Powershell script showing access denied error even though connecting through site collection admin user account

Question

I am facing a weird issue in regards to the PowerShell script I am using to import terms from CSV into a termset called Season. Source:http://www.sharepointdiary.com/2016/11/sharepoint-online-import-terms-to-termset-using-powershell.html

Below is the script:

#Load SharePoint CSOM Assemblies
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Taxonomy.dll"

#Variables for Processing
$AdminURL = "https://ignol-admin.sharepoint.com/"
$TermGroupName= "Site Collection - ignol.sharepoint.com-sites-testlpac"
$TermSetName="Season"
$CSVFile ="C:\Users\dm\Desktop\Sampleterm.csv"
$TermHeaderInCSV ="Season"

Try {
    #Get Credentials to connect
    $Cred = Get-Credential
    $Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Cred.Username, $Cred.Password)

    #Setup the context
    $Ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($AdminURL)
    $Ctx.Credentials = $Credentials

    #Get the term store
    $TaxonomySession=[Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Taxonomy.TaxonomySession]::GetTaxonomySession($Ctx)
    $TaxonomySession.UpdateCache()
    $TermStore =$TaxonomySession.GetDefaultSiteCollectionTermStore()
    $Ctx.Load($TaxonomySession)
    $Ctx.Load($TermStore)
    $Ctx.ExecuteQuery()

    #Get Termstore data from CSV and iterate through each row
    Import-Csv $CSVFile | ForEach-Object {

        #Get the Term Group
        $TermGroup=$TermStore.Groups.GetByName($TermGroupName)

        #Get the term set
        $TermSet = $TermGroup.TermSets.GetByName($TermSetName)

        #CSV File Header Row in Term to Add
        $TermName = $_.$($TermHeaderInCSV)

        #Check if the given term exists already
        $Terms = $TermSet.Terms
        $Ctx.Load($Terms)
        $Ctx.ExecuteQuery()
        $Term = $Terms | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq $TermName}

        If(-not $Term)
        {
            #Create Term Set
            Write-host "Creating Term '$TermName'" -ForegroundColor Cyan
            $Term = $TermSet.CreateTerm($TermName,1033,[System.Guid]::NewGuid().toString())
            $Ctx.Load($Term)
            $Ctx.ExecuteQuery()
            $Term.TermStore.CommitAll()
            $TaxonomySession.UpdateCache()
            Write-host "New Term '$TermName' Added Successfully!" -ForegroundColor Green
        }
        else
        {
            Write-host "Term '$TermName' Exists Already!" -ForegroundColor Yellow
        }
    }
 }
Catch {
    write-host -f Red "Error Importing Term store Data!" $_.Exception.Message
}

Below is the error screenshot. I just don't understand why it says access denied, I am the site collection admin.

Below is the CSV file screenshot.

Below is the term store screenshot.

Can someone please help me fix the error. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Check if account used in the script is term store admin. Even if the account is Global admin, it needs explicitly assigned permissions as a term store admin for programmatical access to term store.

How to set term store admin
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/assign-roles-and-permissions-to-manage-term-sets