"Access Denied" error when a SharePoint 2010 workflow sends an email to a group

  • Article
  • Applies to:
    SharePoint Server 2019, SharePoint Server 2016, SharePoint Server 2013, SharePoint Server 2010, SharePoint Designer 2013, SharePoint Designer 2010

Symptoms

When a SharePoint 2010 workflow sends an email to a SharePoint group which contains multiple valid users, it fails to complete and you receive an "Access Denied" error.

Cause

This error might be caused when the owner of the SharePoint group to which Workflow is attempting to send the email falls under one of the following scenarios:

  • The group owner has an invalid account or the account no longer exists in SharePoint site.
  • The group owner doesn't have full control or has limited permission to the SharePoint site.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, update the SharePoint group owner to a user who has full control or full permissions to the site.

More information

The Universal Logging System (ULS) will display output similar to what follows:

Exception occurred in scope Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SPUtility.SendEmail. Exception=System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED))    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPGlobal.HandleUnauthorizedAccessException(UnauthorizedAccessException ex)    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.GetUsersDataAsSafeArray(String bstrUrl, UInt32 dwUsersScope, UInt32 dwUserCollectionFlags, String bstrValue, UInt32 dwValue, UInt32& pdwColCount, UInt32& pdwRowCount, Object& pvarDataSet)    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPUserCollection.InitUsersCore(Boolean fCustomUsers, String[] strIdentifiers, SPUserCollectionFlags ucf)    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPUserCollection.Undirty()    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPBaseCollection.GetEnumerator()    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SPUtility.ResolveAddressesForEmail(SPWeb web, IEnumerable`1 addresses, AddressReader func)    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SPUtility.SendEmail_Client(EmailProperties properties)    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.ServerStub.Utilities.SPUtilityServerStub.InvokeStaticMethod(String methodName, ClientValueCollection xmlargs, ProxyContext proxyContext, Boolean& isVoid)    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ServerStub.InvokeStaticMethodWithMonitoredScope(String methodName, ClientValueCollection args, ProxyContext proxyContext, Boolean& isVoid)

Original error: System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED))    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPGlobal.HandleUnauthorizedAccessException(UnauthorizedAccessException ex)    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.GetUsersDataAsSafeArray(String bstrUrl, UInt32 dwUsersScope, UInt32 dwUserCollectionFlags, String bstrValue, UInt32 dwValue, UInt32& pdwColCount, UInt32& pdwRowCount, Object& pvarDataSet)    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPUserCollection.InitUsersCore(Boolean fCustomUsers, String[] strIdentifiers, SPUserCollectionFlags ucf)    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPUserCollection.Undirty()    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPBaseCollection.GetEnumerator()    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SPUtility.ResolveAddressesForEmail(SPWeb web, IEnumerable`1 addresses, AddressReader func)    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SPUtility.SendEmail_Client(EmailProperties properties)    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.ServerStub.Utilities.SPUtilityServerStub.InvokeStaticMethod(String methodName, ClientValueCollection xmlargs, ProxyContext proxyContext, Boolean& isVoid)    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ServerStub.InvokeStaticMethodWithMonitoredScope(String methodName, ClientValueCollection args, ProxyContext proxyContext, Boolean& isVoid)

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