Authorization Failed, Access Denied, or Blank Screen When Authenticating with Google Drive in Canvas

Environment

Canvas
Google Drive LTI

Issue

A student or teacher is unable to access an embedded Google Drive file. The student or teacher may be prompted to authenticate with Google. After completing the authentication steps, they are presented with an "Access Denied" message, "Authorization failed" message, or a blank screen. Scenarios when this can occur:

• A teacher embedded a Google Drive file into an Assignment details and the student cannot view the file when accessing the Assignment
• A student submitted a Google Drive file as an assignment submission and the teacher cannot view the file in Speedgrader

Resolution

Possible Causes

• The student or teacher may be logged into Google Chrome with multiple Google accounts (UMICH and personal).
• The student or teacher may have a network privacy blocker (for example Privacy Badger) that blocks the ability to authorize.

If Signed Into Google Chrome With Multiple Accounts - try first

1. Sign out of all Google accounts in Chrome and then re-authenticate with only your UMICH account
   1. Sign out of Chrome
2. Clear browser cache and cookies
   1. Clear Cache and Cookies (Temporary Internet Files) 
3. Verify the browser is not blocking third party cookies
   1. Change your cookie settings in Chrome
4. Delete the Google Drive LTI token and Google Drive Registered Services and re-authenticate
   1. In Canvas navigate to Account > Settings
   2. Scroll down to the Registered Services section
   3. If present, delete Google Drive by clicking the red X
   4. Scroll down to the Approved Integration section
   5. Delete Google Drive LTI IAD-Prod by clicking the trashcan icon
   6. Sign back into Google Drive Registered Services
   7. Navigate back to the Assignment, Speedgrader, etc and re-authenticate Google Drive (this should create a new Google Drive LTI token in Account Settings)

If Signed Into Google Chrome With Multiple Accounts - if the above steps did not resolve the issue

It is possible a personal Google account became linked with the Google Drive LTI for Canvas. A non-UMICH account will not be able to authenticate with the Google Drive LTI for Canvas.

1. Log out of Canvas
2. Navigate to https://myaccount.google.com/permissions
3. Click on Google Drive LTI by Canvas
4. At the bottom of the page click Delete all connections you have with Google Drive LTI by Canvas
5. Click Confirm
6. Repeat steps 2-5 for each Google account that was logged into Chrome
   • Note that not all accounts will have Google Drive LTI by Canvas listed, however it is important to remove access for those accounts that do
7. Clear browser cache and cookies
   • Clear Cache and Cookies (Temporary Internet Files) 
   • Clearing the cache and cookies will also log off all Google accounts
8. Close all your browser windows and relaunch Chrome
9. Log back into Canvas
10. Navigate to the Assignment, Speedgrader, etc and re-authenticate Google Drive

Additional Information

• Check out the new Academic Technology@Michigan website for course planning resources from across U-M
• Visit the Canvas @ Michigan site for faculty including the U-M Instructor Guide with links to additional support resources from across campus
• Check out the Canvas and MiVideo tutorials

For additional questions, please contact the ITS Service Center