ERROR: ValidateWorkspaceOACAsync: exception occured

[richardho]

Hi,

Could anyone provide any guidance on what the following error message means and what I need to check on my Fabric Workspace.

Internal Server Error: Unexpected failure during execution. Exception: 'ValidateWorkspaceOACAsync: exception occured - Failed to get cluster details with http error code - 'Unauthorized', error message - '' '. Please retry. If problem persists, contact customer support.

I have a number of Workspaces that are configured, I believe, identically but today I have a few workspaces that are failing as soon as I trigger a pipeline where the first step is to read a file held within a lakehouse within the same workspace.  I don't think it's the reading of the file that's the issue persay, it seems to be more about the triggering of the pipeline that the issue.

[MukulOberoi]

We’ve also been facing this issue since November 6th. No changes have been made to the environment, yet the schedule and manualy pipelines are failing.

[richardho]

I'll be interested to hear if the MS solution works for you too.   It's a pain to have to false edit every pipeline that's failing but it does work.

[vanessa_fvg]

yes it is working on our side thanks!

[richardho · Accepted solution]

The solution from Microsoft is as follows:

Make a false edit on the pipeline for example, change parameter value, undo it and then save pipeline.  Then try running again.  This has fixed it for other users.

[vanessa_fvg]

we are also getting this issue.  I think it is potentially a Fabric issue.

[jennratten]

Hi @richardho - has this worked correctly in the past? If so, have any changes to the files or pipeline been made since its last successful run?  Since the error occurred on the data pipeline and includes 'unauthorized', it implies that the pipeline cannot authenticate to the lakehouse.  I recommend checking that connection to ensure it is configured properly and has the appropriate permissions.  If you provide some additional information such as what type of account you are using in the connection (user, workspace Identity, service principal), I'll be glad to further assist.  

[richardho]

Hi @jennratten its worked consistenly since June 2025.

The pipeline sits in the same workspace as the lakehouse I'm trying to connect to and I own the workspace, pipeline and lakehouse.

I've tried recreating the pipeline this morning and it appears you can't connect directly to a Lakehouse anymore, it wants a connection first?

New LookUp from Today

Existing LookUp 

[jennratten]

Hi @richardho - the two screenshots you showed would have different inputs because in one you selected lakehouse tables and in the other you selected lakehouse files.

If this post helps to answer your questions, please consider marking it as a solution so others can find it more quickly when faced with a similar challenge.

Proud to be a Microsoft Fabric Super User

[richardho]

Apologies, if the screen shot was misleading.  When I select an input of files it still requests a connection.  It previously didn't request a separate connection to the lakehouse as the lakehouse was the connection.

[tayloramy]

Hi @richardho, 

That new connection selection is part of a recent service update where you can explicitly set the connection the lakehouse uses, rather than it only using your user's credentials.  This is intended and a good change, as you can now manage the connection properly, so if you change your password or leave the org everything doesn't break and you have one nice place to update the connection. 

If you found this helpful, consider giving some Kudos. If I answered your question or solved your problem, mark this post as the solution.

[richardho]

Was there a blog post or "What's New" that talks about this?  I would have hoped it would be an option rather than forced upon the users?   

Microsoft have also confirmed that what I'm seeing is an issue on their side so hopefully once they've investigated I can up date on here their suggestion/resolution.

[vanessa_fvg]

100% agree, i can't see anything on whats new

i have reported our issue to microsoft too.    pipelines broken is not a 'good change' in my opinion.

[tayloramy]

The lakehouse connection option is described here: 
Configure Lakehouse in a copy activity - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn

In my environment, this change did not break existing things, but when modifying things I did need to select the proper connection. If this is breaking your stuff then it is likely a bug and needs to be corrected.

If you found this helpful, consider giving some Kudos. If I answered your question or solved your problem, mark this post as the solution.