User can't access reports in PowerBI with a free license after the end of a trial for PowerBI Pro

[KadyQ]

I have a user who activated a trial for PowerBI Pro.  All users have access to PowerBI free licenses by defualt.  When her account defaulted to the 'free' license at the end of the trial, she no longer has access to the reports she had access to before the trial.  She is continuoulsy prompted to upgrade and the reports will not open.  IOther users with free licenses have access to these reports.  How do I fix this? All user access PowerBI in O365 via the app.

[WaivpayAP]

Hi

Was there a resoution to this issue, I'm having the same problem.  Most Free users can view reports except for 1, who is getting a splash screen shaving the 'have to' upgrade to view.  Which is inaccurate.  

Thank you

[collinq]

Hey @WaivpayAP ,

That might not be in error - the report might be in a Premium Workspace or have other items in it that are restricted for free users.

[ThiMaiDao]

Hi Power BI community,

Does anyone have a solution for this? This is very annoying with this trial funtions.
I got same issues that my users cant get access to the report after their trials are expired. They dont need anything but to see the report which is published by me. I just want them to have a free-account and I have a pro account.

Thanks all!

[collinq]

Hi @ThiMaiDao ,

This is the same functionality as any trial with anything (software or not).  Once the trial expires, you have to purchase a license, or stop using the tool.  I am not sure why that is frustrating to you as this is the way trials work.  If you don't have a license you can't view reports - unless your organization has Premium and lets them use that licensing model.

[collinq · Accepted solution]

Hi @KadyQ ,

I believe that the system is working as expected.  When the user no longer has a free trial, they will need to purchase a license to see data in Power BI.

A free user cannot see shared reports with them (and they can't share their reports either).  The basic rule of thumb is that "to see a report you must have a license".

So, this user will have to purchase a PRO license or if you have Premium, a license will have to be assigned.

[EricInSd]

Is that right? Users with Free licenses had been able to access shared content until recently which looks to be what's expected? https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/consumer/end-user-features#power-bi-feature-list-for-user... As others noted, it seems that they applied for a trial license and their free license is no longer respected after that trial ended.

[bjones2125]

This is something that Microsoft has to change.  My users have the Power BI free.  Some of them downloaded the trial.(no really thinking).  When the trial stopped, in order to view the reports from a Power BI user, I had to purchase the Pro license for them.  It should just stop using the Pro and allow them to use the functionality of free by viewing reports.  It doesn't and I think this should be addressed in the update or something.

[ThiMaiDao]

I disagree, basically the free Power BI is incl. in Microsoft package. Why cant they see the report anymore after the trial whereas other still can see if they wont click that trial button.  The way it works now is not meaming trial but force us to by Pro. I do agree for more functionalities or publishing report, Pro license is required, but not for simply view the report.
Any ways, in case I upgrade my user from Pro to Premium, are they able to see reports again? Has anyone tried before?

[bjones2125]

I am having the same issue.  But other users with free Power BI can access the report.  The 3 users that cannot also has free Power Bi licenses, but the also did a Power Bi Pro Trial.  Now it is asking them to upgrade to Power Bi Pro.  I am confused.

[bjones2125]

So let me understand, if a user has Power BI free without the trial they will continue to see the reports.  But if a user has Power BI free and using the Power BI Trial and then the trial expires, why does the free kick in and still allow them to view the reports.

[collinq]

Hi @bjones2125 and @ThiMaiDao and @Daniel_Sevcik ,

Maybe there is some confusion here about where we are talking about.  

To clarify, a user can Power BI desktop for free without any license.  With that, they can look at reports all day long on their PC. They can NOT interact with the Service.

A Trial license is for the Service.  This allows the user to upload to their own "My Workspace" in the Service.  They can NOT share reports or view reports from others in the Service.  The Trial license is free and is usually 60 days.  A user can have one Trial license and once it expires or is cancelled that is it, they don't get any more time.

A PRO license allows a user the full functionality of PRO (see link below).

A PPU license can also be assigned to a person - this gives some of the benefits of Premium but only for one user.  (See link below)

There is one more license that is "free" to the user. If your organization purchases Premium Capacity then you can assign a license to a user that is Service only that allows them to view Premium Capacity workspaces/apps/reports.

This is the link that clarifies the different capabilites of different licenses:

Pricing & Product Comparison | Microsoft Power BI

And, finally, if a user goes from Premium or PPU or PRO back to free, they can do the PC things available to a free user with no problems.  (They do not have the Service.)

[bjones2125]

@collinq I understand about the different licenses.  But the last statement that you mentioned And, finally, if a user goes from Premium or PPU or PRO back to free, they can do the PC things available to a free user with no problems.  (They do not have the Service.)" is the issue that is happening here.  After the trial , the users do have the "Free" license.  But the ability to view reports is not there.  When they attempt to view the reports, they are met with a splash screen that tells them to Upgrade to Pro.  I have had them to log out and back in to make sure they re-establish connection with their MS account.  But that doesn't work.  The only way that they can view reports is if I go ahead and upgrade them to PRO.  

[collinq]

Hey @bjones2125 ,

if you are having to purchase something again I would recommend that you create a ticket and let Microsoft determine what is going on.  (And, please update us all here with the result).

[Daniel_Sevcik]

I wouldn't consider that a solution. A user who was PRO for whatever reason should be able to downgrade their license to FREE while retaining the free user functionality. I would see this more as a bug on Microsoft's side. Isn't there a "reset" option for the user to get the FREE license to work normally and not have to pay for a PRO license if they just wanted to try it out or accidentally activated the PRO trial?

[collinq]

HI @Daniel_Sevcik ,

That is how it works - if you have PRO  (or the PRO trial) you can stop paying the license fee (or stop the trial) and downgrade to free and get to do whatever a free user gets to do.  But, you don't get to activate a new trial for PRO again.  There is one trial period only and then you either revert to free or you pay for PRO.