Issue with Images Not Displaying in Power BI Service from Public Website

[romae]

Hi everyone,

I have a Power BI report that accesses images from a public website that doesn’t require any authentication. However, when I publish the report to the Power BI Service, the images are not displaying correctly.

I've tried a couple of scenarios to troubleshoot the problem:

1. Power BI .rdl report -> Desktop ✅ Service ✅
2. Power BI .pbix report -> Desktop ✅ Service ❌

In the first case, the images show up correctly in both Desktop and Service, but in the second case, while the images display fine in Desktop, they fail to show in the Service.

I would appreciate any insights or suggestions on how to resolve this issue. Has anyone else encountered a similar problem, or is there something specific I might be missing?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Best regards,
Roma

[v-sgandrathi · Accepted solution]

Hi @romae,

Thank you @Mauro89 for your answer.

One possible reason is website security restrictions. Although the image website may be public, Power BI Service loads reports from Microsoft’s cloud, and some sites block images from being displayed outside their domain. This can result in images working in Desktop but not in the Service.

It’s also important to check if the image URLs change or redirect. If the link uses redirects (such as HTTP to HTTPS) or dynamic parameters, Power BI Service might not load the image after publishing, even if it works locally.

Additionally, large images or unstable hosting may cause problems. If many images are loaded at once or the hosting site restricts requests, the Service may not show them correctly.

If the issue continues and only a few images are involved, you can store images as Base64 in the data model. This avoids relying on external websites and tends to work reliably in Power BI Service.

These points cover the typical causes and are appropriate for sharing in the forum.

Thank you,
Community Member.

[v-sgandrathi]

Hi @romae,

Just checking in! We noticed you haven’t responded yet, and we want to make sure your question gets fully resolved.

Let us know if you need any additional support.

Thanks again for contributing to the Microsoft Fabric Community!

[v-sgandrathi · Accepted solution]

Hi @romae,

Thank you @Mauro89 for your answer.

One possible reason is website security restrictions. Although the image website may be public, Power BI Service loads reports from Microsoft’s cloud, and some sites block images from being displayed outside their domain. This can result in images working in Desktop but not in the Service.

It’s also important to check if the image URLs change or redirect. If the link uses redirects (such as HTTP to HTTPS) or dynamic parameters, Power BI Service might not load the image after publishing, even if it works locally.

Additionally, large images or unstable hosting may cause problems. If many images are loaded at once or the hosting site restricts requests, the Service may not show them correctly.

If the issue continues and only a few images are involved, you can store images as Base64 in the data model. This avoids relying on external websites and tends to work reliably in Power BI Service.

These points cover the typical causes and are appropriate for sharing in the forum.

Thank you,
Community Member.

[romae · Accepted solution]

I discovered that my browser was blocking the picture, and when I changed my settings to allow access to the local network, I could see the image. Thanks for the help!

[ab15387]

In Power BI Desktop, make sure the column with image links is categorized as Image URL (Column tools → Data Category → Image URL). If it’s not set, images may work in Desktop but not in the Service. Also, ensure the image URLs use HTTPS—Power BI Service blocks non-secure (HTTP) images even if they display locally

[ab15387]

In Power BI Desktop, make sure the column with image links is categorized as Image URL (Column tools → Data Category → Image URL). If it’s not set, images may work in Desktop but not in the Service. Also, ensure the image URLs use HTTPS—Power BI Service blocks non-secure (HTTP) images even if they display locally

[Mauro89]

Hi @romae,

I haven't had this issue while following allong the guide from RADACAD in this video:

https://radacad.com/get-images-from-web-page-into-the-power-bi-report-using-power-query/

Check it out maybe it helps. 

Best regards!

[romae]

Thank you for your suggestion. I was following the same video but still encountering the same issue.

[Mauro89]

@romae do you have the problem within a single webpage where the images come from or also with another webpages? Try to get rid of variables to boil down the problem space. 

Beside that but depending on the image number you could try another approach for embedding the images as you encodings. 

[lbendlin]

Have you eliminated the browser cache as a possible culprit?