CREATE DATABASE permission denied in database 'master' (Entity Framework apps) Print

Your database has not been deleted

If your website or application stopped working with the error CREATE DATABASE permission denied in database 'master', your database and your data are still there. The application is trying to create its database because it has wrongly decided that the database does not exist. Database logins on our servers cannot create databases (new databases are created in Plesk), so the attempt fails with this error.

Who is affected

This mostly affects ASP.NET applications on the .NET Framework (ASP.NET MVC 5, Web Forms, Web API 2) that use Entity Framework 6 Code First. That includes the user database in Visual Studio's standard ASP.NET Identity template (ApplicationDbContext).

It started after the Plesk security update applied to our servers on October 28, 2026, which stops database logins from listing the databases on the server (see Why are my MS SQL databases not listed in SSMS or Visual Studio?). When an Entity Framework 6 application starts, it checks whether its database exists by looking for it in that server-wide list. Your login can no longer see your database in the list, so Entity Framework concludes that the database is missing and tries to create it. Your login can still open your database, so the fix is to tell Entity Framework to skip this check.

Fix 1: turn off the check in web.config (no rebuild needed)

1. In Plesk, open Files and find web.config in your site's root folder (usually httpdocs). Download a copy first as a backup, then edit the file.
2. Find the <entityFramework> section. Inside it, add a <contexts> block (or add a line to the one that is already there) with one <context> line for each database context your application uses:

   <entityFramework>
     <contexts>
       <context type="MyApp.Models.ApplicationDbContext, MyApp" disableDatabaseInitialization="true" />
     </contexts>
     <!-- leave the rest of the section as it is -->
   </entityFramework>

3. Replace MyApp.Models.ApplicationDbContext with the full name (namespace and class name) of your context class: the class that inherits from DbContext or IdentityDbContext. Replace MyApp after the comma with your application's assembly name, which is the name of its DLL in the bin folder without .dll.
4. Save the file. The application restarts automatically.

If your web.config has no <entityFramework> section, use Fix 2 instead. If the error continues after saving, check the class and assembly names for typos.

Fix 2: turn off the check in code

If you prefer to change the code, add this line before the database is first used, for example at the start of Application_Start in Global.asax.cs, then rebuild and publish the application:

Database.SetInitializer<ApplicationDbContext>(null);

Add one line for each context class, with your class name in place of ApplicationDbContext. Database is in the System.Data.Entity namespace.

If your application applies migrations when it starts

Applications that use the MigrateDatabaseToLatestVersion initializer update the database schema when they start. Those updates run the same check, so they fail in the same way. With either fix above, the application no longer applies migrations by itself. When you have new migrations, generate a SQL script from them in Visual Studio and run it against your database in SSMS, or open a ticket and we will help.

ASP.NET Core and Entity Framework Core applications

Entity Framework Core checks for your database by opening it directly, so the Plesk update does not cause this error. If an ASP.NET Core application reports it, the application could not open the database named in its connection string and then tried to create it. The usual cause is a wrong database name, server or login. Check that:

• The Database (or Initial Catalog) value matches the database name in Plesk under Websites & Domains > Databases exactly.
• The server is the one the database is on: sql2022-001.adaptivewebhosting.com,1433 for SQL Server 2022, or sql2025-001.adaptivewebhosting.com,1433 for SQL Server 2025.
• The login is attached to that database under User Management on the same page.

See Troubleshooting SQL Server Connection Issues for more help with connection strings.

Creating a new database

Database logins cannot create databases on our servers. This is intentional and cannot be changed for an account. To add a database, log in to Plesk and go to Websites & Domains > Databases > Add Database, then point your application at the new database.

Still not working?

Open a support ticket with your database name, the full error message, and whether your application uses Entity Framework 6 or Entity Framework Core. Please do not include passwords.