Initialization of data source failed - Excel Power BI connection

[aJayMitchell]

Hi all,

We just came across an issue where Excel data connections to a Power BI model were erroring with the following message: 

What we have found is that the connection string to the model appears to have a setting/variable which Microsoft have potentially removed.

Below is the old connection string used across our various Excel files, which would output the above error. Removing the part in bold appears to fix the issue.

Provider=MSOLAP.8;Integrated Security=ClaimsToken;Persist Security Info=True;Initial Catalog=<redacted>;Data Source=pbiazure://api.powerbi.com;MDX Compatibility=1;Safety Options=2;MDX Missing Member Mode=Error;Identity Provider=https://login.microsoftonline.com/common, https://analysis.windows.net/powerbi/api, <redacted>;Catalog Rebound=True;Update Isolation Level=2

Thought I'd post in case anybody was coming across the same issue, as I'm sure these connection strings were automatically generated when we set the files up.

[parvuemil]

@Microsoft any updated for this bug?

[ahah95nY]

Thank you so much, this solved a potentially very serious issue for us!

[andervicario]

Hello,

I have the same issue. Everytime I remove it, it appears when refreshing. Some colleages try to remove it and it doesn't appear again, so it seems an issue of my office version (they dont have the most updated one, but me yes)

[lemaribdb]

@v-cgao-msft I know it was marked as solved but are there any further updates? I cannot remove Catalog Rebound=True. It just reappears. And now my colleagues cannot use the Excel files connected to PBI I'm sharing with them.
EDIT:
This morning some Office updates were available, some colleagues report that it works after the update, will see later in the week when all of my users update.

[andervicario]

Hello!!

could you advice if this issue was solved?

regards!

[lemaribdb]

Hi,

Everyone in my team updated the office package (it appeared as notification bar on top of excel) about a week - 2 weeks ago and it works flawlessly again.

[MicaelaMarcq]

It appears that I can't remove this "catalog Rebound = True" part in the connection string. Trying to delete it, but it automatically appears again as if it was automatically updated. Is there any other solution to the issue ?

[LN0]

Hi, I had the same issue. None of the suggestions worked – downgrading Office didn’t help, removing 'catalog Rebound = True' didn’t help either. What worked for me was this: I removed 'Integrated Security=ClaimsToken' from the connection string and instead used 'user ID=your@account.com'. This ties the connection to that specific account, but it solved my problem.

[JBOSR115]

Thank you - this solution works perfectly.  Can anyone tell me the root cause of the issue - how is "Catalog Rebound=True" being added to the string?  Is it different versioning amongst people using a shared file or something else?  While we've implemented the fix shared, we'd like to fix the root cause of the issue as well.

[aJayMitchell · Accepted solution]

What we have found is that the connection string to the model appears to have a setting/variable which Microsoft have potentially removed.

Below is the old connection string used across our various Excel files, which would output the above error. Removing the part in bold appears to fix the issue.

Provider=MSOLAP.8;Integrated Security=ClaimsToken;Persist Security Info=True;Initial Catalog=<redacted>;Data Source=pbiazure://api.powerbi.com;MDX Compatibility=1;Safety Options=2;MDX Missing Member Mode=Error;Identity Provider=https://login.microsoftonline.com/common, https://analysis.windows.net/powerbi/api, <redacted>;Catalog Rebound=True;Update Isolation Level=2

Thought I'd post in case anybody was coming across the same issue, as I'm sure these connection strings were automatically generated when we set the files up.

[jaimeguzmanr]

Thank you! Problem solved after hours of trying everything.

[iBusinessBI]

I have just spent 5 hours trying to solve this! Including a phone call with Customer Support.
2 things worked for me:
1. Downgrading office to Version 2407 (Build 17830.20166) 
(this post: Excel - Unable to sign into data connection - Microsoft Community)
2. Removing "Catalog Rebound=True" as proposed here by @aJayMitchell 

Thanks!

[v-cgao-msft]

Hi @aJayMitchell ,

Thank you very much for sharing~🤗

You can reply with your solution below and then mark it as a solution, this will increase the weight of searching for similar problems to help more people.

Best Regards,
Gao
Community Support Team

If there is any post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution  to help the other members find it more quickly.
If I misunderstand your needs or you still have problems on it, please feel free to let us know. Thanks a lot!

How to get your questions answered quickly --  How to provide sample data in the Power BI Forum

[AH0212]

Thanks @aJayMitchell  @iBusinessBI for the sharings! Same problems here.

To Microsoft PBI staffs @v-cgao-msft : I don't think these issues can be categorized as 'solved'. Though we can fix this manually by removing the string "Catalog Rebound=True;", this is definitely not a thorough solution for this bug, since it makes the connection very inconvenient as we will have to do it manually everytime we need to refresh data. This is not a reasonable approach for some business reports that were using by an entire department(it doesn't make sense at all for every user to adjust the string for every query in a report)

It's highly suggested that you guys deep dive into this issue and thoroughly fix it asap. Otherwise we can no longer use PBI's live connection for refreshable reports in excel

[v-cgao-msft]

Hi @AH0212 ,

Understand. I am also following the progress of this issue. I'll sync below if there's any new news from the product group side.

Best Regards,
Gao
Community Support Team

[andervicario]

Hello,

any update?

thabks 

[iBusinessBI]

It's probably the Office issue, after downgrading to  Version 2407 (Build 17830.20166) 
(this post: Excel - Unable to sign into data connection - Microsoft Community)
and removing "Catalog Rebound=True" as proposed here by @aJayMitchell it is working, but it is insane to ask all the users to downgrade office. We need this fixed, please

[iBusinessBI]

Microsoft, any updates?

[v-cgao-msft]

Hi @iBusinessBI ,

Some users reported today that installing the latest update patch for Excel solved the problem, could you test it and let me know the result? Thanks.

Best Regards,
Gao
Community Support Team

[Vloemie83]

We are currently on Version 2402 (Build 17328.20612) and also have some users reporting the issue. 

Will this issue be fixed in a new version? Or will this be patched in all current versions?

It is hard to test if the issue is fixed or not, as we are not able to replicate the issue. It just seems to pop up from time to time...