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Ouduk000
New Member

Power BI connection to NAS folder

Hello

 

How can I add a connection to a NAS folder? It is mounted as a drive letter on Windows (O:\test) but the credentials do not work. It seems to only accept Windows credentials for local folders (C:\test works fine) or server folders on a domain that also use the same Windows log in, but not from an external device such as a NAS. I tried the NAS admin credentials, the full path using the IP address instead of O:, but no luck. Thanks

 

Ouduk000_0-1695036298510.png

 

2 REPLIES 2
rohit1991
Super User
Super User

Hi @Ouduk000  and @kadirkkkk2 

 

This is a known limitation when connecting NAS drives in Power BI — mapped drives like O:\ won't work directly because Power BI runs under a different context. Here's what usually helps:

 

  • Use the UNC path instead of drive letters:
    For example, \\100.11.11.1\sharedOne instead of O:\

  • In the credentials section, try:

    • NASNAME\Username or DOMAIN\Username

    • Avoid LOCALMACHINE\Username unless the NAS is part of that machine’s domain.

  • Make sure the gateway (if used) has access to the NAS path directly — the connection must succeed from the gateway machine’s perspective.

  • As a last resort, if authentication fails despite valid creds, test mapping the NAS to a folder path using a script with net use and run Power BI as admin.


Did it work? ✔ Give a Kudo • Mark as Solution – help others too!
kadirkkkk2
Regular Visitor

I have the same problem. I have a NAS server, i can connect to folders via explorer with the given user name and password. I tried Power BI Desktop Power query, Excel Power Query and Power BI service Dataflow Gen1 and none of them accept authentication info which works in Windows explorer window.

What i try to achive is to connect a folder like \\10.0.11.11\sharedOne on NAS server? 

I tried writing down the username like LOCALMACHINE\userName, NASSERVERNAME\userName, userName

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