Why is SharePoint 2016 PSCONFIG Upgrade Failing with User Does Not Have Permissions?

Question

I receive the following error during PSCONFIG upgrade:

Failed to upgrade SharePoint Products. This is a critical task. You have to fix the failures before you can continue. Follow this link for more information about how to troubleshoot upgrade failures: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=259653

---

An exception of type Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.PostSetupConfigurationTaskException was thrown. Additional exception information: Upgrade [SearchAdminDatabase Name=SearchServiceXXXXX] failed. (EventID:an59t)

Exception: User does not have permission to perform this action. (EventID:an59t)

Upgrade Timer job is exiting due to exception: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): User does not have permission to perform this action.

The account I'm using to run PSCONFIG has sysadmin role and is db_owner on the database.

I reviewed the log file and checked application event viewer which refers to the error above.

Answer 1

It also has to have rights on the service application (search above) to run. I generally run psconfig as the farm account to not have to futz with permissions.

Answer 2

Quote from Microsoft:

"The securityadmin and dbcreator SQL Server security roles might be required for this account during a complete version-to-version upgrade because new databases might have to be created and secured for services"

More inforamtion:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/install/account-permissions-and-security-settings-in-sharepoint-2013#farm-administrator-user--account

Answer 3

I just wanted to agree to the proposed solution by DubStep but to complete a little: The administrators of the Service Applications are set by selecting the blank space over the SA, and clicking on the ribbon option on top "Administrators". This error can happen particularly on the Search Service Application with an account that no longer exists or does not have permissions, it is just a matter of setting a new admin - a farm admin - and permissions, remove the old account, and run the psconfig again. hope it helps.