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Russo's avatar
Russo
Icon for Helper I rankHelper I
1 year ago
Solved

404 error. Web Contents failed

This has been working fine for years.  Getting error all of the sudden:  
  • Russo's avatar
    Russo
    1 year ago

    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.