Power BI Data Flow gen 1 issue with refreshing data in Power BI Desktop and Excel PQ

[Wiktoria_A1204]

Hi,

We've observed an issue with data refresh in Power BI Desktop and Excel Power Query when the source is a Dataflow Gen 1. The result is an empty table with only updated column headers.

This isn't a new dataflow — we've used and refreshed it successfully in the past.

Additionally, editing permissions for the dataflow don't seem to work.

The problem occurs a few times per month, and recently it's been happening more frequently.

Have you experienced anything similar? Or do you know of any solution to this issue?

Best regards,

Wiktoria

[rohit1991 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Wiktoria_A1204 

Yes, this is a known issue with Power BI Dataflows Gen1. A few things you can check/try:

1. Check Storage Connection : In many cases, refresh fails and returns only headers if the underlying storage connection (Azure Data Lake Gen1) has temporary access/permission issues.

2. Clear Cache & Reconnect : In Power BI Desktop/Excel PQ, clear dataflow connection cache and reconnect. Sometimes the cached metadata causes blank output.

3. Test in Service : Go to Power BI Service >> Dataflow >> Refresh Now. If it works in service but not in Desktop, then it’s a connector bug on Desktop.

4. Permissions Issue : For edit access not working, confirm you still have Contributor role on the workspace. In Gen1, sometimes role assignments get out of sync.

5. Consider Gen2 : Microsoft is gradually moving towards Dataflows Gen2 (Fabric). If possible, migrate refresh issues are much more stable there.

If this keeps happening even after checks, I’d suggest raising a support ticket, because intermittent empty result sets are usually on the backend side (storage/connector).

[Wiktoria_A1204]

Thanks!