AX Issue: 'Method 'Start' in COM object of class '_TillLayoutDesigner' returned error code 0x80131904 () which means: Login failed for user 'DOMAIN\USERNAME'

When attempting to access the POS layout designer in AX 2012 for Retail, depending on how permissions are setup, you may get the error 'Method 'Start' in COM object of class '_TillLayoutDesigner' returned error code 0x80131904 (<unknown>) which means: Login failed for user 'DOMAIN\USERNAME'' (Figure 1 below)

Figure 1 

Solution:

This could be the result of:

• DLLs not being installed
• the user getting this error does not have permissions to use the DLLs. It  This should be part of the install process but if new users are added, its entirely possible their users don't have specifically granted access. 
• The user getting this error does not have the required database permissions for the ActiveX controller to get to the required tables

As a first step, make sure the appropriate DLLs are in place and installed on the client machine where the user is getting this error (if appropriate). The files need to be on ever client where the POS designer is going to be used.

As a second step, check that the user has access to the DLL. Go to the till layout designer DLL (probably C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics AX\60\client\Bin\TillLayoutDesigner.dll), right click and go to properties, click on the security tab, and make sure the user attempting to reach the DLL's has permissions to get here.

As a third step, we need to look at the database security that the ActiveX control is using. AX for Retail has a concept called 'Toolbox users'. These users will utilize features in Retail Headquarters (AX) that use a Microsoft ActiveX control that requires direct access to the AX DB. Below are the actions that use these controls. The highlighted ones are the only ones we are interested for this error.

• Till layouts
• Form layouts
• Button grids
• Item images
• Item bar codes
• Language-specific item descriptions
• Retail POS operations
• Sales tax overrides
• Payment types

To remedy this, do the following for each user of Microsoft Dynamics AX that should have access to these features in SQL Server Management Studio: 

1. Create a new SQL Server user for the Microsoft Dynamics AX database by using Windows authentication and the user’s Windows logon ID.
2. On the Securables page, grant the user Delete, Insert, Select, and Update permissions to the following tables: 
1. POSISBUTTONGRID
2. POSISBUTTONGRIDBUTTONS
3. POSISFORMLAYOUT
4. POSISIMAGES
5. POSISTILLLAYOUT
3. Grant the user Select permission to the following tables  
1. INVENTTABLE
2. INVENTTXT
3. INVENTITEMBARCODE
4. POSISOPERATIONS
5. RBOSALESTAXOVERRIDE
6. RBOSALESTAXOVERRIDEGROUPMEMBER
7. RBOSTORETABLE
8. RBOSTORETENDERTYPETABLE