Cannot publish to Power BI

[mphatak68]

Hi All

I am trying to separate out my original PBIX file which contained report pages and semantic model into:

File1: Reports only

File2: Semantic Model only

File1 gets published fine but File 2 produces the following error:

"An error occurred while attempting to publish 'File2.pbix'. Publishing failed for an unknown reason (unknown error)."

Full error message:

Request ID fe8d988d-6732-4f8d-9ed6-fc7124790688
Activity ID 554a3af2-e64d-49be-8013-b065006b286a
Service URL https://wabi-north-europe-g-primary-redirect.analysis.windows.net/
Error Code UnknownError
Session ID 554a3af2-e64d-49be-8013-b065006b286a
Client version 2.148.1477.0

Any idea what I could be doing wrong?

Thanks

[mphatak68 · Accepted solution]

Found the problem.

I had tried to delete all report pages in my PBIX file, and I think that (a) either this is not allowed, or (b) the file got corrupted somehow in this process.

So now, I have deleted all report pages except the 'main' report page, then I just hid the main report page.

The file now uploads into PBI without problem. 

Hope this helps someone else out there with the same issue.

[danextian]

You can publish the semantic model containing the reports then download it again from the service as live connection. Rename the live connection file then publish it. You can delete the pages from the one with the semantic model. 

[Greg_Deckler]

@mphatak68 So typically you would want to publish your semantic model first, then connect to it in your report only file as a Live connection. Typically for an error message like that you would need to engage Microsoft support so that they could tell you want the underlying error is. I would remove everything from the Service, rename your files, publish out your semantic model. Connect to the semantic model with your report only file and go from there.

[Praful_Potphode]

Hi @mphatak68 ,

Did you follow below steps:

• First publish your file with semantic model with blank pages.
• Then connect to your semantic model in live connection,copy paste your visuals and publish it.

If this is the approach you followed ,please share more details about steps you followed.

Please give kudos or mark it as solution once confirmed.

Thanks and Regards,

Praful

[mphatak68]

Thanks for your suggestion, Praful

I did indeed try to publish my file containing the semantic model, but with the report pages deleted. This is when I get the 'unknown error'.

So I assume it is something to do with the way I am deleting the report pages.

I will investigate further and report back on this forum topic.

[Ahmed-Elfeel]

Hi @mphatak68,

Here are the top things to check and try, in order of likelihood:

When you save a semantic model only file, Power BI Desktop might be saving it in the new Power BI Project (PBIR) format instead of the traditional PBIX format (The PBIR format is not yet supported in all environments)

To Fix this :

• Open your File2.pbix in Power BI Desktop.
• Go to File > Options and Settings > Options.
• Select the Save tab on the left
• Make sure that the option for Save .pbix files as Power BI Project files is UNCHECKED
• Now save your file (you might want to do a Save As to be safe)
• Try publishing this newly saved file again

Another Approach:

If the direct publish still fails you can often bypass the issue entirely by uploading the file:

• Go to your Power BI Service workspace in a web browser.
• Click on Get Data
• Choose Files and then select Local File
• Browse to and upload your File2.pbix

Note: 

• This process achieves the same result as publishing from the Desktop and often works when the standard method fails

if this post helps, then I would appreciate a thumbs up and mark it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[mphatak68]

Thanks for your suggestion, Ahmed-Elfeel

In File > Options, I see no mention of 'Power BI Project' files, and my files are always stored as PBIX, so I assume this is not the issue.

Your second idea to go to PowerBI Service and 'Get Data' (in my version of PBI Service it seems to be called 'Import' for some reason), uploading my local File2.pbix file also does not work. I get the same "unknown error" as before.

There must be something wrong with the way I have deleted the reports to arrive at File2.pbix but Microsoft (being Microsoft) do not seem to understand the power of informational error messages. Instead, I get random garbage with Request IDs, Access IDs and Error Codes which state 'unknown'. (Been working with Microsoft technologies since the early 1990s, so nothing new there...)

Will keep poking around...

Thanks anyway !

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