Unable to access paid video indexer programmatically

Question

Unable to access paid video indexer programmatically

Faiz ul Haque 5

I am trying to utilize the Azure AI Video Indexer programmatically (directly from backend, without any UI or webbrowser).

My use case is:

From the backend upload a a video and get the json data from video indexer.

I already tried many ways to get the azure video indexer token so that I can upload a upload, however, non of the works. here is the list:

https://api-portal.videoindexer.ai/api-details#api=Operations&operation=Get-Account-Access-Token-With-PermissionI tried to use this method for the paid account (however, it's written that it's only for trial). Provided my subscription details from here: https://api-portal.videoindexer.ai/profile and it didn't work, also provided the azure subscription id also didn't work.
second method I tried via creating Managed Application that actually give me the endpoints like /oauth2/v2.0/token and /oauth2/token, I tried "v2-oauth-ropc" method from this list: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity-platform/v2-oauth-ropc (I can get the accessToken however, when I try to use that accessToken ad Authroization Bearer to get the azure indexer token, it says.

{
    "error": {
        "code": "AuthenticationFailed",
        "message": "Authentication failed."
    }
}

I am trying to follow this api documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/videoindexer/generate/access-token?view=rest-videoindexer-2025-01-01&tabs=HTTP&tryIt=true&source=docs#code-try-0

In the security section, it says

azure_auth

Azure Active Directory OAuth2 Flow

Type: oauth2 Flow: implicit Authorization URL: https://login.microsoftonline.com/common/oauth2/authorize

Scopes

Expand table

NameDescriptionuser_impersonationimpersonate your user accounthowever, this "user_impersonation" never works for me. And remember, it's backend api calls, no browser, or user interaction is there.

Any help full azure team would be highly appreciated.

Best,

Faiz

FYI: Guys, I have tried many solution, please don't just throw the guidance URL here, probably I have tried them already.

santoshkc 15,600 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-03-10T03:15:12.89+00:00
Hi @Faiz ul Haque,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A forum!

Try to generate an access token by navigating to the Management API under the Management tab in your Azure AI Video Indexer resource. From there, you can generate access tokens for account, video, and project with the required permissions (Reader or Contributor).

To generate the access token using POST command and here is the sample command syntax:

POST https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.VideoIndexer/accounts/{accountName}/generateAccessToken?api-version=2024-01-01 { "permissionType": "Contributor", "scope": "Account" }

Thank you.
Saideep Anchuri 9,515 Reputation points Moderator

2025-03-11T04:28:38.1566667+00:00

Hi @Faiz ul Haque,

Following up to see if the above answer was helpful.

Thank You.
Saideep Anchuri 9,515 Reputation points Moderator

2025-03-12T13:56:58.25+00:00

Hi @Faiz ul Haque,

We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet.

Thank you

2 answers

Your answer

santoshkc 15,600 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-03-10T03:15:12.89+00:00

Hi @Faiz ul Haque,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A forum!

Try to generate an access token by navigating to the Management API under the Management tab in your Azure AI Video Indexer resource. From there, you can generate access tokens for account, video, and project with the required permissions (Reader or Contributor).

To generate the access token using POST command and here is the sample command syntax:

POST https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.VideoIndexer/accounts/{accountName}/generateAccessToken?api-version=2024-01-01 { "permissionType": "Contributor", "scope": "Account" }

Thank you.
Saideep Anchuri 9,515 Reputation points Moderator

2025-03-11T04:28:38.1566667+00:00

Hi @Faiz ul Haque,

Following up to see if the above answer was helpful.

Thank You.
Saideep Anchuri 9,515 Reputation points Moderator

2025-03-12T13:56:58.25+00:00

Hi @Faiz ul Haque,

We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet.

Thank you

Answer 1

Faiz ul Haque 5

@santoshkc

Not sure, but in my use case (already tried to mention in the first comment in detailed), it's very poor suggestion to use Management API token for backend processing, as Management API token expires and I didn't find a way or @santoshkc didn't mention any way to refresh it.

And When he says: "To generate the access token using POST command and here is the sample command syntax"

May be @santoshkc don't bother to read the document further as that POST API, needs Bearer token with user_impersonation scope. Here is link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/videoindexer/generate/access-token?view=rest-videoindexer-2024-01-01&tabs=HTTP#azure-auth

Now, It's really waste of money to pay the support fees here just to access this kind of support.

santoshkc 15,600 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-03-17T16:25:29.1933333+00:00

Hi @Faiz ul Haque,

Apologies for the misunderstanding. You can change. env. example file along other details like video index account and video URL to access token, index your video and get insights. For more info, please refer to: Video Indexer API Samples.

I hope this helps! Thank you.

Answer 2

Hello @Faiz ul Haque ,

I was in contact with Azure support myself about a different topic some time ago, and during that time, I too encountered the same issue as you describe. I was unable to use the Primary and Secondary Keys for my paid account, as those keys were linked only to my Trial account.

To summarize; if you have an ARM account rather than a Trial or Classic account, the procedure is somewhat different, and you can't use the info provided under https://api-portal.videoindexer.ai/profile. Here is the response I got from one support engineer at Microsoft Azure Media and Communication Services:

"In the context of a Video Indexer ARM Account, to use the Video Indexer API, the workflow is different from how you would use a Trial account or a Classic account and does not involve using Subscription Keys.

While for Trial or Classic accounts, the access token could be generated using the API Portal: https://api-portal.videoindexer.ai/api-details#api=Operations&operation=Get-Account-Access-Token and required using Subscription Keys, for a Video Indexer ARM account, the procedure is different.

To obtain the Account Access Token for ARM accounts, there are 2 options:

Option 1: From inside the Azure Portal:
- You need to go to your Azure AI Video Indexer Account
  - Go to the Management API blade
    - Choose the permissions and the scope
      - Generate the token
Option 2: Using the REST API:
- Follow this link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/videoindexer/generate/access-token
  - Click the "Try it" button
    - Login to your respective account
      - Fill in the Account Name and Resource Group Name fields
        
        Edit the Body of the request with the type of permission and scope required, for example:

{

permissionType: "Contributor",

scope: "Account"

}

Click Run - action which will generate the access token

Once you've generated the Account Access Token using one of the methods shared above, you can then go to the Video Indexer API Portal and run your required API requests using the previously-generated Account Access Token.

For example, to run the List Videos API:

Follow this link: https://api-portal.videoindexer.ai/api-details#api=Operations&operation=List-Videos
Complete the location, accountId and accessToken fields
Leave the Subscription Key field of the Authorization Header empty
As for the Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key field, even though it does not influence the request in any way for a VI ARM Account, it is a required field in the portal, so, you can add any random value to it. Since your VI Account is ARM-based and you've already completed the accessToken field, the value inside the Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key field will be ignored. (for example, while testing this functionality, I have added the "-" character to the field).
Run the request."

To conclude; Even if the above is referring mainly to the use of the API web UI, you might get some insights from it, to use it programmatically as well as you want.

Hope you find this helpful. Thanks.

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Unable to access paid video indexer programmatically

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