"Access denied" on many questions

[alexolog]

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Copilot Feature Area

Copilot in GitHub

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https://github.com/copilot spews out "Access denied. You do not have permission to view this." on many questions.

Here's an example that demonstrates that trivial questions get answered but "real" ones do not:

This is completely unacceptable.

[neilsarmisstrong]

Same with me, as soon as I ask it to explain something to me this happens

[Mursith-Sharma]

Suggestions to resolve or clarify:
Check your GitHub Copilot subscription and login status — make sure you have the correct subscription level and you’re logged into the right GitHub account.

Verify repository or discussion visibility — some questions or issues might belong to private repos or internal GitHub projects.

Try accessing from a different browser or clear cache — sometimes login sessions get mixed up.

Contact GitHub Support or check official GitHub Copilot docs to understand permission scopes and if any additional steps are required.

If you are a member of an organization or team, ensure you have been granted the necessary access rights.

[neilsarmisstrong]

I think I figured it out: for me it seems to be necessary to allow the usage of public code in the GitHub Copilot settings.

[alexolog]

I am using my company's corporate account, and the settings are locked. In particular, web access is disabled.

When I removed "verify your suggestions according to official documentation" from the prompt, Copilot magnanimously agreed to generate the code.

This is still an issue, since instead of giving a helpful comment like "I cannot access the web" and (hopefully) proceeding with a best-effort attempt, I get an extremely unhelpful (and likely incorrect and misleading) error message with no answer at all.

[grahame-student]

I've also seen this behaviour when using Copilot via the web interface. We also have the policy enabled to not allow the use of public code.

From a commercial perspective I can appreciate this protection, however some of it does seem overly protective. For example asking copilot to update a .net core project(s) from 5.0 to 8.0 is pretty much guaranteed to trigger this error!

[nake89]

This is incredibly frustrating. Copilot should retry. If it is the company policy to not use public code. Then copilot should not waste my time printing public code. Especially when I have not asked it to do that!

[DigitalChef1591]

this all the sudden is now happening to me, was working fine and now if i ask it anythign related to my projecti get that message but putting something like test works. i am a paid user and have it all enabled i dont know what to do

[samirxpikachuio]

Try signing out of your GitHub account and then signing back in

[Mursith-Sharma]

Suggestions to resolve or clarify:
Check your GitHub Copilot subscription and login status — make sure you have the correct subscription level and you’re logged into the right GitHub account.

Verify repository or discussion visibility — some questions or issues might belong to private repos or internal GitHub projects.

Try accessing from a different browser or clear cache — sometimes login sessions get mixed up.

Contact GitHub Support or check official GitHub Copilot docs to understand permission scopes and if any additional steps are required.

If you are a member of an organization or team, ensure you have been granted the necessary access rights.

[Ashish05555]

Hello GitHub Support,

I am the creator and owner of a Copilot Space, but I am receiving an "Access denied. You do not have permission to view this." error when trying to access it.

• My GitHub username: Ashish05555
• The link to the conversation/space: [https://github.com/copilot/c/5c2deabb-e7e0-455c-975d-57df6e6e5d58]
• I am logged in with the correct account (the one that created the space).
• I have tried logging out/in, clearing cache, using different browsers, and using both regular and incognito windows.
• This issue persists and I cannot access the space that I created.
• I am a GitHub Pro user and would appreciate expedited assistance.
• Screenshots are attached for your reference.

Thank you!

[Mursith-Sharma]

Suggestions to resolve or clarify:
Check your GitHub Copilot subscription and login status — make sure you have the correct subscription level and you’re logged into the right GitHub account.

Verify repository or discussion visibility — some questions or issues might belong to private repos or internal GitHub projects.

Try accessing from a different browser or clear cache — sometimes login sessions get mixed up.

Contact GitHub Support or check official GitHub Copilot docs to understand permission scopes and if any additional steps are required.

If you are a member of an organization or team, ensure you have been granted the necessary access rights.

[Ashish05555]

I have done all these things 2-3 times and still the problem persists

[username200022]

what a useless "help"

[alexolog]

This is getting ridiculous:

How are we supposed to use model for coding if it keeps refusing?
Mind you, this is a from a corporate account: we are paying for the privilege of getting refusals.

[gocowim]

This also occurred here for the first time today:
I requested that MVC classes be generated for TYPO3 CMS "Extbase" extensions.

The first time, Copilot was able to generate three class definitions, but then the access error occurred.
After reloading the page, large parts of the conversation were no longer there.
I made the same request, and this time the error occurred after Copilot had generated only two class files.

Therefore, it all seems a bit random to me. IMHO more an error than a "safety feature".

Edit:
No issues in VS Code with the same prompt. So it's definitely not an issue with my subscription (through my organization)...

[JBeber]

I am also having this issue in a long-running conversation:

I have tried all the troubleshooting steps mentioned in this thread.

[gocowim]

I would gladly file a bug report, but where?

IMHO this looks like an authorization failure issue. While chatting, authorization somehow expires temporarily...
Maybe some browser incompatibility?

[JBeber]

Same. Not sure where to file a bug report. I have reproduced the error on Chrome, Edge, and Safari.

[SteelRat1962]

For me, it always happens when Copilot tries to send me my .htaccess file after I requested some changes. Access denied every time. It also does it for inexplicable reasons here and there.

[neo191987]

Hello, same problem for me.

[gocowim]

@alexolog Hi Alex, maybe you could add the label "Bug" to this thread?

[alexolog]

Gladly, if I could.

[neo191987]

I cancelled my subscription, too many problems and limitations. It doesn't work for me in this form. You need to fix the disconnection because if it is long the code stops generating, if you fix this problem I will renew my subscription again.

[pparh602]

I'm trying to sign up copilot and started with 30 days trial. Now when I'm trying to access the web interface I'm getting error: Access denied. You do not have permission to view this.
And when I'm trying to sing in vs code with copilot. I'm getting following error:
Thank you for using GitHub Copilot. Your subscription has ended. You are currently logged in as ${username}.
I've tried sign up to plus tier after my monthly quota for free tier is expired.

[Diodium]

Like wtf, still no answer or hotfix for this issue?

[gocowim]

Does it still happen?

[SteelRat1962]

Does it still happen?

Yes, frequently.

[MichalKalanka]

Literally just started happening to me, nearly every single reply to my project is
Error
Access denied. You do not have permission to view this. , this is literally second day after subscribing

[amytton-biomedicalds]

I intermittently receive this error when using the web-based chat

[gocowim]

I opened another discussion a few days ago, which has the Bug label.
The consent there was to open a support ticket.
I didn't do it because the error didn't occur for me anymore.

[Gitjm34]

so nice

[pure-night]

2026.04 too

[benoittgt]

I have exaclty this on the chat, just 10min after I got the answer. I got 403 on https://api.individual.githubcopilot.com/github/chat/threads/<uid>/messages error: thread not authorized