title: How do I delete an Azure storage account containing a leased blob?
body: <p>I was playing with Windows Azure durable virtual machines. In the end, I deleted the virtual machine (successfully) and tried to delete the associated storage account.</p>
  
  <p>The request to delete the storage account fails.</p>
  
  <p>On the Preview Portal (manage.windowsazure.com) when I delete the storage account I get this error:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Failed to delete Storage account 'portalvhdscwtwycpsxxxxx'
  
  Details:
  
  Storage account portalvhdscwtwycpsxxxxx has 1 container(s) which have an active image and/or disk artifacts. Ensure those artifacts are removed from the image repository before deleting this storage account.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>On the previous portal (windows.azure.com) I get this error:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Submit Failed
  
  Storage account portalvhdscwtwycpsxxxxx has 1 container(s) which have an active image and/or disk artifacts. Ensure those artifacts are removed from the image repository before deleting this storage account.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Trying to delete the blob itself (a 30GB VHD) on Azure Storage Explorer I get this error:</p>
  
  <pre><code>There is currently a lease on the blob and no lease ID was specified in the request.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So my assessment is that this blob is leased (by the previous, now deleted virtual machine) and I can't delete it unless I can get this lease ID.</p>
  
  <p>The question is: how can I delete this blob and, consequently, the storage account?</p>