Installing vCenter Server 5.5 – The DB user entered does not have the required permissions

I’m installing vCenter Server 5.5 on a Windows 2012R2 server (with SQL 2012 on a different server).  I’ve setup the DSN and now the installation fails with the following error:

The DB user entered does not have the required permissions needed to install and configure vCenter Server with the selected DB. Correct the following error(s):

The database user ‘vc_sql_serv’ does not have the following privileges on the ‘WebbWorld’ database:
EXECUTE sp_add_category
EXECUTE sp_add_job
EXECUTE sp_add_jobschedule
EXECUTE sp_add_jobserver
EXECUTE sp_add_jobstep
EXECUTE sp_delete_job
EXECUTE sp_update_job
SELECT syscategories
SELECT sysjobs
SELECT sysjobsteps

After  lot of playing around with permissions, and banging my head against the desk, I figured out that this message was a bit misleading, and I needed to change the permissions on the msdb database:

1. Open SQL Management Studio and log in to the appropriate instance

2. Expand Security -> Logins

3. Right-click the appropriate user and select Properties

4. On the User Mapping page grant db_owner rights

5. Click OK

6. Retry the vCenter Server installation