diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 10ab3735a0d..a490d7ce967 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -892,6 +892,9 @@ Release 2.8.0 - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-12682. Fix TestKMS#testKMSRestart* failure.
     (Wei-Chiu Chuang via xyao)
 
+    HADOOP-12608. Fix exception message in WASB when connecting with anonymous
+    credential. (Dushyanth via xyao)
+
 Release 2.7.3 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-azure/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/azure/AzureNativeFileSystemStore.java b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-azure/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/azure/AzureNativeFileSystemStore.java
index 69ece4a4278..a936cd64480 100644
--- a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-azure/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/azure/AzureNativeFileSystemStore.java
+++ b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-azure/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/azure/AzureNativeFileSystemStore.java
@@ -730,8 +730,9 @@ public class AzureNativeFileSystemStore implements NativeFileSystemStore {
     try {
       if (!container.exists(getInstrumentedContext())) {
         throw new AzureException("Container " + containerName + " in account "
-            + accountName + " not found, and we can't create "
-            + " it using anoynomous credentials.");
+            + accountName + " not found, and we can't create"
+            + " it using anoynomous credentials, and no credentials found for them"
+            + " in the configuration.");
       }
     } catch (StorageException ex) {
       throw new AzureException("Unable to access container " + containerName
diff --git a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-azure/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/azure/TestFileSystemOperationExceptionMessage.java b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-azure/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/azure/TestFileSystemOperationExceptionMessage.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..57920a40198
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-azure/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/azure/TestFileSystemOperationExceptionMessage.java
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.hadoop.fs.azure;
+import java.net.URI;
+import java.util.UUID;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+
+public class TestFileSystemOperationExceptionMessage extends
+  NativeAzureFileSystemBaseTest {
+
+  @Test
+  public void testAnonymouseCredentialExceptionMessage() throws Throwable{
+
+    Configuration conf = AzureBlobStorageTestAccount.createTestConfiguration();
+    String testStorageAccount = conf.get("fs.azure.test.account.name");
+    conf = new Configuration();
+    conf.set("fs.AbstractFileSystem.wasb.impl", "org.apache.hadoop.fs.azure.Wasb");
+    conf.set("fs.azure.skip.metrics", "true");
+
+    String testContainer = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
+    String wasbUri = String.format("wasb://%s@%s",
+        testContainer, testStorageAccount);
+
+    String expectedErrorMessage =
+        String.format("Container %s in account %s not found, and we can't create it "
+            + "using anoynomous credentials, and no credentials found for "
+            + "them in the configuration.", testContainer, testStorageAccount);
+
+    fs = new NativeAzureFileSystem();
+    try {
+      fs.initialize(new URI(wasbUri), conf);
+    } catch (Exception ex) {
+
+      Throwable innerException = ex.getCause();
+      while (innerException != null
+             && !(innerException instanceof AzureException)) {
+        innerException = innerException.getCause();
+      }
+
+      if (innerException != null) {
+        String exceptionMessage = innerException.getMessage();
+        if (exceptionMessage == null
+            || exceptionMessage.length() == 0) {
+          Assert.fail();}
+        else {
+          Assert.assertTrue(exceptionMessage.equals(expectedErrorMessage));
+        }
+      } else {
+        Assert.fail();
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  protected AzureBlobStorageTestAccount createTestAccount() throws Exception {
+    return AzureBlobStorageTestAccount.create();
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file