Semantic Model shows data in Desktop but empty after Service refresh

[csvj_18]

Hi
I’m facing an issue with a Semantic Model (Power BI/Fabric) where data behaves differently between local refresh and Service refresh.

Issue description:

• The semantic model refreshes successfully in Power BI Desktop, and I can see the expected data.
• After publishing the model to Power BI Service, the scheduled or manual refresh completes successfully, but no data is visible in the model (tables appear empty or visuals show no data).

This seems to be a Service-side semantic model refresh issue, not a Desktop issue.

What I have already confirmed:

• No refresh errors or failures in the Service
• Local refresh works consistently
• Same model and data sources used in both Desktop and Service

Ask:

• Has anyone encountered a similar issue where data is available locally but not after Service refresh?
• What are the common root causes for this behavior in Fabric / Power BI Service?
• Are there recommended diagnostic steps or best practices to identify and fix this issue (e.g., gateway config, credentials, privacy levels, RLS, parameters, incremental refresh, etc.)?

Any guidance or resolution steps would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You

Kishore

[csvj_18]

Thank you all for your valuable inputs which help me analyse the issue more deeper.

[v-hjannapu]

Hi @csvj_18,

Glad to hear it’s working now 
Thanks for confirming the update.

If you face any other issues or need help in future, feel free to post here. We will be happy to help.

Regards,
Community Support Team.

[v-hjannapu]

Hi @csvj_18,

I would also take a moment to thank @Shai_Karmani  , @Kagiyama_yutaka  for actively participating in the community forum and for the solutions you’ve been sharing in the community forum. Your contributions make a real difference.
 

I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.

Regards,
Community Support Team.

[v-hjannapu]

Hi @csvj_18,
I hope the above details help you fix the issue. If you still have any questions or need more help, feel free to reach out. We are always here to support you.


Regards,
Community Support Team.

[csvj_18 · Accepted solution]

The issue is the enterprise credentials on the semantic model is with a different service account. Make sure the semantic gate way connections are using the same service account

[Kagiyama_yutaka]

I think svc is taking the zero‑window branch when ur M‑logic re‑evals under svc‑creds + RangeStart/End, so the refresh looks fine but lands on no rows… just open Dataset → Settings → Parameters and nudge RangeStart/End once—it forces a clean partition rebuild.

[krishnakanth240]

Hi @csvj_18 

Has anyone encountered a similar issue where data is available locally but not after Service refresh?

Yes. Model works correctly in Power BI Desktop because Desktop uses local credentials while service uses different authentication, gateway, parameter and security settings during refresh.

What are the common root causes for this behavior in Fabric / Power BI Service?

Typical causes include incorrect gateway, privacy level conflicts, Row-Level Security filtering out all rows, parameter values changing after publish, incremental refresh partitions excluding data, unsupported query folding in the service.

Are there recommended diagnostic steps or best practices to identify and fix this issue?

Validate data source credentials and gateway mapping in Power BI Service then compare parameter values between Desktop and Service if you are using it. As a test disable RLS and incremental refresh to isolate issue and check refresh history along with dataset row counts. It also helps to test with a table whether specific transformation or source is causing problem

[GilbertQ]

Hi @csvj_18 

One other thing to check is once the semantic model has been refreshed successfully, if you try and create a report of the semantic model, can you see the tables and columns? If you can what it then means is as mentioned above, it's potentially data not coming into the model that is an issue. So the refresh is refreshing successfully, it's just the source that it is using does not have any data.

[Shai_Karmani]

I have seen this exact behavior a few times and it almost always comes down to one of two things.

First, check Row Level Security. If any RLS roles are defined and the viewing account is not mapped to a role that returns rows, visuals will look empty even though the refresh succeeded. In the Service, open the dataset, go to Security, confirm your account is in a role, and use Test as role to verify the role's filter actually returns data.

Second, verify the gateway data source. Open Settings on the dataset, expand Data source credentials and Gateway connection, and confirm the connection is mapped to the same database and server you are pointing to in Desktop. A common pattern is the Service ending up bound to a Dev or empty environment while Desktop still reads from Prod.

If both of those check out, also look at any dynamic M parameters or RangeStart and RangeEnd if you have incremental refresh, since a stale or unset value can produce a successful but empty refresh window.

If this helped, a thumbs up and accepting the solution would be appreciated.

Best,
Shai Karmani