Find Azure DevOps User by ID
The scenario
In the Development stage of my Azure Release process, I want to deploy a NuGet package to Azure Artifacts. If all looks good, I can approve the push to production, which deploys it to NuGet.
The Error
The nuget command failed with exit code(1) and error(System.AggregateException: One or more errors occurred. --->
NuGet.Protocol.Core.Types.FatalProtocolException: Unable to load the service index for source
https://timewarpenterprises.pkgs.visualstudio.com/_packaging/dfe61826-f0b9-46b3-a391-23626fc363f2/nuget/v3/index.json. --->
System.Net.Http.HttpRequestException:
Response status code does not indicate success: 403
(Forbidden - User '8e67c1e7-85bf-4ab6-883c-9e4f9eab747d' lacks permission to complete this action.
You need to have 'ReadPackages'.
(DevOps Activity ID: 6BC7EC93-FAE4-404D-AEC5-A7A3D737506B)).
The key part of the error:
User '8e67c1e7-85bf-4ab6-883c-9e4f9eab747d' lacks permission to complete this action.
You need to have 'ReadPackages'
The User Experience
The error message does a great job of giving a precise ID of the user. Yet doesn't give a descriptive name of that user. Nor could I find anyway to search via the Azure Dev Ops UI to find a user by ID.
The Workaround
Thankfully Azure Dev Ops has a nice REST API that comes to our rescue. By no means should this be considered a proper user experience.
Using the user list endpoint:
https://vssps.dev.azure.com/{organization}/_apis/graph/users?api-version=5.1-preview.1
One can query all the users and get back json.
From the result you can search for the GUID that was in the error message and determine the Name of that account.
With the name you can then search in Azure Dev Ops for the user and grant them the appropriate permissions.
Don't forget a good superhero keeps their code clean and tested. With actionable error messages.