Really strange gateway warnings (recommended version of gateway for GEN 2 DF)

[dbeavon3]

We are getting a really ugly warnings from Power BI refreshes today.  Is this normal?

We found that your gateway version is lower than the recommended gateway version. Details: Found version: 3000.290.3 Recommended version: 3000.294

The October 2025 release of the on-premises data gateway is (version 3000.290).  That is only a couple months old.

Aren't gateways supposed to be fully supported for six months?  What is up with this warning?  Should they be warning us about using a fully supported version of the gateway?

Power BI takes a lot of babysitting as it is.  It seems unfortunate that they are raising the bar in this way.  Do they want us to immediately install the latest gateway every time a new one is released?

[v-veshwara-msft]

Hi @dbeavon3 ,

Thanks for raising this in Microsoft Fabric Community.

I understand how warnings like this can be concerning, especially when you are already on a supported gateway version.

The explanations shared by @cengizhanarslan and @GeraldGEmerick align with the product behavior. The gateway version you are using is still within the supported lifecycle, and there is no requirement to immediately upgrade every time a new gateway version is released.

If refreshes are running as expected, no immediate action is required. This message should be treated as a recommendation rather than a blocking issue. For Dataflow Gen2 and other Fabric workloads, the service often highlights the latest gateway version since newer builds can include fixes and improvements, which explains why the warning is shown.

Hope the explanations shared help clarify the warning you are seeing, or if you are still noticing any actual refresh issues on your side, please reach out.
Thank you.

[dbeavon3]

Hi @v-veshwara-msft 
The warnings are totally superfluous and cause more harm than good.

Consider this.  The supported lifecycle is only six months.  Anyone who has upgraded their gateway versions in the last six months is doing so because they "keeping track" and have established healthy maintenance procedures.  These are NOT the people that you need to nag about gateway versions - especially not before the six months has expired.

If you start creating lots of "noise" about gateway versions, then it raises suspicions about whether the gateway version being the reason for bugs in PBI.  When in fact that version is the LEAST likely source of a problem when a PQ is failing!  Setting aside the version, there are plenty of MORE likely bugs in PBI (and in custom code) to think about!  We don't need a bunch of PBI report developers calling the Server Admin team to ask them about irrelevant warnings that they are seeing in their refresh history!

Hope this is clear.  I do agree that a gateway version warning should be shown, but it shouldn't happen until AFTER the six months have expired.  Analogy - If you log into an old version of windows, even windows 95, you don't expect a nag screen telling you that the OS is out of support.  Even a non-professional user would be annoyed by that, let alone a professional who is aware of support lifecycles.

[v-veshwara-msft]

Hi @dbeavon3 ,

Thank you for taking the time to share this feedback.

I understand the concern around the warning creating unnecessary noise, especially when the gateway version is still within the supported lifecycle and unlikely to be the root cause of most refresh or Power Query failures. In environments with established maintenance practices, these messages can lead to additional checks with admin teams even when the gateway itself is functioning as expected.

To provide some context, the warning is shown because the service compares the installed gateway with the latest recommended build. For Dataflow Gen2 and other Fabric workloads, newer gateway versions may include fixes or behavior changes, which is why the service highlights them even before the supported window expires.

The warning itself does not indicate that the current gateway version is unsupported or that it is causing refresh issues. If refreshes are completing successfully, no immediate action is required.

If you would like this behavior to be reconsidered, you can also share feedback directly with the product team using the Help improve Fabric option available in the top right corner of the Fabric portal.

 

Hope this helps. Please reach out for further assistance.

Thank you.

[dbeavon3]

The feedback site you shared is pointless and is largely ignored by Microsoft.  I was trying to better understand why Microsoft is harassing users about the gateway version, when that is totally unnecessary.  The harassment should NOT start until support has ended for the version of the gateway that we are using.  In other words, the risks have to be greater for not upgrading than for going ahead with the upgrade. 

As buggy as Power BI can be, upgrading to the most recent version of the gateway has higher risks than the rewards - because it could introduce breaking changes.  I have spent over a hundred hours on gateway-related support cases, and the last thing I would recommend is to upgrade prematurely.  By waiting at least three months, you have the flexibility to choose the least buggy version, out of several.   Nowadays the gateway is only getting more critical and bloated, since it not only handles the servicing of PQ, but also the ADF pipeline sources as well (stuff that used to happen in an "ADF integrated runtime").

[v-veshwara-msft]

Hi @dbeavon3 ,

Thank you for sharing your experience.

From the service side, this message appears because Fabric workloads, including Dataflow Gen2, change frequently and some fixes or behavior updates are delivered through newer gateway versions. That is why the service points to the latest build as the recommended one, even when the current gateway is still supported.

The approach you described is also reasonable. Running a supported version and waiting before upgrading to avoid early bugs or breaking changes is a practical strategy, especially now that the gateway is used for more critical workloads.

On feedback, Microsoft does review and consider it, even if it may not always result in immediate changes. Updates can take time as they need to be evaluated, prioritized, and safely rolled out to production environments.

If there are no functional issues with refreshes, you can continue with your current gateway version and upgrade when it best fits your change management process.

Thank you.

[cengizhanarslan]

This warning is normal, and it’s more of a “best practice” / compatibility signal than “your gateway is unsupported”.

• Microsoft actively supports only the last six gateway releases (monthly cadence). That’s the “~6 months” guidance you’re thinking of. Microsoft Learn

• The Service can still show “recommended version” as the latest release (e.g., 3000.294) even when your current one (3000.290) is still within the supported window. Microsoft Learn

• For Microsoft Fabric / Dataflow Gen2, Microsoft explicitly advises staying on the latest gateway so feature/known-issue updates propagate. Microsoft Learn

If everything is working, treat it as an advisory warning (not an outage). For Dataflow Gen2 specifically, I’d plan to update gateways more frequently (many teams do monthly/bi-monthly), because fixes often land in the latest build. Microsoft Learn

You’re not “unsupported” just because you’re not on the recommended build — but Microsoft is clearly nudging admins toward keeping gateways current, especially for Fabric workloads.

[GeraldGEmerick]

@dbeavon3 This is likely a hiccup in the service I suspect. Generally you should not need to immediately update your gateway. The other possibility is that perhaps Microsoft realized that there is an issue with the October 2025 gateway release and want you to upgrade to fix it? However, I don't see any kind of announcement regarding that so that is unlikely.