How to troubleshoot “Access Denied” error in MS SharePoint Server 2007?

Recently my friend had faced a very strange problem while working on SharePoint. Whenever he tried to access his site an “Access Denied” error message pop ups on his computer screen. Let's discuss the cause and solution of this error. This error might occurs if a user does not have required permission to access a site, blog, list, document etc. To resolve this error a user needs to check the permission in following way.

Solution: Check all the permission in the following manner:

Check direct permissions: There are two ways of granting permission to user one is direct permission and another is group permission.

1. In the homepage, go to Site Actions-> Site Settings.
2. Now go to Advanced Permissions and check if you have permission here.
3. If you don't have permission then go to next step.

Check group permissions: You can create groups with permission by adding other users and granting the same permission to them.

1. In the homepage, go to Site Actions-> Site Settings.
2. Go to People and Groups.
3. You can check all groups on the top left of site.
4. Now check each group to find who all are member of this site.
5. If you are also listed in the group then you have permission, if not then you don't have permission.

Add permissions

1. Go to Site Settings-> Advanced Permissions-> Site permissions
2. Click the group name-> New-> Add User.
3. This will allow administrator to add user to a group or create a new group.

Remove permissions

1. Go to Site Settings-> Advanced Permissions-> Site Permissions
2. Click select a user(s)-> Actions-> Remove User Permissions.

Check group permissions: If you are a part of some group but still can't access site that means you don't have permission to access the site.

1. In the homepage, go to Site Actions-> Site Settings.
2. Go to Users and Permissions-> People and Groups.
3. Select the group which you are member of.
4. Go to Settings -> Group Settings.