Give another user a Power BI Service report for customization?

[Dimani]

Hi,

New to Power BI Service and Power BI data gateway.

We have a report that is using a SQL server connection through the Power BI data gateway. The connection is using my credential.

Now a user wants to have a copy of the report and customize it.

I can send him a copy of the report file, BUT can he simply use the existing connection that I created without my explicitly adding him to the SQL server database, customize the report in Power BI desktop and publish it to his workspace?  Do I need to share the data gateway with him?

If he only needs some of the data to customize the report, would creating a role in Power BI Desktop and setting the security in Power BI service after the report is published to PBI, be the way to go to limited the data he can see/use.  In this scenario, do I share the file/semantic-model and give him BUILT permission, instead of sending his the file?

By the way, the report had DirectQuery only, if that makes any different.

Thanks

[Akash_Varuna]

Hi @Dimani This issue occurs because DirectQuery requires the other user to have access to the SQL Server database and the data gateway. Grant the user gateway access in Power BI Service and ensure they have database credentials. Alternatively, set up row-level security (RLS) to control data access or grant them Build permission on the dataset to allow custom reports without direct database access.

[Poojara_D12]

Hi @Dimani 

In your scenario, since the Power BI report is using DirectQuery to connect to a SQL Server via an on-premises data gateway with your credentials, another user cannot simply reuse that connection without proper access. When you send them a copy of the .pbix file, Power BI Desktop will prompt them to authenticate the data source using their own credentials—they must have access to both the SQL Server database and the gateway in order to refresh or query the data. You cannot share your credentials directly, and the gateway must be configured to allow their access through a defined data source user mapping in the Power BI Service.

If the other user only needs a subset of the data and shouldn't have full access to the SQL Server, a better approach is to publish the semantic model (dataset) yourself, apply row-level security (RLS) roles in Power BI Desktop, and configure those roles in the Power BI Service by assigning the user to appropriate roles. Then, instead of sharing the full .pbix file, you can give the user Build permission on the semantic model so they can connect to it from a blank report using “Get data > Power BI datasets,” and customize only the visuals without needing direct access to the database or gateway. This way, you keep control of the source data, ensure data access is restricted, and reduce risk, especially since the report uses DirectQuery where every user action potentially hits the underlying database.