The SQL error 1032 is generally listed in the Event Viewer in the Application Log due to the use of a default account as a service account.

As a part of our Server Management Services, we help our Customers to fix SQL related errors regularly.

Let us today discuss the possible causes and fixes for this error.

What is SQL error 1032?

As we discussed earlier the 1032 SQL error triggers when we install Microsoft SQL Server or SQL Server Analysis Services. It happens when we use the default account as a service account for these applications. The services start fine but we see several errors listed in the Event Viewer in the Application Log that relates to Error 1032.

There are at least 3 events logged for Error 1032 from source ESENT with Event ID 455, 489, and 490. For instances of SQL Server (SQLServr.exe),

It logs the Event ID 489, 455, and 490 with the respective descriptions given below.

sqlservr (3472) An attempt to open the file "C:Windowssystem32LogFilesSumApi.log" for read only access failed with system error 5 (0x00000005): "Access is denied. ". The open file operation will fail with error -1032 (0xfffffbf8).Error 1032

sqlservr (3472) Error -1032 (0xfffffbf8) occurred while opening logfile C:\Windows\system32\LogFiles\Sum\Api.log.

sqlservr (1932) An attempt to open the file “C:\Windows\system32\LogFiles\Sum\Api.chk” for read / write access failed with system error 5 (0x00000005): “Access is denied. “. The open file operation will fail with error -1032 (0xfffffbf8).

The instances of SQL Server Analysis Services (Msmdsrv.exe), logs the error as:

msmdsrv (4680) An attempt to open the file "C:\Windows\system32\LogFiles\Sum\Api.chk" for read / write access failed with system error 5 (0x00000005): "Access is denied. ". The open file operation will fail with error -1032 (0xfffffbf8).
msmdsrv (4680) Error -1032 (0xfffffbf8) occurred while opening logfile C:\Windows\system32\LogFiles\Sum\Api.log.
The system is unable to read Api.chk and Api.log files in C:\Windows\system32\LogFiles\Sum folder. This is a known issue in SQL Server 2012.

Causes for SQL error 1032?

The most common reason for the SQL error 1032 is insufficient permissions for the service startup accounts for SQL Server and Analysis Services. It triggers the error messages that we saw earlier while they access the following folder for logging as a part of the Software Usage Metrics feature:

C:\Windows\System32\LogFiles\Sum

How to fix the SQL error 1032?

We can fix the 1032 error by providing read and write permission to the service accounts. This need to be provided for the accounts running SQL Server (sqlservr.exe) and Analysis Services (msmdsrv.exe) on the folder C: \Windows\System32\LogFiles\Sum.

We don’t generally provide full permission for these accounts. This folder is for the Software Usage Metrics (SUM) feature. SUM uses the User Access Logging Service in Windows Server 2012. We need to add the Network Service account to this folder with modify permissions.

If the service account is a Virtual Account “NT SERVICE\MSSQLSERVER”, here is the process:

1.Right-click the file or folder you want to set permissions.
2.Click Properties.
3.Click the Security tab.
4.Click Edit.
5.Click Add.
6.Type NT SERVICE\MSSQLSERVER in the object name box.
7.Click OK.
8.If you get a window to choose from multiple objects that match the name entered, choose MSSQLSERVER account.
9.Add permissions that are needed to the MSSQLSERVER account.

For named instances, the virtual account that needs the folder permissions depends on the named instance name. For example if the named instance is Test, add permissions to following virtual account:

"NT SERVICE\MSSQL$TEST"

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Conclusion

In short, the SQL error 1032 triggers due to insufficient permission of the service accounts during the installation of  Microsoft SQL Server or SQL Server Analysis Services. Today, we saw how our Support Engineers fix this error.