What account to use for gateway to access sharepoint

[IanCockcroft]

hi guys, quick question.

what account do you use for the refresh to access sharepoint?

as far as i understand, gateway is not needed because sharepoint is online?

sharepoint wont let me share a list with a service account and it breaks when i use my account and the password changes

any work arounds?

cheers

ian

[v-mdharahman]

Hi @IanCockcroft,

Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft fabric community forum. You are absolutely right since SharePoint Online is a cloud-based source, there's no need to use an on-premises gateway to refresh the dataset in Power BI Service.

As @BhavinVyas3003 suggested to use a dedicated Azure AD service account and connect via OAuth2 in Power BI.

This setup will make your dataset refreshes much more stable over time and prevent them from breaking due to individual account password changes. So kindly go through his response and check if the issue can be resolved.

I would also take a moment to thank @BhavinVyas3003, 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.

If I misunderstand your needs or you still have problems on it, please feel free to let us know.  

Best Regards,
Hammad.

[v-mdharahman]

Hi @IanCockcroft,

As we haven’t heard back from you, so just following up to our previous message. I'd like to confirm if you've successfully resolved this issue or if you need further help.

If yes, you are welcome to share your workaround so that other users can benefit as well.  And if you're still looking for guidance, feel free to give us an update, we’re here for you.

Best Regards,

Hammad.

[v-mdharahman]

Hi @IanCockcroft,
Hope everything’s going smoothly on your end. As we haven’t heard back from you, so I wanted to check if the issue got sorted.
Still stuck? No worries just drop us a message and we can jump back in on the issue.

Best Regards,

Hammad.

[BhavinVyas3003 · Accepted solution]

You don’t need a gateway to connect Power BI to SharePoint Online, since it’s a cloud source. The best approach is to use OAuth2 authentication with a dedicated Azure AD service account that has access to the SharePoint list. Avoid using personal accounts, as password changes can break scheduled refreshes. Make sure the service account’s password doesn’t expire, or manage it centrally for consistent access.