Power BI Desktop SQL Server Connection Error

[honeybadger9000]

Hello everyone,

I'm having trouble connecting Power BI Desktop to my SQL Server and could use some help.

Setup:

1. Installed and configured the on-premise gateway without issues.
2. Diagnostics show all ports and servers are accessible.
3. Added the gateway and SQL connection in Power BI - both show up as online and connected to my SQL server on the same machine as the gateway.

Problem: When I try to get data in Power BI Desktop using SQL Server, I get this error:

Unable to connect We encountered an error while trying to connect. Details: "Microsoft SQL: A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: TCP Provider, error: 0 - The wait operation timed out.)"

I've confirmed the instance name is correct and that SQL Server allows remote connections.

Question: Am I missing some firewall rules or any other settings to allow the connection through?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

[honeybadger9000]

I found this image on the screen but I got this.

 

I am opening fresh window PBI Desktop and click Import Data from SQL Server

[davidding]

@honeybadger9000 , this means the server name is wrong. I have a local sql server on my PC, the correct name is "localhost\sqlexpress", if i just use localhost I'll get the same error as you. Don't get confused with gateway at this stage, it has nothing to do with this connection step.

[davidding]

There are two separate concepts here: SQL connection and gateway.

The normal development process looks like below:

1. develop the report from PBI Desktop, connect to the SQL server via standard address

2. publish the report into a workspace

3. configure the gateway settings in the workspace to schedule automatic data refresh.

Could you please clarify which step did you run into the error?