Power BI Desktop - Failed connection to SQL Server Analysis Services through OLE DB connection

[Mikespan]

Hi everyone, 

I'm having some trouble in connecting from PBI desktop through OLE DB to my semantic model published in Power BI service, while in Excel works perfectly. I've already installed the client libraries needed, thus MSOLAP, AMO and ADOMD.

Firstly I tried to connect copying the procedure code used in Excel, thus:

let
Origine = OleDb.DataSource(

"Provider=MSOLAP.8;
Initial Catalog = (filename);
Data Source = powerbi://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/(filename);",

[Query =

"DEFINE ... EVALUATE..."])

in

Origine

but the following error message occurred:

DataSource.Error: OLE DB: IErrorInfo.GetDescription non riuscito con E_FAIL(0x80004005).
Message=IErrorInfo.GetDescription non riuscito con E_FAIL(0x80004005).
ErrorCode=-2147467259

Then I tried to connect using "Get data" from Power BI service, using the following connection strings:

1. The same string as before:

Provider=MSOLAP.8;
Initial Catalog = (filename);
Data Source = powerbi://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/(filename);

2. This alternative string:

Provider=MSOLAP.8;

Initial Catalog=sobe_wowvirtualserver-25026f7d-8077-462e-83fe-cbee25932ea0;

Data Source=pbiazure://api.powerbi.com;MDX Compatibility=1;

Safety Options=2;

MDX Missing Member Mode=Error;

Identity Provider=https://login.microsoftonline.com/common, https://analysis.windows.net/powerbi/api, 929d0ec0-7a42-4b2e-bc7c-b754a28bddcc;

Update Isolation Level=2

In both cases I received an error related to service principal authentication:

"Service principal profile is only supported in service-principal authentication flows."

So I used alternative credentials to overcome the problem. Nevertheless, the connection resulted in the same error as before:

"OLE DB: IErrorInfo.GetDescription non riuscito con E_FAIL(0x80004005)."

Can someone help me? Hope I've explained clearly.

Thank you

[Akash_Varuna · Accepted solution]

Hi @Mikespan The error occurs because Power BI Desktop doesn’t support OLE DB (MSOLAP) connections to Power BI Service datasets. Unlike Excel, PBI Desktop requires connecting via “Get Data” → “Power BI Datasets” for published semantic models. OLE DB fails due to unsupported authentication and connection flow. For advanced access, use XMLA endpoints with supported tools like SSMS.