Forum Discussion
Error when using Viva Learning to disclose content to employees
We are an organization with approximately 400 employees that have an E5 license. (meaning people should be able to acces internal learning paths/content through Viva Learning.
As such we want to disclose an internal security awareness training listed on SharePoint through Viva learning.
For some reason our admins can open the security awareness training but our employees get an error stating the employee can not watch the content through viva and that they need to contact the admin:
All content is publicly accessible for all employees through our own SharePoint environment. Co-Pilot does not provide an answer? The error message does not disclose what the admin should change.
How can we fix this?
1 Reply
Hi MarnixMoor,
Your setup with E5 licenses is correct — the issue is almost certainly permissions or content source configuration in Viva Learning. Once your SharePoint content source is shared correctly with your employees, they’ll be able to access the security awareness training without the admin-only block.
Why Admins Can See It but Employees Cannot
- Admins usually have broader permissions across SharePoint and Viva Learning. That’s why they can open the content without issues.
- Employees are hitting the error because Viva Learning respects the underlying content source permissions (in your case, SharePoint). If the SharePoint library/folder isn’t configured for Everyone except external users, Viva Learning won’t let them play the content.
Even though employees may be able to open the files directly in SharePoint, Viva Learning acts as a “content aggregator” and requires:
- Correct Viva Learning license assignment (E5 covers this, so you’re fine there).
- Proper permissions on the source content (must be readable by those users).
- Content source properly configured in Viva Learning admin settings.
Things to Check
- Content Source Setup
- Go to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center → Viva Learning settings.
- Confirm that your SharePoint site hosting the training content has been added as a content source.
- Permissions on the SharePoint Library
- Navigate to the SharePoint library/folder where the training content lives.
- Confirm permissions are set for Everyone except external users (or the specific groups representing your 400 employees).
- Avoid relying on inherited permissions if that inheritance is broken.
- File Type / Supported Format
- Viva Learning doesn’t support all file types directly. Common supported formats: SCORM packages (via LMS connectors), videos (MP4), docs, PDFs, and links to learning portals. If the training is a link to another resource, you may need to configure it as a custom learning provider or provide direct file access.
- Caching / Sync Delay
- When permissions are changed or new content is published, Viva Learning can take 24–48 hours to fully sync.
How to Fix It
- Make sure the training library is added as a content source in Viva Learning.
- Update the library’s permissions so all employees (or the security groups they’re in) have Read access.
- Test with a non-admin test account after clearing the Teams cache (since Viva Learning runs inside Teams).
- If it still fails, check Microsoft 365 audit logs for denied access events — that will confirm if it’s a permission issue.
