Join us at FabCon Atlanta from March 16 - 20, 2026, for the ultimate Fabric, Power BI, AI and SQL community-led event. Save $200 with code FABCOMM.
Register now!Calling all Data Engineers! Fabric Data Engineer (Exam DP-700) live sessions are back! Starting October 16th. Sign up.
I know Direct Query does not work when retreiving data from two separate servers, in which case Import must be used, but will it work if the two servers are linked?
Direct quyery have a several limitations
You should use a Data Virtualization Plataform such as Querona querona.com to connect multiple data sources and also permit to have the data on line
@Anonymous
I have made some tests in my Power BI desktop (Feb 2018 update). And I can use Direct Query to load linked server data with SQL statement in Advanced options:
Also, there's other way to load linked server in Power BI. Please refer:
https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/specifying-linked-server/td-p/294416
Thanks,
Xi Jin.
Thanks for the fast reply @v-xjiin-msft! I see you were able to query the linked server by itself but are you able to query both the linked Server and non-linked Server in the same query using Direct Query mode?
@Anonymous
Nope. It is not possible to query non-linked server.
Thanks,
Xi Jin.
Sorry, I should have been more clear in my question. Let me ask it a different way: in a scenario where two servers are linked, can both be queried in Direct Query mode at the same time or can just one of them?
Wow, been a little bit since I've worked with linked servers. But, I'm going to go with probably not on this one. Typically linked servers are configured to enable the Database Engine to execute a Transact-SQL statement that includes tables in another instance of SQL Server, or another database product such as Oracle. But, those linked servers are still essentially separate instances or references and you generally have to write some funky SQL to reference them.
Join the Fabric FabCon Global Hackathon—running virtually through Nov 3. Open to all skill levels. $10,000 in prizes!
Check out the October 2025 Power BI update to learn about new features.