---
title: "Why do I get the error 'HTTP Error: 401. You do not have privileges to access this project. Please contact a project owner or an administrator of this account' when I try to initialize my Catalyst project using catalyst init?"
url: https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/faq/cli/cli-init-error-401/
description: "This issue will occur when you try to initialize your project in a folder that already contains a Catalyst project from a different account. This issue will …"
last_updated: 2026-11-13T05:00:22Z
service: All Services
type: faq
---

This issue will occur when you try to [initialize your project](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/cli/v1/initialize-resources/introduction/) in a folder that already contains a Catalyst project from a different account. This issue will also occur when you try to initialize a project in a new folder in a location where another project was previously initialized from a different account. 

For example: Assume you initialize a project in this location: *C/windows/system32/catalyst/aliencity*

If the roots of the folders named catalyst, system32, or windows already have a Catalyst project initialized in them, you will encounter this error. However, you can have projects in these directories within their own folders.

To resolve this issue, delete all Catalyst related files including the hidden file named `.catalystrc` from the current folder as well as from the other folders in the path, and then execute the `catalyst init` command again.