Who is this article for?

IT Administrators managing the Microsoft message queue (MSMQ).

Server Administrator or IT Administrator permissions are required.

When performing certain admin tasks you might need to read the MSMQ but get the error message "The list of messages cannot be retrieved. Access is denied.".

1. Issue

Some management and troubleshooting tasks require checking or purging the MSMQ. If you don't have permission to read the queue, you will see this error message.

2. Solution

To resolve this, you will need to either be granted access by a server administrator, or to take ownership of the queue and grant yourself permissions.

To take ownership of the queue:

1. Go to Computer Management.
2. Open Message Queueing.
3. Choose Private Queues.
4. Right-click the queue name.
5. Select Properties.
6. Click Security.
7. Click Advanced.
8. Click Change next to Owner.
9. Select your user account.

10. Click OK.

You will then be able to change permissions for all users.