topic Re: Not able to setup external location via Catalog in Data Engineering

Not able to setup external location via Catalog

nithin_1991 — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 20:56:33 GMT

Hi All,

I’m setting up an external location via Unity Catalog and I’m running into an issue when creating the location.

Context:

ADLS Gen2 account with Hierarchical Namespace is enabled.
A Databricks Access Connector has been created and assigned Contributor at both the subscription/resource and storage scopes.
As a sanity check, I tested legacy access using storage access keys and was able to connect successfully.

Given that the legacy method works but the UC path fails, I suspect the problem may be with the Unity Catalog configuration (e.g., storage credential/external location permissions). I'm new to databricks so any advice would be great.

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

Re: Not able to setup external location via Catalog

nithin_1991 — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:29:18 GMT

Hi All, Found the issue

It was related to path being called in url instead of using

dfs.core.windows.net/ , I was using

blob.core.windows.net/ which was throwing error

Re: Not able to setup external location via Catalog

joelramirezai — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 14:10:33 GMT

Hello @nithin_1991
When you create a Databricks Azure Storage Account for Databricks, you always need to make sure that the hierarchical namespace is enabled.

Important considerations whren you create an external locations before you begin

Re: Not able to setup external location via Catalog

saurabh18cs — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 15:40:04 GMT

Hi @nithin_1991 can you make sure it is storage blob data contributor granted to managed identity (dbac)

then create storage credential first for this dbac

then create external location using this credential

Re: Not able to setup external location via Catalog

nithin_1991 — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 15:45:22 GMT

Hi Joel ,

I had created with hierarchical namespace enabled only , issue was with url used which is now resolved but thanks for your input

Re: Not able to setup external location via Catalog

nithin_1991 — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 15:46:47 GMT

Yes, I did that and also provide storage blob owner access but issue was with url provided while setting up external location which is resolved now

Re: Not able to setup external location via Catalog

joelramirezai — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 15:58:39 GMT

I have the following YouTube video that can guide you on how to properly create external locations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAXLFgcVMn0