ORA-01031: insufficient privileges

Cause: An attempt was made to change the current username or password without the appropriate privilege. This error also occurs if attempting to install a database without the necessary operating system privileges. When Trusted Oracle is configure in DBMS MAC, this error may occur if the user was granted the necessary privilege at a higher label than the current login.

Action: Ask the database administrator to perform the operation or grant the required privileges. For Trusted Oracle users getting this error although granted the the appropriate privilege at a higher label, ask the database administrator to regrant the privilege at the appropriate label.

There are two possible areas to look at.

1. Operating System:
In Windows, install Oracle software and database as Administrator or as a group member of Administrators Group. The user also needs to belong to ORA_DBA group. Open the Groups folder under Local Users and Groups on the Computer Management console.
Expand the Computer Management window and read the descriptions of the Administrators and ORA_DBA groups. The ORA_DBA group description says: “Members can connect to the Oracle database as a DBA without a password.” Add the user to the group.

You can also use the following command to add user to ORA_DBA group:

C:\> net localgroup ora_dba rene /add

2. Oracle database:
In most cases, the user receiving this error lacks a privilege to create an object (such as a table, view, procedure … etc). Use the following command in sqlplus to add privilege:

GRANT create table TO appadm;
-- This will grant "create table" privilege to appadm user