Troubleshoot - SPMT - You must be a site collection administrator ...

Synopsis: SharePoint Migration tool is failing in bulk during csv import with an error message

Published June 16th, 2026
Last Modified: June 16th, 2026

Issue Symptons:
  • "You must be a site collection administrator in the destination to perform this task"









    • Troubleshooting Sections

      1.) Solution: Sign in method

      2.) Other: Reboot

      3.) Other: Assign Site Collection Admin in Bulk via PowerShell script

    Sign in Method

      Changing the sign in method from 'No, this app only', to 'Yes' solved this issue during my testing.





    Reboot

      Rebooting the server that was running the SharePoint Migration Tool had no impact on the error message.


    Update permissions

      I have come accross SPO environments with unexplainable, yet broken permissions. My first instinct here was to correct them in bulk via powershell.

      I have created a script here that can assign the admin as a site collection administrator to each respective site. As noted above, this was not required but will be helpful in the future I'm sure.

    • GitHub Script


    Newest Post