Strange dataflow issue

[Peter_Maas]

Good morning,

I have the following strange issue. 

A customer has several workspaces with multiple dataflows for different purposes.

All reports are build with a dynamic source query, showing all workspaces, all underlying dataflows and all the content of these dataflows in one query. This way it is easy to combine data and only having to use one query to reference to.

The customer informed me that, since a couple of weeks, there is something peculiar happening.

In Power Bi Desktop, when we use the new Dataflow connector (NOT the legacy), there are several dataflows displayed that are not present in the workspace in the Webservice.

In the following image you'll see the red marked workspace. In this workspace, there are multiple dataflows, each with a dataflow ID. However, there are two null values displayed of dataflows that do not exsist in webservice.

If i use the dataflow connector in Desktop, the two null values are showed as following ("Database 12" and "Database 13"):

When I manually try to open those dataflows in the webservice by copying the dataflowID in the URL, an error pops up saying "The information is possibly deleted or you do not have permission to view it".  The account I use in this environment has Admin rights.

Sure, a quick solution is to put a filter in the table in Desktop saying "DataflowName <> null", but I am curious if anyone has encountered the same issue and how to solve it properly. 

Many thanks in advance.

Kind regards,

Peter

[v-sgandrathi · Accepted solution]

Hi @Peter_Maas ,

This is a known issue with the new Dataflow connector. These "phantom" dataflows are typically:
Artifacts of deleted or corrupted dataflows
Resulting from metadata inconsistencies or caching issues on Microsoft's backend
Not fixed by workspace permissions or local refreshes.

As of now, Microsoft has acknowledged the issue, and it has been discussed in community threads. However there is no official fix released yet. The issue still persists in recent versions.

If this issue is affecting production workflows, we recommend opening a support ticket with Microsoft for dedicated assistance.

To raise a support ticket for Fabric and Power BI, kindly follow the steps outlined in the following guide:

How to create a Fabric and Power BI Support ticket - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

If my response was helpful, consider clicking "Accept as Solution" and give us "Kudos" so that other community members can find it easily. Let me know if you need any more assistance!

Thnakyou.

[grazitti_sapna]

Hi @Peter_Maas ,

This action is currently a known issue with the new Dataflow connector in Power BI Desktop. The connector occasionally returns garbage or orphaned dataflow records (shown as null values such as "Database 12" and "Database 13") that no longer exist in the Power BI service. These null values appear when dataflows have been removed or where the connector's metadata is not refreshed correctly, even to users with complete admin privileges. While null filtering in your query is a good workaround, it's also a good idea to look for any Power BI Desktop updates or seek Microsoft support and community forums for a fix, as this is probably a bug that can be fixed in a future version.

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[Peter_Maas]

Good day @grazitti_sapna,

Is there perhaps any news regarding this issue?

Thanks in advance.

Kind regards,

Peter