User '%' does not have required permissions, SSRS 2012 on Windows 7

Question

After a fresh install of SQL Server 2012 Developer on my Windows 7 machine, I configure SSRS. Then, in IE (version 11), I try to access the SSRS server at http://(servername)/Reports. Windows asks for my username and password. Odd, because I'm an administrator. So I enter my username and password and I get this reply:

User '' does not have required permissions. Verify that sufficient permissions have been granted and Windows User Account Control (UAC) restrictions have been addressed.

Researching the issue, I come across a number of answers, including:

Reporting Services permissions on SQL Server R2 SSRS
SSRS 2008: User Does Not Have Required Permissions

The answers to these questions are similar:

1. Run IE as an administrator
2. Add the SSRS URL to Trusted Sites in Security tab of Internet Options
3. Retry SSRS URL
4. On success, add your user to Site Settings and Folder Settings with the appropriate permissions.
5. You should then be able to access SSRS without running IE as administrator

Additional workarounds include disabling UAC and repeating the steps above.

Running IE as an administrator did not work. At step 3. I got the same response as above and was never able to get to the SSRS home page.

Before disabling UAC, are there any other workarounds?

Answer 1

The workaround I found is from Peter O’Gorman's blog entry.

The steps above are the same, except add the URL to Local Intranet, not Trusted Sites:

1. Run IE as an administrator
2. Add the SSRS URL to Local Intranet in Security tab of Internet Options
3. Retry SSRS URL
4. On success, add your user to Site Settings and Folder Settings with the appropriate permissions.
5. You should then be able to access SSRS without running IE as administrator

To my pleasant surprise, this worked like a charm. Thanks Peter!