terraform apply is failing with the following error. What next step should you take to determine the root cause of the problem? Error: yaml CopyEdit Error loading state: AccessDenied: Access Denied st

The correct answer is B. Set TF_LOG=DEBUG.. The error message indicates an authentication issue (403 - Access Denied), which requires debugging Terraform logs. Setting TF_LOG=DEBUG enables detailed logs, providing insights into API requests, state loading, and authentication errors. Terraform does not log errors in /var/lo

Submitted by kavita_s· Apr 18, 2026Use Terraform CLI

Question

terraform apply is failing with the following error. What next step should you take to determine the root cause of the problem? Error: yaml CopyEdit Error loading state: AccessDenied: Access Denied status code: 403, request id: 288766CE5CCA24A0, host id: web.example.com

Options

ARun terraform login to reauthenticate with the provider.
BSet TF_LOG=DEBUG.
CReview /var/log/terraform.log for error messages.
DReview syslog for Terraform error messages.

How the community answered

(45 responses)

A
9% (4)
B
84% (38)
C
4% (2)
D
2% (1)

Explanation

The error message indicates an authentication issue (403 - Access Denied), which requires debugging Terraform logs. Setting TF_LOG=DEBUG enables detailed logs, providing insights into API requests, state loading, and authentication errors. Terraform does not log errors in /var/log/terraform.log or syslog, making options C and D A (terraform login) is only relevant for Terraform Cloud, but this error appears to be related to provider authentication.

Topics

#Terraform CLI debugging#Error troubleshooting#TF_LOG#State backend access

Community Discussion

No community discussion yet for this question.

Full TERRAFORM-ASSOCIATE-004 Practice