OneLake Connections Randomly Stopped Working?

Hi  

The error "Can't find this target item" for a shortcut to another workspace's semantic model tables via a OneLake shortcut is a known failure mode. Here is what you can start to troubleshoot.

Check the permissions for the source workspace

The identity used for shortcut resolution needs at least Viewer permissions for the source workspace. Someone recently changed a service principal's identity, a guest account's license, or workspace membership. That breaks shortcut resolution even if no one touched the shortcut.

Check if the source Lakehouse or semantic model was republished

A Lakehouse item in the target workspace deleted and re-created under the same name gets a new internal item ID. That is why your shortcut fails. That is also why new shortcuts show the same error: the target item does not exist under that ID. Ask the workspace owners if any Lakehouse or semantic model was republished, migrated, or restored from backup since March 3.

Re-create shortcuts using the current item ID

If the source item ID changed, delete all affected shortcuts and re-create them using the current item ID. Do not use a copy of an old path.

Verify the tenant-level OneLake access policy

Log in to the Fabric Admin portal. Navigate to OneLake settings. Verify that cross-workspace OneLake access is still enabled. An admin disabling OneLake data access or shortcut creation silently breaks all existing shortcuts.

SQL endpoint works but DirectLake does not: what this implies

SQL endpoint requests follow different logic than DirectLake requests. DirectLake requests access parquet files directly from OneLake storage. The data is accessible; the shortcut is not resolving correctly for the DirectLake engine.

What you do immediately while investigating

Change the fallback behavior for the semantic model to DirectQuery. In the semantic model settings, enable DirectQuery fallback. This does not solve the underlying problem but restores report access while you investigate.

The most likely root cause: a source item was recreated or migrated, giving it a new item ID that no longer matches the shortcut.

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