Received an HTTP 401 Error When Trying to Authenticate with ADP's Security Token Service
Error
An HTTP 401 error is returned from the ADP Security Token Service when you fail to provide valid credentials in the request header.
Resolution
Take the following suggested troubleshooting steps before contacting your ADP Representative for assistance:
- Make sure you have base-64 encoded in your Open Authorization 2 (OAuth2) Client ID and Client Secret before sending them to the Authorization header.
- Make sure you are also base-64 encoding the colon (": ") between your OAuth2 Client ID and Client Secret.
- Make sure there is a space between Basic and your base-64 encoded credentials.
- Make sure you are including your ADP-issued SSL Certificate in the request.
Received an HTTP 401 Error from Other APIs
Error
An HTTP 401 error is returned from APIs other than the ADP Security Token Service when you fail to provide a valid bearer token in the request header.
Resolution
Take the following suggested troubleshooting steps before contacting your ADP Representative for assistance:
- Make sure you have added an Authorization header to your request along with the bearer token you fetched from the ADP Security Token Service.
- Make sure you have a space between the Bearer and the token you are using in the Authorization header.
- Check the body of the response for an "expired token" message. If that message is present in the response, fetching a fresh bearer token and resubmitting your request should resolve the issue.
Received an HTTP 403 Error
Error
An HTTP 403 error is returned from the server when the bearer token you provided is valid, but you are not authorized to access the resource you have requested.
Resolution
First, confirm that you have not made a mistake in the request Uniform Resource Indicator (URI). If the request URI is correct, contact your ADP Representative to request access to the URI in question.