Your file has been disconnected and data source credentials greyed out

[PBION]

I have a report built in Desktop, published to Service. I was using a gateway to refresh for over a year, but now when I republish the report it says the file has been disconnected, and in service the data source credentials are greyed out. This is connected to a SharePoint list and an Access Database file.

I tried clearing permissions in Desktop for the data sources, deleting the data sources in service, and re-adding them, and no luck. The SharePoint list is not combining tables it is just the one list connected. I tested the same list connected to another test report and same issue it published with data source credentials greyed out. Any insight?

[v-tsaipranay · Accepted solution]

Hi @PBION ,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft fabric community forum.

The error message "We are unable to access some data source because the artifact is missing connection details" indicates that the Power BI Service dataset has lost its connection to the original data source. This can happen if SharePoint permissions or data connection ownership change, or if the dataset is republished from Power BI Desktop with updated metadata, causing it to be recognized as a new artifact.

Since your SharePoint list access was recently reduced and you no longer have full edit rights, this is likely causing the issue. Power BI requires at least read and schema-level access to validate and refresh the connection; lower permissions can prevent the dataset from accessing connection details, leading to greyed-out credentials and refresh errors.

To resolve this, check your SharePoint permissions and request temporary Edit or Full Control access if necessary. Power BI needs metadata-level access even if only read access is needed for visuals. Once permissions are restored, go to the dataset in Power BI Service, select Settings > Data source credentials, and re-enter your organizational account to rebind the connection. Also, confirm that both SharePoint List and Access Database sources are mapped to the same gateway cluster under Manage Gateways.

Hope this helps. Please reach out for further assistance.

Thank you.

[PBION]

I believe a version of this helped resolve the issue. I didn't need to request any further permissions to the SharePoint list. But I had missed a step under gateway and cloud connections after deleting the original SharePoint list connections, mapping it to the new one and applying these connections. Once I did this the data source credentials and refresh settings are now available. 

[PBION]

The last scheduled refresh error was:  We are unable to access some data source because the artifact is missing connection details. Please contact the artifact owner to bind the data source to a data connection or use default connection settings for the unbound data source.

[Poojara_D12]

Hi @PBION 

You have a report that used to refresh fine through a gateway, but after republishing, Power BI Service shows the dataset as disconnected and the data source credentials are greyed out, even though the same setup worked for over a year. Since the report uses both a SharePoint List and an Access Database, and the credentials issue appears even with a simple test report connected only to the SharePoint list, the problem is likely related to how Power BI Service is now handling those data source authentication types rather than your gateway setup. Clearing permissions and re-adding the sources didn’t help, which reinforces that this isn't a permission cache issue but rather a Service-side change or authentication policy shift—particularly since Access DB over gateway and SharePoint List credentials have recently seen reliability issues. In many cases like this, the fix ends up being re-establishing the connection by editing the data source in the gateway, ensuring the account used is a Microsoft/organizational login, or switching the SharePoint connection method in Desktop (OData feed vs. SharePoint connector) and republishing. If none of those work, it's likely a Power BI Service bug/regression, and opening a support ticket or checking Service Health is the right next step, especially since this behavior started suddenly after republishing and affects multiple reports.

[PBION]

I will likely submit a ticket as nothing has worked thus far. Could it be that I need additional permissions to the SharePoint list itself? This is the only list that I don't have full editing permissions to which I believe could have changed recently.

[Vinodh247]

This is a known issue that usually happens when PBI Service cannot identify your data source path or authentication method after a recent update.

Here is what you can try to fix:

1. Check SharePoint connection type:

   • In desktop, make sure you are using the sharePoint online list connector, not the web connector.

   • Reconnect using the full site URL (for ex: https://yourtenant.sharepoint.com/sites/yoursite).

2. Access Database path:

   • Ensure the access file path in desktop matches the one configured in the gateway.

   • The Access Database must be on a local/network drive accessible by the gateway machine.

3. Gateway mapping:

   • Go to manage gateways in PBI Service.

   • Verify both data sources (SharePoint + Access) appear under the same gateway cluster and are mapped correctly.

4. Republish clean:

   • Delete the dataset from Service.

   • In Desktop, clear all credentials (File -> Options > Data Load > Clear Permissions).

   • Re-publish the report, then reconfigure credentials in Service.

If the issue persists, it is likely due to Microsoft’s recent security update affecting access database connections via gateway (especially with Office updates).

Simple workaround: move the access data to SQL Server or an excel file on SharePoint/OneDrive.

[PBION]

Hello,

1. Check SharePoint connection type: Confirmed it is SharePoint connector not web

2. Access Database path: Confirmed (other reports are accessing the same database and refreshing without issue using the same path)

3. Gateway mapping; Confirmed (I only have one gateway, both are mapped to this gateway)

4. Republish clean: Deleted both in service and readded, as well as cleared permissions.

The issue still persists. Unfortunately we cannot move out of the Access db yet.