Forum Discussion

jshutters's avatar
jshutters
Resolver I
7 years ago

Unable to refresh web data source in PBI Service

Hello, I'm unable to refresh a Web data source in PBI Service, which happens to be connected to an Excel file in SharePoint. 

 

Error message is (from the Service, Dataset section)…

"Your data source can't be refreshed because the credentials are invalid. Please update your credentials and try again."  See screen shot below.

 

When I look at my dataset settings in the Service, I have 2 data sources…

  1. One source to Teradata DB on-prem, which connects fine when the data gateway is on and running. No problem there.
  2. The other source is using the Web connector option to an Excel file on SharePoint.  When I click on the "Edit credentials" in the above screen shot, I see only 3 choices for the authentication type.  Where is the Organizational Type method?

 

Web connector Background:

I used the Web connector to import the Excel data into PBI Desktop, per this link https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Import-Data-from-an-Excel-sheet-in-SharePoint/td-p/47223  which works and refreshes fine in PBI Desktop.  When I had setup Web connector, I had entered credentials into the "Organizational account" item. See screen shot below.  No problems there.

 

In summary, I'm confused why the PBI Service doesn't offer an "Organizational account" authentication method and doesn't let the Web connector refresh, when I see the option in the Desktop and can refresh there.

4 Replies

  • v-juanli-msft's avatar
    v-juanli-msft
    Community Support

    Hi jshutters 

    Is the credential used for sharepoint the same as which log in Power BI?

    If so, use "Sharepoint online connnector" in Power BI Desktop to connect, after publishing to Service, edit credential (select "Oauth2") for the dataset.

    You could follow this article.

     

    Best Regards

    Maggie

     

    Community Support Team _ Maggie Li
    If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

    • jshutters's avatar
      jshutters
      Resolver I

      Hi v-juanli-msft , Thanks for your insightful reply. While using a different connector looks like a work-around to avoid the web connector altogether, it certainly doesn't solve the issue why the web connector doesn't work, as I had described above. I'm starting to think that this might be a bug with the product.

      • Anonymous's avatar
        Anonymous
        Not applicable

        Is your issue resolved? im ended up with the same problem

  • I had the same issue with web sources, but for me it helped to have the same authentication method in the PBI service as i had in the PBI when i published it.

     

    To fix this i first changed the permisions on PBI (Go to File Menu > Options and Settings > Data Source Setting > Edit permission. 

    for example change it to Anonymous. Then republish it to PBI service.

     

    After that make sure the datasource credentials in PBI service have the same permission.

     

    Maybe this helps.