While trying out the Windows Azure SDK (July 2009 CTP), some hurdles were encountered with running the Development Storage under Windows 7. Initially, I thought it was a mistake on my part. However, even running the samples (Thumbnail Sample) included in the Windows Azure SDK, the same problem was encountered.

The server encountered an unknown failure: The server committed a protocol violation. Section=ResponseStatusLine

The above exception is generated when you first attempt to debug the Thumbnail Sample. The above exception is also generated when you try to run any project that uses the Blob Storage. The Development Storage will also crash when you attempt to shut it down.

The Solution?

To solve this issue, all you need to do is to start the Development Storage directly from C:\Program Files\Windows Azure SDK\v1.0\bin\DevelopmentStorage.exe. You will need to shutdown Visual Studio first if you have encountered the above exception. Additionally at this location, you can modify the ports for the Blob, Queue and Table service in the file DevelopmentStorage.exe.config.