73

SETUP: SQL Server 2005 & DotNetNuke 05.01.02.

This started with me trying to install a DNN Module that had "select * from dbo.sysobjects" in it's SQL scripts. That failed with the following error:

The SELECT permission was denied on the object 'sysobjects', database 'mssqlsystemresource', schema 'sys'.

I logged into the database via SQL Server Management Studio as the DNN user account, and I get the same error when I try and perform a SELECT on the sysobjects view.

I tried to grant the DNN user account explicit SELECT permission to that view. When I check it by going to Security -> Users -> DNNUserLogin-> right-click -> Properties -> Securables and scroll down to find the sys.sysobjects view, it says this user account has explicit permissions for dbo: And the SELECT checkbox is checked. But I still cannot perform a select on the sysobjects view as that DNN user account.

What am I doing wrong? How can I make this work?

8 Answers 8

134

This was a problem with the user having deny privileges as well; in my haste to grant permissions I basically gave the user everything. And deny was killing it. So as soon as I removed those permissions it worked.

5
  • 14
    Don't worry that makes two of us! Cheers for posting the answer.
    – Yos
    Commented Feb 20, 2013 at 12:01
  • 6
    How do it Fix it.explain the steps and help others Commented Apr 15, 2015 at 8:19
  • 2
    Make it six! :D FYI, I use Toad for SQL Server. I went into the data base which had the issue > Security > Roles > for both db_denydatareader and db_denydatawriter, I removed the user account experiencing the problem.
    – dvsoukup
    Commented Sep 14, 2016 at 14:57
  • 1
    7th here :D removing db_denydatareader and db_denydatawriter resolved the issue Commented Aug 6, 2018 at 10:02
  • If you had this problem on SSMS, go to your server > Security > Logins > 'your user' > right-click Properties > User Mapping > unclick 'db_denydatareader' + 'db_denydatawriter'
    – Grant
    Commented Jan 6, 2023 at 19:16
45

I had the same error and SOLVED by removing the DB roles db_denydatawriter and db_denydatreader of the DB user. For that, select the appropriate DB user on logins >> properties >> user mappings >> find out DB and select it >> uncheck the mentioned Db user roles. Thats it !!

4
  • This was my problem! Though, I use Toad for SQL Server. As soon as I removed the denys it seemed to have worked.
    – dvsoukup
    Commented Sep 14, 2016 at 14:53
  • to accomplish this use the command: exec sp_droprolemember 'db_denydatawriter', 'username' and exec sp_droprolemember 'db_denydatareader', 'username'
    – kavain
    Commented Oct 12, 2017 at 18:12
  • Cool! It helped me! Commented Jan 31, 2018 at 7:20
  • Microsoft [server] software is already a complex forest of nobs and dials, as always, but on top of that, they mix in deny roles with the access roles. Genius. 🙄(When many of us are here because we were hastily clicking every single privilege checkbox for the user in order to get rid of the last database access error)
    – velkoon
    Commented Jan 18, 2022 at 17:10
5

Execute this code on a good server which will provide you the complete rights for PUBLIC role. Copy the output and paste to the server with the issue. Execute. Try logging in again. It fixed our problem.

SELECT  SDP.state_desc ,
        SDP.permission_name ,
        SSU.[name] AS "Schema" ,
        SSO.[name] ,
        SSO.[type]
FROM    sys.sysobjects SSO
        INNER JOIN sys.database_permissions SDP ON SSO.id = SDP.major_id
        INNER JOIN sys.sysusers SSU ON SSO.uid = SSU.uid
ORDER BY SSU.[name] ,
        SSO.[name]
1

Since there are so many possibilities for what might be wrong. Here's another possibility to look at. I ran into something where I had set up my own roles on a database. (For instance, "Administrator", "Manager", "DataEntry", "Customer", each with their own kinds of limitations) The only ones who could use it were "Manager" role or above--because they were also set up as sysadmin because they were adding users to the database (and they were highly trusted). Also, the users that were being added were Windows Domain users--using their domain credentials. (Everyone with access to the database had to be on our domain, but not everyone on the domain had access to the database--and only a few of them had access to change it.)

Anyway, this working system suddenly stopped working and I was getting error messages similar to the above. What I ended up doing that solved it was to go through all the permissions for the "public" role in that database and add those permissions to all of the roles that I had created. I know that everyone is supposed to be in the "public" role even though you can't add them (or rather, you can "add" them, but they won't "stay added").

So, in "SQL Server Management Studio", I went into my application's database, in other words (my localized names are obscured within <> brackets): " (SQL Server - sa)"\Databases\\Security\Roles\Database Roles\public". Right-click on "public" and select "Properties". In the "Database Role Properties - public" dialog, select the "Securables" page. Go through the list and for each element in the list, come up with an SQL "Grant" statement to grant exactly that permission to another role. So, for instance, there is a scalar function "[dbo].[fn_diagramobjects]" on which the "public" role has "Execute" privilege. So, I added the following line:

EXEC ( 'GRANT EXECUTE ON [dbo].[fn_diagramobjects] TO [' + @RoleName + '];' ) 

Once I had done this for all the elements in the "Securables" list, I wrapped that up in a while loop on a cursor selecting through all the roles in my roles table. This explicitly granted all the permissions of the "public" role to my database roles. At that point, all my users were working again (even after I removed their "sysadmin" access--done as a temporary measure while I figured out what happened.)

I'm sure there's a better (more elegant) way to do this by doing some kind of a query on the database objects and selecting on the public role, but after about half and hour of investigating, I wasn't figuring it out, so I just did it the brute-force method. In case it helps someone else, here's my code.

CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[GrantAccess]
AS
DECLARE @AppRoleName AS sysname

DECLARE AppRoleCursor CURSOR LOCAL SCROLL_LOCKS FOR
    SELECT AppRoleName FROM [dbo].[RoleList];

OPEN AppRoleCursor

FETCH NEXT FROM AppRoleCursor INTO @AppRoleName
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN

    EXEC ( 'GRANT EXECUTE ON [dbo].[fn_diagramobjects] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT EXECUTE ON [dbo].[sp_alterdiagram] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT EXECUTE ON [dbo].[sp_creatediagram] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT EXECUTE ON [dbo].[sp_dropdiagram] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT EXECUTE ON [dbo].[sp_helpdiagramdefinition] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT EXECUTE ON [dbo].[sp_helpdiagrams] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT EXECUTE ON [dbo].[sp_renamediagram] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 

    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[all_columns] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' )
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[all_objects] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[all_parameters] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[all_sql_modules] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[all_views] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[allocation_units] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[assemblies] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[assembly_files] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[assembly_modules] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[assembly_references] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[assembly_types] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[asymmetric_keys] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[certificates] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[change_tracking_tables] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[check_constraints] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[column_type_usages] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[column_xml_schema_collection_usages] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[columns] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[computed_columns] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[conversation_endpoints] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[conversation_groups] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[conversation_priorities] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[crypt_properties] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[data_spaces] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[database_audit_specification_details] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[database_audit_specifications] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[database_files] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[database_permissions] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[database_principal_aliases] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[database_principals] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[database_role_members] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[default_constraints] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[destination_data_spaces] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[event_notifications] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[events] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[extended_procedures] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[extended_properties] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[filegroups] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[foreign_key_columns] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[foreign_keys] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[fulltext_catalogs] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[fulltext_index_catalog_usages] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[fulltext_index_columns] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[fulltext_index_fragments] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[fulltext_indexes] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[fulltext_stoplists] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[fulltext_stopwords] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[function_order_columns] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[identity_columns] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[index_columns] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[indexes] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[internal_tables] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[key_constraints] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[key_encryptions] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[message_type_xml_schema_collection_usages] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[module_assembly_usages] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[numbered_procedure_parameters] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[numbered_procedures] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[objects] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[parameter_type_usages] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[parameter_xml_schema_collection_usages] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[parameters] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[partition_functions] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[partition_parameters] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[partition_range_values] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[partition_schemes] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[partitions] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[plan_guides] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[procedures] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[remote_service_bindings] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[routes] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[schemas] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[service_contract_message_usages] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[service_contract_usages] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[service_contracts] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[service_message_types] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[service_queue_usages] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[service_queues] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[services] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[spatial_index_tessellations] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[spatial_indexes] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[sql_dependencies] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[sql_modules] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[stats] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[stats_columns] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[symmetric_keys] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[synonyms] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[syscolumns] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[syscomments] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[sysconstraints] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[sysdepends] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[sysfilegroups] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[sysfiles] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[sysforeignkeys] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[sysfulltextcatalogs] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[sysindexes] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[sysindexkeys] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[sysmembers] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[sysobjects] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[syspermissions] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[sysprotects] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[sysreferences] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[system_columns] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[system_objects] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[system_parameters] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[system_sql_modules] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[system_views] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[systypes] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[sysusers] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[table_types] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[tables] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[transmission_queue] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[trigger_events] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[triggers] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[type_assembly_usages] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[types] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[views] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[xml_indexes] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[xml_schema_attributes] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[xml_schema_collections] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[xml_schema_component_placements] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[xml_schema_components] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[xml_schema_elements] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[xml_schema_facets] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[xml_schema_model_groups] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[xml_schema_namespaces] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[xml_schema_types] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[xml_schema_wildcard_namespaces] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 
    EXEC ( 'GRANT SELECT ON [sys].[xml_schema_wildcards] TO [' + @AppRoleName + '];' ) 

    FETCH NEXT FROM AppRoleCursor INTO @AppRoleName
END

CLOSE AppRoleCursor
RETURN 0

GO

Once that is in the system, I just needed to "Exec GrantAccess" to make it work. (Of course, I have a table [RoleList] which contains a "AppRoleName" field that contains the names of the database roles.

So, the mystery remains: why did all my users lose their "public" role and why could I not give it back to them? Was this part of an update to SQL Server 2008 R2? Was it because I ran another script to delete each user and add them back so to refresh their connection with the domain? Well, this solves the issue for now.

One last warning: you probably should check the "public" role on your system before running this to make sure there isn't something missing or wrong, here. It's always possible something is different about your system.

Hope this helps someone else.

2
  • Any reason you didn't just grant SELECT on the whole sys schema?
    – siride
    Commented Sep 16, 2015 at 17:16
  • 2
    You mean, "any reason other than being overly paranoid?" :-) Actually, I didn't think of it. I suppose that would work too--and might do a better job of being upward-compatible.
    – Lowell
    Commented Sep 17, 2015 at 18:34
0

It looks like someone might have revoked the permissions on sys.configurations for the public role. Or denied access to this view to this particular user. Or the user has been created after the public role was removed from the sys.configurations tables.

Provide SELECT permission to public user sys.configurations object.

0

I solved this by referring properties of login user under the security, logins. then go to User Mapping and select the database then check db_datareader and db_dataweriter options.

0

In my case, my site was hosted on shared hosting and there was a resource over usage not even relating to my database, thus my database was locked down, the hosting panel was Plesk

1
  • Can you please explain it a bit?
    – Hello
    Commented Jul 27, 2020 at 23:34
0

In my case, simply giving the user permissions on the database fixed it.

So Right click on the database -> Click Properties -> [left hand menu] Click Permissions -> and scroll down to Backup database -> Tick "Grant"

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