Forum Discussion
SSMS connection failure to reporting services
Hello,
we recently migrated the Report Server to a new machine running the latest SQL Server Standard 2025 (Dev). The Report Server version was upgraded to January 2026.
Unfortunately, I am no longer able to connect to the Reporting Services instance via SSMS (22.6). I am using Windows Authentication with the system administrator account.
In the instance selection for Reporting Services, the local instance MACHINE\PBIRS is visible, but the connection attempt fails after some time.
The reported cause is a generic error message:
Cannot connect to the server at "MACHINE\PBIRS". The specified URL may not be valid, or there may be an issue with the report server version or configuration. Specify a different URL, or contact the server administrator to verify that the report server is running SQL Server 2008 or later. Also, when attempting to connect to a SharePoint integrated report server, ensure that SharePoint is installed on the server and that the report server is configured for SharePoint integrated mode. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UI.RSClient)
Hi Xriz,
Thank you for the update.Since the Web Service URL (/ReportServer) is returning HTTP 500, the issue now appears to be with the Power BI Report Server configuration rather than SSMS itself. SSMS connects through the Report Server Web Service endpoint, so if /ReportServer cannot load successfully, SSMS connections will also fail. The fact that the Web Portal is accessible, but the Web Service URL does not indicate that the Report Server service is reachable but encountering an internal error during initialization.
As a next step, please review the PBIRS log files and Windows Event Viewer for errors generated when accessing /ReportServer. Also verify in Report Server Configuration Manager that the Report Server database connection is valid, the service account has the required permissions, and the encryption keys were restored successfully after the migration. If accessing http://localhost/reportserver (or the configured HTTPS URL) locally also returns HTTP 500, this would confirm a PBIRS configuration issue rather than a network or VPN routing problem. Sharing the relevant log entries should help identify the exact cause of the failure.The problem has been resolved. The cause was a custom installation to an alternative path. This resulted in the virtual user attempting to start the service lacking write permissions (more precisely, delete permissions) to the folder containing the service.
8 Replies
Hi Xriz,
Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.
Based on your description, the issue started after migrating and upgrading Power BI Report Server. Since the PBIRS instance is visible in SSMS but the connection fails, this typically points to an issue with the PBIRS endpoint configuration, URL accessibility, SSL bindings, migration settings, or a potential compatibility issue between the January 2026 PBIRS release and SSMS 22.6.
As a first step, please verify that the Power BI Report Server service is running and confirm whether you can access both the Web Portal URL (https://<server>/reports) and the Web Service URL (https://<server>/reportserver) directly from a browser. If either URL is inaccessible, the issue is likely with the PBIRS configuration rather than SSMS. Also review the configuration in Report Server Configuration Manager (Web Service URL, Web Portal URL, Database, Service Account), verify that the encryption keys were restored successfully after the migration, and check the PBIRS log files for any errors during the connection attempt. Additionally, test with the latest SSMS version to rule out a compatibility issue.Refer these links:
1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/report-server/getting-around?
2. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/report-server/install-report-server?Could you please confirm whether the /reports and /report server URLs are accessible and whether any relevant errors appear in the PBIRS logs? This will help narrow down the root cause.
Hi Xriz,
Just wanted to follow up. If the shared guidance worked for you, that’s wonderful hopefully it also helps others looking for similar answers. If there’s anything else you'd like to explore or clarify, don’t hesitate to reach out.Thank you.
Hi Xriz,
Just wanted to follow up. If the shared guidance worked for you, that’s wonderful hopefully it also helps others looking for similar answers. If there’s anything else you'd like to explore or clarify, don’t hesitate to reach out.Thank you.
Thanks for all the tips. It looks like we're generally having network issues on the new machine caused by a self-hosted VPN. I'm currently trying to investigate and fix them. That said, I’ve updated the report server to the latest version and set up the web portal URL and the web service URL locally as recommended. Unfortunately, I can only access the portal URL through the browser via [MachineName]reportsbrowse. The web service URL [MachineName]ReportServer doesn’t work and gives an HTTP 500.
Hi Xriz,
Thank you for the update.Since the Web Service URL (/ReportServer) is returning HTTP 500, the issue now appears to be with the Power BI Report Server configuration rather than SSMS itself. SSMS connects through the Report Server Web Service endpoint, so if /ReportServer cannot load successfully, SSMS connections will also fail. The fact that the Web Portal is accessible, but the Web Service URL does not indicate that the Report Server service is reachable but encountering an internal error during initialization.
As a next step, please review the PBIRS log files and Windows Event Viewer for errors generated when accessing /ReportServer. Also verify in Report Server Configuration Manager that the Report Server database connection is valid, the service account has the required permissions, and the encryption keys were restored successfully after the migration. If accessing http://localhost/reportserver (or the configured HTTPS URL) locally also returns HTTP 500, this would confirm a PBIRS configuration issue rather than a network or VPN routing problem. Sharing the relevant log entries should help identify the exact cause of the failure.
Check that the Report Server service is running and that the Web Service URL opens in a browser. Also verify PBIRS/SSMS version compatibility and review Report Server logs for detailed errors. If the web portal works but SSMS cannot connect, the issue is likely configuration or tool compatibility.
