Why do I get an Authentication error when adding a Cloud Account even though I know my Access Key ID and Secret Access Key are correct?

You may not be authorized to add the cloud account due to lack of permissions. This is most likely due to not attaching a Policy to the user with the correct permissions.

  1. Log in to your Amazon Web Services Console.
  2. Go to IAM (Identity and Access Management)
  3. In the left navigation pane, click on Users. (If you have already created a user go to step 7)
  4. Click Create New Users to open the Create User dialog window.
  5. Enter a username and select the Generate an access key for each User option.
  6. Record the generated User Security Credentials (Access Key and Secret Key) and close the dialog window.
  7. Back on the Users page, select the User and then click on the Permissions tab.
  8. Click and open Inline Policies.
  9. Click on Create User Policy at the bottom of the window to display the Manage User Permissions dialog window.
  10. Select the Policy Generator option.
  11. Click the Select button to edit the permissions you will grant to the new User.
  12. Select Effect: Allow.
  13. Select AWS Service: Amazon EC2.
  14. Select the following Actions:
  15. Set the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) to: *
  16. Click Add Statement.
  17. Click Continue to generate the permission policy.
  18. Click Apply Policy to apply the policy to the user account