Access Denied Trying to Access SharePoint 2007 Shared Services Provider using SSP Service Account

I recently had an issue trying to attempt to access certain pages in the Shared Service Provider using the service account that runs the SSP!

Thanks to my colleague Ashkan for assisting me with this issue. Basically for some reason the account was not a member in areas it needed to be so I thought I’d write a blog to remind myself if this happens again and also help others struggling with this one.

Firstly I just want to make clear this issue is not due to the LSA registry setting described in a previous blog of mine here.

The SSP service account needs to be a member in the following locations:

1. Site collection admin for SSP Web App
2. SSP->Personalization service permissions (I checked all options)
3. Central Admin->Application Management-> Policy for Web Application (I chose Full Control)

This resolved the issue and I was then able to login!

I also posted my issue on TechNet forums and replied with this blog to close the loop.