Azure Storage Emulator fails after adding VS 2015 SDK

Question

I've had the Azure SDK 2.5 and Tools for VS2013 installed and working fine for quite a while. Today I installed the SDK and Tools for VS2015 and now my Azure Storage Emulator won't start up. On the first try to start it I got a SqlException:

Unhandled Exception: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException:
An error occurred while processing the log for database If possible,
restore from backup. If a backup is not available, it might be
necessary to rebuild the log.

After rebooting the machine, I'm getting a lesser error:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\Storage Emulator>WAStorageEmulator start Windows Azure Storage Emulator
3.4.0.0 command line tool Error: The storage emulator needs to be initialized. Please run the 'init' command.

But running init doesn't work:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\Storage Emulator>WAStorageEmulator init Windows Azure Storage Emulator 3.4.0.0 command line tool Error: Cannot create database.

Starting with -inprocess says my login in failing. I'm an admin on the machine so this is odd.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\Storage Emulator>WAStorageEmulator start -inprocess
Windows Azure Storage Emulator 3.4.0.0 command line tool
Cannot open database "WAStorageEmulatorDb34" requested by the login. The login failed.
Login failed for user 'DOMAIN\genslow'.
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info] Starting Service: Blob
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Verbose_debug] [Nephos.Storage] { Initialize
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info_debug] Loading config Param NephosAllowPathStyleUris (Allow path-style URIs) read: true
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info_debug] Successfully loaded NephosAllowPathStyleUris: True
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info_debug] Loading config Param NephosIncludeInternalDetailsInErrorResponses (Include internal details in error responses) read: false
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info_debug] Successfully loaded NephosIncludeInternalDetailsInErrorResponses: False
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info_debug] Loading config Param StampName (Stamp Name) read: StorageEmulator
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info_debug] BlockBlob: Load Interval failed. IsGC: True, Exception    at System.Number.ParseDouble(String value, NumberStyles options, NumberFormatInfo numfmt)
   at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.DevelopmentStorage.Store.BlockBlobGarbageCollector.GetTimerIntervalOrDefault(Boolean isGC)
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info_debug] BlockBlob: Load Interval failed. IsGC: False, Exception    at System.Number.ParseDouble(String value, NumberStyles options, NumberFormatInfo numfmt)
   at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.DevelopmentStorage.Store.BlockBlobGarbageCollector.GetTimerIntervalOrDefault(Boolean isGC)
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Verbose_debug] [Nephos.Storage] } Initialize
Service Status: Blob http://127.0.0.1:10000/ True
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info] Starting Service: Queue
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Verbose_debug] [Nephos.Queue] { Initialize
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info_debug] Loading config Param NephosAllowPathStyleUris (Allow path-style URIs) read: true
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info_debug] Successfully loaded NephosAllowPathStyleUris: True
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info_debug] Loading config Param NephosIncludeInternalDetailsInErrorResponses (Include internal details in error responses) read: false
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info_debug] Successfully loaded NephosIncludeInternalDetailsInErrorResponses: False
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info_debug] Loading config Param StampName (Stamp Name) read: StorageEmulator
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Verbose_debug] [DevelopmentStorage.Queue] } Initialize
Service Status: Queue http://127.0.0.1:10001/ True
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info] Starting Service: Table
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Verbose_debug] [Nephos.Table] { Initialize
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info_debug] Loading config Param NephosAllowPathStyleUris (Allow path-style URIs) read: true
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info_debug] Successfully loaded NephosAllowPathStyleUris: True
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info_debug] Loading config Param NephosIncludeInternalDetailsInErrorResponses (Include internal details in error responses) read: false
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info_debug] Successfully loaded NephosIncludeInternalDetailsInErrorResponses: False
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info_debug] Loading config Param StampName (Stamp Name) read: StorageEmulator
3/24/2015 10:00:57 AM [Info] NOT using custom threadpool for blocking calls
Service Status: Table http://127.0.0.1:10002/ True

Running init with -inprocess gives the following detail:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\Storage Emulator>WAStorageEmulator init -inprocess
Windows Azure Storage Emulator 3.4.0.0 command line tool
Added reservation for http://127.0.0.1:10000/ in user account DOMAIN\genslow.
Added reservation for http://127.0.0.1:10001/ in user account DOMAIN\genslow.
Added reservation for http://127.0.0.1:10002/ in user account DOMAIN\genslow.

Found SQL Instance (localdb)\MSSQLLocalDB.

Creating database WAStorageEmulatorDb34 on SQL instance '(localdb)\MSSQLLocalDB'.
Cannot create database 'WAStorageEmulatorDb34' : Database 'WAStorageEmulatorDb34' already exists. Choose a different database name..
One or more initialization actions have failed. Resolve these errors before attempting to run the storage emulator again.
Error: Cannot create database 'WAStorageEmulatorDb34' : Database 'WAStorageEmulatorDb34' already exists. Choose a different database name..

So is there anyway to recover from this or should I uninstall everything and start over?

Answer 1

You can use the following process to recover from most init problems involving the database. Note that any data in the emulator currently will be lost.

Delete the SQL instance:

sqllocaldb stop MSSQLLocalDB
sqllocaldb delete MSSQLLocalDB

Now delete the following database files:

%USERPROFILE%\AzureStorageEmulatorDb*.mdf
%USERPROFILE%\AzureStorageEmulatorDb*.ldf

Finally, recreate the sql instance:

sqllocaldb start MSSQLLocalDB

Then retry the emulator init.

Answer 2

I tried to clean up localdb but didn't work, so anyone has an issue running storage emulator with local db can benefit from this command to run it on SqlExpress.

Command: AzureStorageEmulator.exe init -server . -sqlinstance SQLEXPRESS -forcecreate