Power BI Report Server Jan 2021 Commenting permissions issue on Power BI reports

[BenM]

Has anyone else had issues with Commenting on the Power BI Report Server in the Jan 2021 release?  This is occurring for a normal user with Browser-only role (and so only the "Comment on reports" commenting permission).  When they attempt to open the "Comments" panel on the right of the browser page when a Power BI report is open, they see the add comment area at the top of the comments panel but none of the existing comments and they receive a popup with this type of error:

    The permissions granted to user '**current ad user id**' are insufficient for performing this operation.

This issue only appears to occur on Power BI reports, the comment panel seems to work fine on SSRS reports.  And the comment panel appears to work fine with Power BI reports IF you are a user with elevated permissions (a role that also includes the "Manage comments" permission).

Is this a known issue?  Any fixes available or additional troubleshooting I can do?  Thanks.

[Icey · Accepted solution]

Hi @BenM ,

Power BI Report Server May 2021, version: 1.11.7815.26414 (Build 15.0.1106.169), has been released on May 27, 2021.

Please check if it works.

Best Regards,

Icey

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[BenM]

I finally got a chance to test out the May 2021 release and it appears that the issue has been corrected.  Thanks Icey!

[Icey]

Hi @BenM ,

The Product team has reproduce the issue and is looking to fix soon likely in time for May release.

Best Regards,

Icey

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[Icey]

Hi @BenM ,

Based on my test, it is needed to add another task - "Consume reports". You can connect to PBIRS server in SSMS like this:

I create a new role - "Comment Role Test" just with two tasks: "Consume reports" and "Comment on reports". And the user with this role can view and post comments with no problem. Therefore, you can edit the properties of "Browser" role and select the "Consume reports" task and apply. Then, it will works well.

Best Regards,

Icey

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[_Yen_]

I have the same error with reports that have Row Level Security set up.

Users with  "Browser role" and RLS role get insufficient permissions error and unable to access report at all, adding a role with "Consume reports" task helps though.

[BenM]

Thanks Icey, I can confirm adding the "Consume Reports" permission to the "Browser" role does indeed get the comments working again with Power BI reports.  But it's not a great workaround because it should not be required for the Browser role.  Enabling that allows browser users to download pbix/rdl files or connect to them using the developer tools, which generally you do not want for a simple viewer role.

[Icey]

Hi @BenM ,

I have report this issue interanl and the ICM id is 235675337. The product team are researching. Please be patient.😊

Best Regards,

Icey

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[Icey]

Hi @BenM ,

I can reproduce the issue. Let me research if there is any workaround. If not, I'll report it internally. 

Best Regards,

Icey

[BenM]

Thanks @Icey