ODBC Credentials - No Notification If Power Query Can't Connect?

[Txtcher]

Every month our organization requires us to change our ODBC password. A few months ago designed an excel report that connects with power query to the ODBC database. The report runs monthly.  The report seems to run and all is well. However, this report will sometimes contain no data which is an expected result so nothing to alert you that it has failed. On today's date, I had something else fail (unrelated) and when I went into the power queries I discovered this message:

If I had not gone into the editor, I never would have known this issue had occured. 

After a bit of research, I discovered that Power Query will continue to make attempts to connect until it fails. It fails after 3 attempts because our organization locks your account after 3 unsuccessful attempts. Mystery solved about why my dang account keeps getting locked (pretty embarrassing having to run to IT to get it reset). I did not realize until today, this report/power query was the culprit.

So, outside of remembering to go clear permissions and reset credentials in this report after changing my password, is there any other workaround?

[v-karpurapud · Accepted solution]

Hi @Txtcher

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.

The issue you are facing is due to Power Query attempting database connections with outdated ODBC credentials after your monthly password change.

ince Power Query doesn't automatically validate credentials before running a query, it fails silently. After three unsuccessful login attempts, your organization’s security policy locks the account, causing disruption without clear notification unless you manually check the queries.

To resolve this, store your ODBC username and password as parameters in Power Query and update them after each password change. Create a lightweight test query to check connectivity before running main queries, and add data validation checks in Excel to highlight missing data after refresh.

Optionally, set a recurring reminder to update credentials monthly and use Power Automate for critical report notifications. This approach will prevent silent failures and avoid account lockouts.

For reference: Power Query ODBC connector - Power Query | Microsoft Learn

If this response resolves your query, please mark it as Accepted Solution to assist other community members. A Kudos is also appreciated if you found the response helpful.

Thank you!

[Txtcher]

Hello,

Thank you for your response. 

I already had a reoccuring reminder in Outlook to change my ODBC password. I added a reminder & instructions to also log into Exxcel and update credentials.

In the meantime, can you direct me to an article or video on how to set up the parameter and use it to connect? (Although, we may not decide to use this method because of storing passwords in the parameter.)