Report based on remote desktop folder data

[JO_PL]

Hi, I think I have a similar issue as in here:

https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Desktop/Urgent-Connecting-to-excel-saved-on-a-remote-deskt...

I have a folder on a remote desktop to which i connect by a vpn. It is updated daily with new xlsx files. How can I set up a report in PBI so that it is based on data from that folder? I don't want to move files or upload them to any cloud service. Creating a report on that remote desktop is also impossible. Ideally i would like to connect a few folders from different remote desktops into one report. Do you know any solutions without the need of moving the files?

Thank You

[rajendraongole1]

Hi @JO_PL -you can follow the below steps:

Step 1: Ensure VPN Connection

1. Make sure you are connected to the VPN that allows access to the remote desktop.

Step 2: Access the Remote Folder

1. Open File Explorer on your local machine.
2. Access the remote desktop using the network path (e.g., \\RemotePC\SharedFolder), or map the remote folder to a drive letter.

Step 3: Get the Folder Path

1. Locate the folder containing the Excel files you want to analyze.
2. Note down the full network path of the folder.

Step 4: Load Data into Power BI

1. Open Power BI Desktop.
2. Click on Get Data from the Home ribbon.
3. Choose Folder as the data source and click Connect.
4. In the dialog box, enter the full network path of the folder you want to connect to (e.g., \\RemotePC\SharedFolder).
5. Click OK.

Step 5: Combine Files

1. After you connect to the folder, Power BI will show you a list of files within that folder.
2. You can select Combine to merge the data from multiple Excel files. This will open the Combine Files dialog.
3. Choose the appropriate settings based on your Excel files (like selecting the sheet and columns to load).
4. Click OK to combine the files.

Step 6: Repeat for Additional Folders

• If you need to connect to additional folders on different remote desktops, you can repeat the steps above for each folder.
• You can then use Append Queries in Power Query to merge these datasets into one table.

Step 7: Create the Report

• Once you have combined all necessary datasets, you can create your report in Power BI as usual.

Hope this helps.

[JO_PL]

When in step 4, I paste the path as \\IP_number\local path into PBI and receive a 1326 error. 

Maybe it would be a useful information that i have to input credentials while connecting to the remote desktop, therefore just VPN with a path may not be enough for PBI.

[Anonymous]

Hi, @JO_PL 

May I ask if you have gotten this issue resolved? If it is solved, please share your solution and accept it as solution, it will be helpful for other members of the community who have similar problems as yours to solve it faster.

If it hasn't been resolved, please share more details about the issue you're experiencing (except for sensitive information) and we'll do our best to help you resolve the issue you're experiencing.

I hope my suggestions give you good ideas, if you have any more questions, please clarify in a follow-up reply.
Best Regards,
Fen Ling,
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[JO_PL]

Hi,

We havent resolved the issue yet, but i think we will be using the Gateway connection. Other idea we were discussing was creating a network drive and dropping the files there. I may add more info once we have finished this task.

Best regards