Media Services Preview Account Setup

Question

This topic describes the manual account setup process for the Windows Azure Media Services Preview, June 2012. 

Note: A simplified and recommended approach to set up a Media Services account is to use the new Windows Azure Management Portal.  To create your account using the portal, see the topic How to Create a Media Services Account, Getting Started with Azure Media Services, or see the video Windows Azure Media Services Setup.

Prerequisites

Perform the following steps as prerequisites before you start the Media Services setup process.

1. Sign into WindowsAzure.com.
   Note: If you do not have a Live ID account, register for one at login.live.com.
2. Sign up for free trial or use existing subscription.
3. Make sure you are signed into WindowsAzure.com with your Azure subscription, browse to the Windows Azure Account page, then click preview features.
4. In the Media Services section, click try it now.
5. In the Add Preview Feature dialog box, select the subscription you want to use from the drop-down control and click the "check" icon. After the Add Preview Features dialog box closes, you will return to the preview features page. The Media Services status should now say "Pending." After you are approved, the status will change from "Pending" to "You Are Active".
   Note:  You cannot finish account setup process until the status for Media Services on the Preview Features page has changed to "You Are Active."
6. Confirm that .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and .NET Framework 4 are installed. For the current release both Framework versions must be installed for compatibility with required SDK packages. You can install .NET 3.5 SP1 through Control Panel, Programs, Programs and Features, Turn Windows features on or off.
7. Create a Windows Azure storage account to use with your Windows Azure subscription and specify one available Media Services regions (West Europe, Southeast Asia, East Asia, North Europe, West US, East US). To create a storage account, see How to Create a Storage Account for a Windows Azure Subscription (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/gg433066.aspx). As an alternative way to create a storage account, you can use the new Windows Azure Management Portal. See the topic Create a Windows Azure Storage Account (http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/how-to-guides/blob-storage/#create-account).
   Note:  When you create a Windows Azure Storage account for the current Media Services release you must use one of the available regions.  If you already have a Windows Azure Storage account based on another region, you must create a different storage account based on one of the available regions.  Additional storage regions will be available in upcoming releases.
8. Install Windows Azure SDK 1.6 (November 2011). To install Windows Azure SDK 1.6, load the Web Platform Installer. On the Products tab select All, then find and install the Windows Azure SDK 1.6 for Visual Studio 2010 (November 2011).
   Note: Windows Azure SDK 1.7 (June 2012) can also be installed on your computer along with Windows Azure SDK 1.6 (November 2011).  But you must have Windows Azure SDK 1.6 (November 2011) installed to complete the setup process, and also for programming with the Media Services SDK for .NET.

Media Services Setup

Note: PowerShell approach is not currently available for setting up Media Services.

Follow the steps provided in the following link to setup a Media Services Account using the Windows Azure Management Portal.

How to Create a Media Services Account

See Also

• How to Use Media Services
• Media Services Documentation on MSDN
• Media Services SDK Getting Started Code Examples Download
• Media Services SDK Code Examples Project Download