“Unable to connect." Looks like we’re unable to access the semantic model. Please contact the owner

[Scheneyder]

My company invite Guest Users trough Microsoft Entra ID to collaborate on workspace.

We have published a few standard reports for costumers to use.

After downloading the file with a live connection and trying to open on power bi desktop, there's a error message:

“Unable to connect."  Looks like we’re unable to access the semantic model. Please contact the owner of the semantic model.”

I have enabled all the option to allow guest users to access the data from their tenant.

If they click on Get data >> semantic model >> External data

They are able to connect and access the semantic model from power bi desktop

Is there anything that Im missing?

[v-pnaroju-msft]

Hi @Scheneyder,

We are following up to see if what we shared solved your issue. If you need more support, please reach out to the Microsoft Fabric community.

Thank you.

[v-pnaroju-msft]

Hi @Scheneyder,

We would like to follow up and see whether the details we shared have resolved your problem. If you need any more assistance, please feel free to connect with the Microsoft Fabric community.

Thank you.

[v-pnaroju-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Scheneyder,

Thankyou @Shravan133  for your response.

Additionally, based on our understanding, External Data is designed for cross tenant report authoring for new reports. Using Get Data -> Power BI semantic model -> External Data works because it creates a new connection with interactive authentication that properly establishes the B2B context. 

One suggested approach is to share reports via Power BI Service using Apps or workspace access. If users need to build reports, they should connect fresh via External Data instead of using downloaded PBIX files.

Please refer to the links below for more details:
Share and Collaborate on Power BI Reports and Dashboards - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
Distribute Power BI Content to External Guest Users with Microsoft Entra B2B - Microsoft Fabric | Mi...
Create reports based on semantic models from different workspaces - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

We hope the information provided helps in resolving the issue. Should you have any further queries, please feel free to contact the Microsoft Fabric community.

Thank you.

[Scheneyder]

up

[Shravan133]

As far as i know, Its a known Limitation.

When a guest user downloads a PBIX with a live connection to a semantic model, that file contains:

• A reference to the original tenant
• A reference to the semantic model dataset ID
• Authentication context tied to the home tenant of the dataset

 When they open it locally:

• Power BI Desktop tries to reconnect using their home tenant context
• But the dataset lives in your tenant
• Result:
  “Unable to connect to semantic model”

Even if:

• B2B is enabled
• Dataset permissions are granted
• Tenant settings allow external access

 The downloaded PBIX does NOT preserve the cross-tenant connection context properly.

[Scheneyder]

Whats the point of allowing them to connect to external data ?

Look how weird it is:

1. Try to open the file and get an error message.

2. Click on the Edit Option

3. Click on External Data and select the semantic model

4. Same error:

For me seems like a bug.