You are not authorized to perform the requested operation

Symptoms

Sharegate displays the following error:

You are not authorized to perform the requested operation.

Depending on the operation, you might get a different error message starting with "You are not authorized..." or "You do not have permission..." or "You don't have the minimum rights required..."

Error code

Details

There are several reasons this error may occur. Please identify the issue that fits best with your scenario, and consult the next section for the solution to that issue:

1. You are not using the latest Sharegate version
2. Performance is set too high
3. Modifying a read-only document
4. Accessing a user's OneDrive settings without being a Site Collection Administrator
5. Deleting a site content type which is currently in use
6. Adding a document to a Site Collection with a read-only lock
7. A network analyzer application, such as Fiddler
8. You are migrating to a Modern Site in Office 365

Solution

1. You are not using the latest Sharegate version

Ensure you have fully closed Sharegate and restart it to prompt an update.

Please see the System Tray section for instructions on how to close Sharegate.

2. Performance is set too high

Decrease your performance.

Please see this performance section on where to adjust this.

3. Modifying a read-only document

The read-only lock must be disabled. 

Disable the read-only lock prior to the use of Sharegate to ensure that all the requests are processed as intended.

Attempt the operation again.

4. Accessing a user's OneDrive settings without being a Site Collection Administrator

Ensure you have the correct permissions before proceeding.

You must be the Site Collection Administrator to execute the action.

If you have the required access rights, but you still get this error, make sure that you are using the right user account when connecting to SharePoint.

5. Deleting a site content type which is currently in use

Ensure you have the correct permissions before proceeding.

Please note the following recommendations:

• Using Copy Site Objects: Assign yourself as Site Collection Administrator both on the source and destination site collections.
• Using any other features: Ensure you have Full Control permissions on both the source and destination sites, as well as on the selected list or library.

After following these recommendation, attempt the operation again.

If you have the required access rights, but you still get this error, make sure that you are using the right user account when connecting to SharePoint.

6. Adding a document to a Site Collection with a read-only lock

The read-only lock must be disabled. 

Disable the read-only lock prior to the use of Sharegate to ensure that all the requests are processed as intended.

Attempt the operation again.

7. A network analyzer application, such as Fiddler

Verify whether the Fiddler application is running on your PC

If this is the case, you must close Fiddler and attempt the operation again.

8. You are migrating to a Modern Site in Office 365

Manually activate the Custom Script feature at your destination

The Custom Script feature can't be activated automatically in a modern site during the migration. Because of this, Sharegate is not able to migrate the forms, web parts, and ASPX pages. Learn more.

Note: Custom Script is disabled in a modern site when it's created in SharePoint, even if you have it enabled at the tenant level.

To resolve this, you'll need to follow the steps below to activate custom scripting using PowerShell:

1. Download the Sharepoint Online Management Shell.
2. Open a Sharepoint Online Management Shell prompt.
3. Run the two following commands:

Connect-SPOService -Url https://YourDomain-admin.sharepoint.com  
Set-SPOSite -Identity https://YourDomain.sharepoint.com/sites/YourSite -DenyAddAndCustomizePages 0

Run your migration again, and everything should be working properly.

You should set Custom Script back to denied after the migration. To do so, you can run the script again, but this time change the -DenyAddAndCustomizePages value to "1".