Power BI Desktop: Pop-up windows not appearing, app becomes unresponsive

[Agaspicy]

Hi 👋🏻 

I'm hoping someone has experienced this and can help. Power BI Desktop opens fine but becomes completely unusable once I try to do anything that opens a secondary window; for example clicking Settings, or trying to connect to a new data source. The pop-up window never appears and Power BI gets stuck.

My setup:
- Power BI version: 2.152.1057.0 (Microsoft Store version)
- WebView2 version: 146.0.3856.78
- Windows 10, domain-managed machine

What I have already tried:
- Uninstalled and reinstalled Power BI multiple times (both Store and MSI versions)
- Reinstalled WebView2 runtime
- Cleared all Power BI caches including the MSIX container
- Full MSIX package reset via Reset-AppxPackage
- Tested across multiple user accounts same issue on all
- Disabled GPU rendering
- Tried setting PBI_enableWebView2Preview=0

What diagnostics revealed:
- Power BI process runs healthy (Responding: True)
- WebView2 processes spawn correctly
- Using Windows API to enumerate windows, the Settings (Options) dialog IS being created successfully, it exists at coordinates 0,0 with correct dimensions but it never appears on screen
- All other applications open pop-up windows normally  so issue is specific to Power BI
- No ASR, Exploit Protection or quarantine events in Windows Defender logs
- ForegroundLockTimeout is at default value (200000)
- Issue started immediately after a Microsoft Defender update was deployed last Friday 

So my question is Question:
Has anyone seen this behaviour where Power BI creates dialogs in the background but they never surface? Any suggestions welcome particularly around what could cause a specific app's modal windows to be created but remain invisible and unfocusable while all other apps work normally.

Thank you

[Agaspicy]

Thank you for taking time to respond, unfortunately none of the suggested solutions resolved the issue. We went through every step mentioned (reinstalls, cache resets, WebView2 repair, GPU changes, display adjustments, different user profiles, etc.), but the behaviour stayed exactly the same. It is worth menitoning that only my machine was affected, all other users environments worked correctly. 
In the end the only thing that was left was a full Windows reinstall.The machine is still with IT for a full rebuild, and once I get it back I’m hoping the issue will be resolved. 

So I guess we will never know! 

[v-kpoloju-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Agaspicy, 

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum. Also, thanks to @Ritaf1983,  for her inputs on this thread.

Based on everything you tested, this clearly isn’t a normal Power BI issue. Since the dialogs are being created but never shown, the problem is happening at the OS/UI level, not within Power BI itself. The timing with the Defender update and the fact that only your machine was affected strongly point to a machine-specific conflict (likely involving display rendering, GPU layer, or security policies interacting with WebView2). 

At this stage, you had already exhausted all meaningful application-level fixes (reinstall, cache reset, WebView2 repair, GPU/display changes, multiple profiles). The only remaining path would have been isolating the environment further (e.g., testing outside domain policies or temporarily disabling security controls), but since the issue persisted and was limited to one device, proceeding with a full Windows rebuild is a valid and appropriate resolution. This kind of issue is typically caused by underlying OS or policy corruption, and a rebuild is often the only reliable way to fully clear it.

Refer these links:
1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/fundamentals/desktop-get-the-desktop 
2. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/desktop-error-launching-desktop 

Hope that clarifies. Let us know if you have any doubts regarding this. We will be happy to help.

Thank you for using the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.

[v-kpoloju-msft]

Hi @Agaspicy, 

Just checking in to see if the issue has been resolved on your end. If the earlier suggestions helped, that’s great to hear! And if you’re still facing challenges, feel free to share more details happy to assist further.

Thank you.

[v-kpoloju-msft]

Hi @Agaspicy, 

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.

[v-kpoloju-msft]

Hi @Agaspicy, 

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum. Also, thanks to @Ritaf1983, for those inputs on this thread.

Has your issue been resolved? If the response provided by the community member @Ritaf1983,  addressed your query, could you please confirm? It helps us ensure that the solutions provided are effective and beneficial for everyone.

Hope this helps clarify things and let me know what you find after giving these steps a try happy to help you investigate this further.

Thank you for using the Microsoft Community Forum.

[Ritaf1983]

Hi @Agaspicy 

Hi, based on everything you tested, this really does not sound like a normal reinstall or cache problem anymore.

The key detail is that the dialog is apparently being created successfully, but Power BI never actually surfaces it. Since you reproduced it across multiple user accounts, across both Store and MSI installs, and only in Power BI, that points much more toward some interaction between Power BI Desktop, WebView2, and the local machine environment, rather than a damaged installation.

The timing with the Defender update is also hard to ignore. Even if there are no obvious ASR, Exploit Protection, or quarantine events, I would still suspect an environment change rather than Power BI itself suddenly breaking in isolation.

If it were me, I would describe the issue as: Power BI modal dialogs are instantiated but never surfaced or activated, which leaves the main UI blocked waiting on an invisible secondary window.

A few things I would still try or compare:

temporarily change display scaling/resolution and, if relevant, disconnect/reconnect external monitors or switch the primary display
test the same Power BI build on a non-domain-managed machine

If this post helps, then please consider Accepting it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly

compare Defender platform/signature version before and after last Friday’s update
capture ProcMon traces at the moment the hidden dialog is created, to see whether PBIDesktop.exe or msedgewebview2.exe is hitting something unusual
try a newer monthly Desktop build specifically, not just reinstalling the same one in different packaging formats

At this point I think your troubleshooting has already gone beyond the usual “clear cache / reinstall” advice. The evidence suggests the pop-up is not failing to exist — it exists, but something is preventing it from becoming visible or focusable specifically inside Power BI.