Custom Connectors not visible - tried all solutions

[hwa_tmo]

Background:

- Installed PowerBI Desktop both from store and downloaded x64.exe => same result
-> this folder: "C:\Users\xxx\Documents\Microsoft Power BI Desktop\Custom Connectors"  OR
-> this folder "C:\Users\xxx\Documents\Power BI Desktop\Custom Connectors"

They never exist after install, but I have created them. 

I have a .mez file, that I place in those directories. 

After installing PowerBI Desktop, I always set "Security" -> "Data Extensions" to "Not recommended - allow any extension". 

Now, however much I try to complete these steps, it always fails to show my custom connector in the list. 

In my project I have defined it like this:

XXX.Publish = [

    Beta = true,

    Category = "Other",

    ButtonText = { "Connect to XXX", "Connect to XXX application" },

    LearnMoreUrl = "https://www.example.com/learnmore",

    Functions = { "Customers" } // 

];

I have not seen any questions anywhere on the web, where any other solution would be provided, than to create the folders (Custom Connectors) and set the security setting to allow all extensions. 

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

-Harri

[otienowin]

Thank you

[josedvm]

Hi,

Actual path used by Power BI doesn't seem so predictable.

Try this:

- Download Process Monitor (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procmon)

- Run Process Monitor and capture file system events where Path contains "Custom Connectors"

- Run Power BI

Here is what showed up for me but for another mate showed a path in a network share!

[PetrosP85]

My Friend, you are a life saver!! After running process monitor I managed to resolve this issue. It looks like Onedrive sync (having linked my onedrive sync for Documents) becomes the new custom connector document location, so c:\users\XXX\[one drive...]\Documents\[Custom connector folder path]. However, Powerbi it seems can read two folders: Microsoft Power BI Desktop  or Power BI Desktop, and if you have both one of them will over ride the other. I had originally used one of these folder naming conventions and tried to switch without deleting the other. Any changes need to have powerbi restarted (we also use some shared resources and you have to kill the entire PBI process in windows).

[eduardosilvin3]

You are the best!! after hours playing with a lot of options, PShell, uninstall, blah blah blah and a lot of Chat GPT, your solution did it! appreciate it so much!

Best regards

[joarvat]

I had the following problem after I installed Power BI Desktop app on new system: I created the Documents\Power BI Desktop\Custom Connectors directory and dropped the .mez connector file there.  I made sure to allow unverified connectors in the settings.  But connector did not show up.  After a while I found out the the Power BI Desktop was now looking under OneDrive\Documents instead.  Once I created the necessary directories and placed the connector file there, it shows up.

[hwa_tmo]

Hi

Thanks, that was a good thing to try, but unfortunately, still no success. 

I now have the folder in all these places:

C:\Users\myname\Documents\Power BI Desktop
C:\Users\myname\Documents\Microsoft Power BI Desktop
C:\Users\myname\OneDrive\Documents\Microsoft Power BI Desktop

C:\Users\myname\OneDrive\Documents\Power BI Desktop

C:\Users\myname\OneDrive - XXXX\Documents\Microsoft Power BI Desktop

C:\Users\myname\OneDrive - XXXX\Documents\Power BI Desktop

In all of these I have the "Custom Connectors" folder, which contains just one file:
xxxx-powerbi.mez

The contents of which is basically:

XXX.Publish = [

    Beta = true,

    Category = "Other",

    ButtonText = { "Connect to XXX", "Connect to XXX application" },

    LearnMoreUrl = "https://www.example.com/learnmore",

    Functions = { "Customers" } // 

];

And yet this is never to be found by PowerBI

Thanks for the help, still looking for answers 😑

[hwa_tmo]

Hi

Thanks, but not a solution. 
All of those links just propose to complete the steps I have allready taken (and explained in my opening):

• Create the folder manually for Custom Connectors and place the .mez file there
• Set the security policy to allow any extension in PowerBI

I am looking for further ways to debug, why the custom connector just will not be available in the connector list.

BR,

Harri 

[Anonymous]

Hi @hwa_tmo ,

Regarding your question, I've searched for articles that you can refer to in order to see if there are any errors in creating your own custom connectors.

Create a Power Query custom data connector in 10 minutes - SQLGene Training

Building a custom connector for Power BI that supports OAuth2 to visualize my wellness data (jussiro...

If there is no problem creating the custom connector, you can refer to the following article to see if the custom connector is deployed correctly.

Custom Data Connector: How to Deploy and Test - Microsoft Fabric Community

Best Regards,
Wenbin Zhou
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