Hi Steve,

I thought about that and I had checked the permission - seems fine (SQL Server users have special permission to create files / append data etc). Also I would have thought if permission was an issue then the result would be same when running from SSMS just by itself. What is confusing me is the difference in result between running from a Stored Procedure and running the same by itself as mentioned in my post earlier.

As a sysadmin on the server - should permission be an issue for sysadmin?

Thanks,

Bikram