Cache setting,
click create container,
click Save Settings,
click the "Test Microsoft Azure Storage upload" button.

Ganesh Patapati 12,170 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-06T17:18:46.5433333+00:00

Hello Phil Huhn

Yes, The missing value is typically the Azure Storage Account Key. I recommend first verifying whether the blob container already exists in the Storage Account. If it does, enter the Account Key, save the settings, and run "Test Microsoft Azure Storage upload". If the container does not exist, use Create Container, then save the settings and test the upload. This will confirm that WordPress can successfully connect to Azure Blob Storage.

I hope this has been helpful!

If the above is unclear or you are unsure about something, please add a comment below.