Forum Discussion
Power BI Service cross Workspace not working for external users
- 9 months ago
Hi Kalyan228, good point.
If the semantic model has a sensitivity label set to Confidential, this may prevent external users from accessing the data, depending on the Microsoft 365 compliance policies configured for your organisation.If the semantic model is labelled as “Confidential” and the associated policy disallows external access, then:- Even with read and build permissions, external users will not be able to view the data.
- Power BI will block access in accordance with the organisation’s data protection policies.
Recommended Actions
- Review the Sensitivity Label Policy
Ask your Power BI or Microsoft 365 compliance administrator to check the policy configuration in Microsoft Purview or the Compliance Centre:- Confirm whether the “Confidential” label allows external access.
- Review any restrictions on sharing or viewing content outside the organisation.
- Test with a Different Label
Temporarily remove the label or change it to “Internal” and test whether external users can access the data.
If this resolves the issue, it confirms that the label policy is the root cause. - Request Policy Adjustment
If the “Confidential” label must remain in use, request that the policy be adjusted to allow external access for specific security groups or scenarios.
Official References:
Learn about sensitivity labels | Microsoft Learn
✅ If this answer resolved your issue, please mark it as correct to assist other members of the community.
- 9 months ago
Note: The following content has been formatted using AI assistance for clarity and readability.
Cross-workspace semantic model sharing limitations: External users may not be able to access semantic models shared across workspaces unless specific configurations are enabled. This is especially true if the model resides in a workspace they don’t have access to.
- RLS and external user propagation: Even if the RLS script is correct and the external user security group (SG) has read access, the model may not properly propagate RLS filters across workspaces for external users.
- Semantic model sharing preview: Microsoft currently supports external semantic model sharing as a preview feature. If this isn’t enabled or configured correctly, external users may see blank data.
- Workspace permissions mismatch: External users might have access to the report but not to the underlying dataset in Workspace B, causing the data to appear blank.
SOLUTIONS:
- Enable semantic model sharing preview
Go to Power BI Admin Portal and ensure the “Allow external guest users to access semantic models” setting is enabled. - Verify workspace permissions
Confirm that external users have at least Viewer access to Workspace B where the dataset resides. - Use in-place semantic model sharing
Instead of relying on cross-workspace links, publish the dataset directly into the same workspace as the report or use in-place sharing to ensure access continuity. - Test with simplified RLS.
- Use same workspace for report and model
As you’ve already tested, publishing the dataset to the same workspace as the report resolves the issue. This suggests that cross-workspace sharing is the blocker.
Hi Kalyan228,
Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum. Also, thanks to Zanqueta, for his inputs on this thread.
Based on your explanation, this behaviour usually happens when external (guest) users access a report that connects to a shared semantic model (dataset) located in another workspace. Although RLS and permissions appear correct, external users may see blank visuals if the dataset’s cross-workspace or cross-tenant sharing settings aren’t fully enabled.
Tenant settings: In the source tenant (Workspace B), ensure Power BI admin has enabled “Allow external guest users to access Power BI content” and “Allow external users to use shared semantic models”. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/enterprise/powerbi/service-admin-entra-b2b
Dataset permissions: In Workspace B, open the dataset → Settings > Permissions → confirm the external user or their security group has at least Viewer (and ideally Build) permission. Dataset external sharing: Turn on “Allow external users to discover and use this dataset” in dataset settings. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/collaborate-share/service-dataset-external-org-share-about
RLS validation – Check if the RLS filter uses USERPRINCIPALNAME(); external guest UPNs often appear as user#EXT@domain. Adjust RLS mapping if needed. License/capacity: Confirm the workspace is on Premium capacity or the guest user has a Pro/PPU license. After updating these, ask the external user to re-sign in (or use an incognito browser) and test again. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/collaborate-share/service-share-dashboards
Hope this clears it up. Let us know if you have any doubts regarding this. We will be happy to help.
Thank you for using the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.
- v-kpoloju-msft9 months ago
Community Support
Hi Kalyan228,
Just checking in to see if the issue has been resolved on your end. If the earlier suggestions helped, that’s great to hear! And if you’re still facing challenges, feel free to share more details happy to assist further.Thank you.