Write Access Denied on new install

7 min

Issue

User gets this error when opening Activate Studio after a new install.

System.Exception: Write Access Denied to //Resources/Studio at Innovation.Activate.Resource.SetInfo() in C:\projects\activatev8\Activate.Library\Resource.cs:line 564 at Innovation.Activate.AdminTask.EnsureAdminTasksRoot() in C:\projects\activatev8\Activate.Library\AdminTask.cs:line 805 at Innovation.Activate.Config.Forms.ImportPackages.Execute() in C:\projects\activatev8\Activate.Config\Forms\ImportPackages.cs:line 64

This error means that the role that administers Activate has not been set correctly, this could be due to SQL permissions or other reasons.

Solution

This issue can be resolved by following these steps to correctly set the Administrators role which will allow rights to modify Activate parameters.

Run Activate Studio in System mode, C:\Program Files\Activate\Instances\<instance name>\ActivateStudio.exe /SYSTEM

Navigate to Roles > System Roles > Administrators

Double click the Members parameter

Click Browse

Search for name of group created for Activate Administrators, select the correct group and click Ok

Click Ok

Close Activate Studio.

Open C:\Program Files\Activate\Instances\<instance name>\ConfigurationWizard.xml as Administrator (you'll need this to save the file)

Delete the <whenUpgrade> line

Before

After

Open C:\Program Files\Activate\Instances\<instance name>\appsettings.json as Administrator (you'll need this to save the file)

Delete the ConnectionString line and the last comma from the ConfigVersion line.

Before

After

Run C:\Program Files\Activate\Instances\<instance name>\ActivateStudio.exe /INSTALLPACKAGES

Click Next

Select Server Installation, click Next

Re-enter Server Name and Database Name, click Next.

Complete Activate Orchestrator details including certificate selection (some details may already be complete).

Complete Activate Web Site creation, ensure you select a certificate. Click Next

Complete SMTP email properties, click Next

Click Finish

Click Finish to import Activate packages.

Activate has now had the issue fixed and the install steps repeated.