Forum Discussion
404 error. Web Contents failed
This has been working fine for years. Getting error all of the sudden:
I don’t remember the exact wording of the original post, but here’s what worked for me:
I had to update all my Web.Contents connections to SharePoint.Files connections using the SharePoint Folder option in Power BI’s “Get Data” menu. This was due to a persistent 404 error that was preventing my report from refreshing.
After doing some research (including using Copilot), I found that Microsoft made a change that affects how Power BI connects to SharePoint-hosted files.
🔄 Power BI now favors using SharePoint.Contents or SharePoint.Files over Web.Contents for accessing files in SharePoint.
The Web.Contents method is now more prone to:
- Authentication issues
- Path sensitivity
- 404 errors, especially when folder structures or permissions change
I love Microsoft, but in this case, the change cost me over 5 hours of rework — I had to update 5 tables in a large report I manage for my job.
7 Replies
Hello Russo
A couple of points you could pay attentions to when you trouble shoot,
Did someone in your org rename file or move the file to a different folder in Sharepoint?
Did your account or the system account lose access/permissions to the file itself, the file folder or the "Shared Documents" library. You can verify you have at least Read access to the file and all parent folders
Was the file accidentally deleted by someone? You can manually navigate to the SharePoint site and check if the file exists.
Hope this helps:)
Hi Russo
Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Forum Community, and special thanks to MasonMA for prompt and helpful response.
Just following up to see if the responses provided by community member were helpful in addressing the issue.
If one of the responses helped resolve your query, please consider marking it as the Accepted Solution. Feel free to reach out if you need any further clarification or assistance.
Best regards,
Prasanna Kumarno the one from MasonMA is not correct. there was a 2nd reply I was working on that seemed correct but is no longer here. I'm using the sharepooint connector method, but now having trouble combinning my M codes
The 2nd reply I recived Yesterday was accurate and very helpful. Thank you for reaching back out. I no longer see the 2nd reply not sure why I guess the person deleted it.
What's the second reply? You may post it here and mark it as solution so that other users can find it.
thanks!
