Troubleshooting notes — Azure Table Storage 403 Authentication

Symptom

Symptom

Calling Azure Table Storage REST API returns:

403 Server failed to authenticate the request.
Make sure the value of Authorization header is formed correctly including the signature.

Even though Authorization header looks valid

Root Cause

The request is missing x-ms-version header

Azure Storage requires this header to determine the API version used for request validation. Without it, the service may reject the request with a misleading authentication error.

Fix

Add header

x-ms-version: 2020–08–04

Example minimal headers:

x-ms-version: 2020–08–04
Accept: application/json;odata=nometadata
Content-Type: application/json

Lesson learned

If Azure Storage returns a 403 authentication error for a manually signed REST request, check for missing x-ms-version before debugging the signature.