Permission in SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)

One of the frequently asked question in many forums is “I am an admin on the machine (Windows Vista or Windows 7 or Windows 2k8) where SSRS is installed but I am not able to access the reports”.

Recently I faced a similar issue. I am an admin on the machine which has Windows 2008 R2 installed. On top of it, I installed SSRS 2008 R2 and then configured the RS with proper values.

Then when I tried to access the report manager by navigating to the URL, I got an error message like:

User ‘Domain\User’ does not have required permissions. Verify that sufficient permissions have been granted and Windows User Account Control (UAC) restrictions have been addressed.

I once again checked my configuration but everything looked fine.

Since the error message gave some hint on UAC, I ran the browser as admin and navigated to the report manager.

Now it did not throw any error message. I was able to see the home page and all other menu including the Site Settings.

Closed the browser and opened it again in normal mode. Still it was throwing same error.

Opened the browser again in Admin mode.

Navigated to the home folder and added myself and assigned to all the roles.

After this when I ran the browser in normal mode, I was able to access all report manager and all the folders.

The issue is that by default UAC allows the users (even the administrators) to do the tasks with the privilege of normal user, i.e., say when you open the browser or an application, it is opened with the normal user’s privilege and not that of administrator’s privilege.

What I understood is that when I opened the browser in normal mode, UAC passed standard user’s privilege to SSRS and hence SSRS was not able to identify that I am an admin.

To get the admin access either I have to run the browser in admin mode or add myself explicitly to SSRS System Admin roles.

So you have two options to tackle this issue

<![if !supportLists]>·         <![endif]>Fix it at your SSRS end as outlined above (or)

<![if !supportLists]>·         <![endif]>Manage your UAC appropriately. Have a look at the below one to know more about UAC and how to manage it.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709691(WS.10).aspx

I went for the first option as UAC is mandatory in my ORG and also it helps you to secure your machine.