PERMISSION_DENIED error while trying to start a SQL warehouse

Make sure the SQL warehouse owner is an active member of the workspace.

Written by priyanshi.david

Last published at: June 30th, 2025

Problem

When attempting to start a SQL warehouse you encounter the following error. 

Request to create a cluster failed with an exception: PERMISSION_DENIED: Principal <user-id> is not part of org: <workspace-id>.

 

Cause

The SQL warehouse is still owned by a user who is no longer part of the workspace. 


Since Databricks requires a valid and active user to manage warehouse ownership, it fails to initialize the cluster when that user is missing, resulting in the particular PERMISSION_DENIED error.

 

Solution

Assign a new owner to the SQL warehouse.

  1. Select the affected warehouse.
  2. Navigate to Permissions > Settings > Assign New Owner
  3. Choose a new owner who is either a workspace admin or a user with unrestricted cluster creation permissions.
  4. Save your changes and restart the warehouse.

     

For more information, refer to the Create a SQL warehouse (AWS | Azure | GCP) documentation.