I was trying to test some security settings the other day and ran into the message below while trying to open a model-driven app using the usual …/main.aspx?appid=… url:
This is not an error message I would have seen before, so I had to retry different security roles etc, all to no avail.
It was like playing peekaboo:
- I am a System Admin, I can see the application
- I am not a System Admin, I cannot see the application and I’m getting that error above
Which is normal for one special licensing scenario: a System Admin does not need a license to perform their development/administrative work (well, in some cases System Admins still do need a license, but that’s not the point). So, for instance, if a license is mistakenly taken away at some point, a System Admin might not even notice it till later.
However, I’m pretty sure there used to be an error message above which would look more like the one described here: Error when accessing an app module – Dynamics 365 Sales | Microsoft Learn
So, since it was not the same message, and I was not aware of loosing the license, I figured “let’s open a support ticket”.
And this is the first time… really the first time… when I got a great piece of advice from the Help + support copilot in the Power Apps Admin Center:
Tried that url, and, to my surprise, it gave me the good old “this user does not have a license” error:
PS. There is, also, a caveat to the access checker. What if you were a system admin? It would always tell you that you are licensed:
But it would not even bother to look at your licenses if you are a System Admininstrator:
So, then, once your System Administrator role is taken away (or if you do it yourself to test something… since you can use “Promote to Admin” to restore you system admin permissions), you may not have access to the model-driven app since you are not a system administrator AND you don’t, really, have a license.
In order to check your licenses, go to “my account” page in M365 and look at your subscriptions there:
