Skip to main content
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

See when key Fabric features will launch and what’s already live, all in one place and always up to date. Explore the new Fabric roadmap

Reply
mur2za
Frequent Visitor

unable to start power bi desktop

Hey guys, I've been using Power BI Desktop for months without issue, and then today it just won't start. I get the following error message when trying to launch the program (not even tried to open a .pbix file yet): "Unable to start Power BI Desktop - Could not load file or assembly". Detailed message attached.

 

I uninstalled and reinstalled the program (64 bit), but no use. Any ideas??

 

Thanks! BI Error.png

 

 

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
v-yuezhe-msft
Microsoft Employee
Microsoft Employee

Hi @mur2za,

Based on my research and verification, Microsoft.ReportingServices.ProgressiveProcessing.dll is located in %Program Files%\Microsoft Office\Office15\ADDINS\Power View Excel Add-in. And according to the above error message, the validation of the dll file is failed.

In your scenario, you can open the command prompt as administrator and enter the following command to disable the verification, then check if you can laugh Power BI Desktop successfully. For more details about the above error, please review this blog: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/keithmg/2012/03/20/strong-name-validation-failed-exception-from-hre....

 

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Bin\x64\sn.exe" -Vr <dllpath>

There is also a similar thread for your reference.
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/403731/strong-name-validation-failed



Thanks,
Lydia Zhang

Community Support Team _ Lydia Zhang
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

View solution in original post

3 REPLIES 3
prateekraina
Memorable Member
Memorable Member

Hi,

If in case the accepted resolution doesn't work for you as it happened with me, follow these steps:

1. Close all instances of Power BI Desktop. Double check Task manager > Details. Kill any Power BI Desktop process.
2. Open Command Prompt and Ping Localhost.
3. If you get "General Failure" in the result, Turn your firewall off.
4. Open Power BI Desktop.

(TADA) 😄

Prateek Raina

v-yuezhe-msft
Microsoft Employee
Microsoft Employee

Hi @mur2za,

Based on my research and verification, Microsoft.ReportingServices.ProgressiveProcessing.dll is located in %Program Files%\Microsoft Office\Office15\ADDINS\Power View Excel Add-in. And according to the above error message, the validation of the dll file is failed.

In your scenario, you can open the command prompt as administrator and enter the following command to disable the verification, then check if you can laugh Power BI Desktop successfully. For more details about the above error, please review this blog: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/keithmg/2012/03/20/strong-name-validation-failed-exception-from-hre....

 

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Bin\x64\sn.exe" -Vr <dllpath>

There is also a similar thread for your reference.
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/403731/strong-name-validation-failed



Thanks,
Lydia Zhang

Community Support Team _ Lydia Zhang
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

Thank you @v-yuezhe-msft, that worked!!

Helpful resources

Announcements
May PBI 25 Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - May 2025

Check out the May 2025 Power BI update to learn about new features.

May 2025 Monthly Update

Fabric Community Update - May 2025

Find out what's new and trending in the Fabric community.