Issues with PowerBI Service for auth in Snowflake

[Mxd24]

Hello, 

I'm fairly new to using Snowflake in PowerBI.

I have a composite model that has 2 data sources (Snowflake, A company data model). When I published my dashboard to PowerBI Servcice, one of the users had the following error concerning only the visuals that used the data pulled from snowflake : 

ERROR : The credentials provided for the Snowflake source are invalid. (Source at xxx). The exception has been triggered by the interface IBbCommand. 

My guess is that the user doesn't have the right Default_role or the role doesn't have the acces or privilege to the warehouse that is being set for use from PowerBI ? 

But my question is also, as long as I am using Snowflake, do I need to make sure each users has the right Default_role in Snowflake or access to the warehouse that is being set for use from PowerBI ? without that impossible for them to view the data ? 

Thank you so much for the answer. 

[v-achippa]

Hi @Mxd24,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Fabric Community.

As we haven’t heard back from you, we wanted to kindly follow up to check if the solution provided by the super user for the issue worked? or let us know if you need any further assistance?
If our response addressed, please mark it as Accept as solution and click Yes if you found it helpful.

Regards,

Anjan Kumar Chippa

[v-achippa]

Hi @Mxd24,

We wanted to kindly follow up to check if the solution provided by the super user for the issue worked.

If the issue is resolved, please mark the solution as Accept as solution to help the other members of the community find it more quickly. Don't forget to give a "Kudos" – I’d truly appreciate it! 

Thank you for being a part of the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum!

Regards,

Anjan Kumar Chippa

[v-achippa]

Hi @Mxd24,

As we haven’t heard back from you, we wanted to kindly follow up to check if the solution provided by the super user for the issue worked. If the issue is resolved, please mark the solution as Accept as solution to help the other members of the community find it more quickly. Don't forget to give a "Kudos" – I’d truly appreciate it! 

Thank you for being a part of the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum!

Regards,

Anjan Kumar Chippa

[Poojara_D12]

Hi @Mxd24 

The error happens because the user lacks the required Snowflake role or privileges to access the data.

Key Points:

1. User Permissions:

   • Each user needs a Snowflake account with the correct default role and privileges (e.g., SELECT on the database/schema and USAGE on the warehouse).
   • Without this, users can't view data in Power BI when using DirectQuery.

2. Solutions:

   • Grant Access: Ensure users have the necessary permissions

GRANT SELECT ON SCHEMA my_database.my_schema TO ROLE user_role;
GRANT USAGE ON WAREHOUSE my_warehouse TO ROLE user_role;
​

• Use a Service Account: Connect Power BI to Snowflake with a shared account and enforce Row-Level Security (RLS) in Power BI.
• Switch to Import Mode: Data is preloaded into Power BI, so users don’t need Snowflake credentials.
• Test User Credentials: In Power BI Service, verify the affected user's Data Source Credentials under Settings > Datasets.

Did I answer your question? Mark my post as a solution, this will help others!
If my response(s) assisted you in any way, don't forget to drop me a "Kudos" 🙂

Kind Regards,
Poojara
Data Analyst | MSBI Developer | Power BI Consultant
Consider Subscribing my YouTube for Beginners/Advance Concepts: https://youtube.com/@biconcepts?si=04iw9SYI2HN80HKS 

[powerbiexpert22]

Hi @Mxd24 ,

is this issue happening  for all reports or single report for that user? 

we use composite model and we do not give snowflake access to each and every user. reports are refreshed using schedule set up in power bi, we created service account in snowflake for refreshing reports and we use credentials for same service account . 

[rajendraongole1 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Mxd24  - The issue you're encountering with Snowflake in Power BI likely stems from user permissions and the way Snowflake handles authentication and role-based access control. 

The error message suggests that the Snowflake credentials for the affected user are either:

Invalid: The credentials provided (username/password) are incorrect.
Insufficient Privileges: The user's DEFAULT_ROLE in Snowflake or other assigned roles lack access to the required resources (e.g., database, schema, tables, or warehouse).

Since you're using a composite model, Power BI is likely passing each user's credentials to Snowflake during query execution. This means each user must have appropriate access in Snowflake.

Yes, as long as you're using DirectQuery mode or composite models, every user must have appropriate access in Snowflake. Power BI does not cache the data but dynamically queries Snowflake using each user's credentials.

To avoid this:

You could switch to Import Mode, where only your credentials (as the report owner) are used to pull data. Users won't need Snowflake access, but they'll only see the data you imported at refresh time.