diff --git a/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureRepository.java b/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureRepository.java
index 1cf75780ce1..2ae5fbe8493 100644
--- a/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureRepository.java
+++ b/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureRepository.java
@@ -100,11 +100,18 @@ public class AzureRepository extends BlobStoreRepository {
 
         this.compress = getValue(metadata.settings(), settings, Repository.COMPRESS_SETTING, Storage.COMPRESS_SETTING);
         String modeStr = getValue(metadata.settings(), settings, Repository.LOCATION_MODE_SETTING, Storage.LOCATION_MODE_SETTING);
-        if (Strings.hasLength(modeStr)) {
-            LocationMode locationMode = LocationMode.valueOf(modeStr.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT));
-            readonly = locationMode == LocationMode.SECONDARY_ONLY;
+        Boolean forcedReadonly = metadata.settings().getAsBoolean("readonly", null);
+        // If the user explicitly did not define a readonly value, we set it by ourselves depending on the location mode setting.
+        // For secondary_only setting, the repository should be read only
+        if (forcedReadonly == null) {
+            if (Strings.hasLength(modeStr)) {
+                LocationMode locationMode = LocationMode.valueOf(modeStr.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT));
+                this.readonly = locationMode == LocationMode.SECONDARY_ONLY;
+            } else {
+                this.readonly = false;
+            }
         } else {
-            readonly = false;
+            readonly = forcedReadonly;
         }
 
         String basePath = getValue(metadata.settings(), settings, Repository.BASE_PATH_SETTING, Storage.BASE_PATH_SETTING);
diff --git a/plugins/repository-azure/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureRepositorySettingsTests.java b/plugins/repository-azure/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureRepositorySettingsTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..68b3783b03a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/repository-azure/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureRepositorySettingsTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch 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.elasticsearch.repositories.azure;
+
+import com.microsoft.azure.storage.LocationMode;
+import com.microsoft.azure.storage.StorageException;
+import com.microsoft.azure.storage.blob.CloudBlobClient;
+import org.elasticsearch.cloud.azure.storage.AzureStorageService;
+import org.elasticsearch.cloud.azure.storage.AzureStorageServiceImpl;
+import org.elasticsearch.cloud.azure.storage.AzureStorageSettings;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.RepositoryMetaData;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.env.Environment;
+import org.elasticsearch.env.NodeEnvironment;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.URI;
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
+
+import static org.elasticsearch.cloud.azure.storage.AzureStorageServiceImpl.blobNameFromUri;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.nullValue;
+
+public class AzureRepositorySettingsTests extends ESTestCase {
+
+    private AzureRepository azureRepository(Settings settings) throws StorageException, IOException, URISyntaxException {
+        Settings internalSettings = Settings.builder()
+            .put(Environment.PATH_HOME_SETTING.getKey(), createTempDir().toAbsolutePath())
+            .putArray(Environment.PATH_DATA_SETTING.getKey(), tmpPaths())
+            .put(settings)
+            .build();
+        return new AzureRepository(new RepositoryMetaData("foo", "azure", internalSettings), new Environment(internalSettings), null);
+    }
+
+
+    public void testReadonlyDefault() throws StorageException, IOException, URISyntaxException {
+        assertThat(azureRepository(Settings.EMPTY).isReadOnly(), is(false));
+    }
+
+    public void testReadonlyDefaultAndReadonlyOn() throws StorageException, IOException, URISyntaxException {
+        assertThat(azureRepository(Settings.builder()
+            .put("readonly", true)
+            .build()).isReadOnly(), is(true));
+    }
+
+    public void testReadonlyWithPrimaryOnly() throws StorageException, IOException, URISyntaxException {
+        assertThat(azureRepository(Settings.builder()
+            .put(AzureRepository.Repository.LOCATION_MODE_SETTING.getKey(), LocationMode.PRIMARY_ONLY.name())
+            .build()).isReadOnly(), is(false));
+    }
+
+    public void testReadonlyWithPrimaryOnlyAndReadonlyOn() throws StorageException, IOException, URISyntaxException {
+        assertThat(azureRepository(Settings.builder()
+            .put(AzureRepository.Repository.LOCATION_MODE_SETTING.getKey(), LocationMode.PRIMARY_ONLY.name())
+            .put("readonly", true)
+            .build()).isReadOnly(), is(true));
+    }
+
+    public void testReadonlyWithSecondaryOnlyAndReadonlyOn() throws StorageException, IOException, URISyntaxException {
+        assertThat(azureRepository(Settings.builder()
+            .put(AzureRepository.Repository.LOCATION_MODE_SETTING.getKey(), LocationMode.SECONDARY_ONLY.name())
+            .put("readonly", true)
+            .build()).isReadOnly(), is(true));
+    }
+
+    public void testReadonlyWithSecondaryOnlyAndReadonlyOff() throws StorageException, IOException, URISyntaxException {
+        assertThat(azureRepository(Settings.builder()
+            .put(AzureRepository.Repository.LOCATION_MODE_SETTING.getKey(), LocationMode.SECONDARY_ONLY.name())
+            .put("readonly", false)
+            .build()).isReadOnly(), is(false));
+    }
+
+    public void testReadonlyWithPrimaryAndSecondaryOnlyAndReadonlyOn() throws StorageException, IOException, URISyntaxException {
+        assertThat(azureRepository(Settings.builder()
+            .put(AzureRepository.Repository.LOCATION_MODE_SETTING.getKey(), LocationMode.PRIMARY_THEN_SECONDARY.name())
+            .put("readonly", true)
+            .build()).isReadOnly(), is(true));
+    }
+
+    public void testReadonlyWithPrimaryAndSecondaryOnlyAndReadonlyOff() throws StorageException, IOException, URISyntaxException {
+        assertThat(azureRepository(Settings.builder()
+            .put(AzureRepository.Repository.LOCATION_MODE_SETTING.getKey(), LocationMode.PRIMARY_THEN_SECONDARY.name())
+            .put("readonly", false)
+            .build()).isReadOnly(), is(false));
+    }
+}