Lack of "workspaces:RegisterWorkspaceDirectory" permission when registering a Workspaces Directory

Question

Hi, I am using Terraform to provision a new Amazon Workspaces. I have an AD Connector created and linked to our internal domain. The next step is to create a Workspaces Directory. Part of creation is to link the Directory to the AD Connector using the Terraform "aws_workspaces_directory" resource. However, I've got the following error when running the Terraform code even though the user below is granted AmazonWorkSpacesAdmin & AWSDirectoryServiceFullAccess permission policies.

` Error: error registering WorkSpaces Directory (d-xxxxxxxxxx): AccessDeniedException: User: arn:aws:iam::xxxxx:user/xxxx is not authorized to perform: workspaces:RegisterWorkspaceDirectory on resource: arn:aws:workspaces:us-east-1:xxxxx:directory/d-xxxxxxx because no identity-based policy allows the workspaces:RegisterWorkspaceDirectory action`

Is there anybody who knows what permission policy is needed to grant the "workspaces:RegisterWorkspaceDirectory" action? If I read the error correctly, the user is lack of permission to register workspace directory with the AD connector? If so, how do I check who has such permission on the AD Connector?

Thank you.

Accepted Answer

I can't find that permission in any of the managed policies (including `AmazonWorkSpacesAdmin`) aside from granting `AdministratorAccess`, so I'd recommend attaching an inline policy [1] to your IAM user similar to the following:
```
{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "workspaces:RegisterWorkspaceDirectory",
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}
```

You might need to add more permissions (or just `workspaces:*`) to this if you get any more errors like this.

Looking at the [docs](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/aws/latest/docs/resources/workspaces_directory), you'll also need to create the [workspaces_DefaultRole](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/workspaces/latest/adminguide/workspaces-access-control.html#create-default-role) if you haven't already.

[1] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_manage-attach-detach.html

Answer

Thanks, Ed! You suggestion works well. I am surprised even AmazonWorkSpacesAdmin permission policy does not include the register action. Appreciate your quick reply!

Lack of "workspaces:RegisterWorkspaceDirectory" permission when registering a Workspaces Directory

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