What causes PERMISSION_DENIED?

User is not a workspace admin and attempted an operation that requires that role, such as modifying cluster policies or managing PAT tokens for other users. Service principal used by a job or API call was not granted workspace admin or account admin privileges. Unity Catalog admin action (e.g., setting metastore default) attempted by a user who only has catalog-level grants

How do I fix PERMISSION_DENIED?

Step 1: Identify the exact resource and operation from the error detail — the message includes the privilege string, e.g., 'Manage Workspace'.. Step 2: In the Databricks workspace, go to Settings > Identity and Access and grant the calling user or service principal the required admin role.. Step 3: If the operation is account-level (such as metastore assignment), perform it through the Databricks Account Console and assign the account admin role there.. Step 4: Re-run the job or API call. If using a service principal, verify the principal's token is not cached with stale grants.

High severitypermission

Power BI Refresh Error:
PERMISSION_DENIED

What does this error mean?

A workspace-level or account-level admin operation was rejected because the caller does not hold the required admin privilege on the Databricks workspace or account.

Common causes

1User is not a workspace admin and attempted an operation that requires that role, such as modifying cluster policies or managing PAT tokens for other users
2Service principal used by a job or API call was not granted workspace admin or account admin privileges
3Unity Catalog admin action (e.g., setting metastore default) attempted by a user who only has catalog-level grants

How to fix it

1Step 1: Identify the exact resource and operation from the error detail — the message includes the privilege string, e.g., 'Manage Workspace'.
2Step 2: In the Databricks workspace, go to Settings > Identity and Access and grant the calling user or service principal the required admin role.
3Step 3: If the operation is account-level (such as metastore assignment), perform it through the Databricks Account Console and assign the account admin role there.
4Step 4: Re-run the job or API call. If using a service principal, verify the principal's token is not cached with stale grants.

Frequently asked questions

Is PERMISSION_DENIED for workspace admin different from Unity Catalog PERMISSION_DENIED?

Yes. Unity Catalog permission denials relate to data object grants (SELECT, USE CATALOG, etc.), while workspace admin denials relate to control-plane operations such as managing users, clusters, or policies. The error text typically names the control-plane resource.

Can a service principal be a workspace admin?

Yes. You can assign the workspace admin role to a service principal via the Account Console or the SCIM API. This is the recommended approach for automated admin tasks.