Add-PnPFile: Access Denied

[polar]

I cannot get this to work. I want to provision a new site from an existing one. I use Get-PnPSiteTemplate and Invoke-PnPSiteTemplate, but it does not seem to get any real files, such as those from "Site Assets". I don't know why. I use the "Files" Handler, but it doesn't seem to do anything. So now, I am forced to take an alternative approach.

Connect-PnPOnline https://_tennant_.sharepoint.com/sites/OldSite -Credentials (Get-Credential)
Get-PnPFile -Url "SiteAssets/__siteIcon__.jpg" -AsFile -Path "." -FileName "__siteIcon__.jpg" -Force

$conn = Connect-PnPOnline https://_tennant_.sharepoint.com/sites/NewSite -Credentials (Get-Credential) -ReturnConnection
Add-PnPFile -Path "__siteIcon__.jpg" -Folder "Site Assets" -Connection $conn
Access denied. You do not have permission to perform this action or access this resource. 

I read something in the old repository about some authentication/authorization issue concerning whether the principal is a site owner or not. Just let me say that my credentials (polar@tenant.onmicrosoft.com) is the sole owner and administrator of the tenant. I can create the sites easily enough. Really. Seriously. There is nobody else, no other users. This is a default setup from onmicrosoft.com.

Also, another question is why doesn't Get-PnPSiteTemplate download any items in "Site Assets" into the PNP file? Especially since I specify the handlers, such as Pages,PageContents,Files,Theme,Features,Fields?

Connect-PnPOnline -Url -Url https://_tennant_.sharepoint.com/sites/OldSite -Credentials (Get-Credential)
Get-PnPSiteTemplate -Out template.pnp -Handlers Pages,PageContents,Files,Theme,Features,Fields

If I examine template.pnp, there are really no files in the directory structure (it is a ZIP file) other than the hash code named XML file for the template.

I just want to set up a base site, then just propagate it to new sites. Also, where does one find good documentation on these handlers?

I did use PnP.PowerShell 1.5.0. I now am using PnP.PowerShell 1.5.44-nightly with the same results.

[polar]

Also, the following does not work either. What am I doing wrong?

 Add-PnPFolder -Folder "https://_tennant_.sharepoint.com/sites/NewSite" -Name "FolderName"
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Access denied. You do not have permission to perform this action or access this resource.        

[polar]

Looks like the problem is with the scripting. I had to do the following to get around the AccessDenied problems:

Set-PnpSite -NoScriptSite $false