Power BI troubleshooting
Use this page to troubleshoot the Power BI connector and live Assistant integration.
Setup and authentication
Connector validation fails
Symptoms:
- Validation returns an error instead of completing the connector setup.
- The connector cannot start its first crawl.
| Cause | Fix |
|---|---|
| Credential mismatch: The connector app’s client ID and client secret come from different Microsoft Entra app registrations. | In Microsoft Entra ID, confirm that both values belong to the same connector service principal app. Enter those values in Set up indexing. |
| Missing service principal access: The connector service principal app is not in the security group used for the Power BI service-principal tenant settings. | Add the connector service principal app to that security group. In the Power BI admin portal, confirm that you applied the group to Service principals can call Fabric public APIs and Service principals can access read-only admin APIs. |
| Expired client secret: The connector app’s client secret has expired. | Create a new client secret in Microsoft Entra ID and update the connector configuration in Set up indexing. |
If the read-only admin API check fails, Glean cannot perform tenant-wide discovery or permission crawling.
Rich report or semantic-model definitions are missing
Symptoms:
- Glean finds a workspace or report but does not show rich report or semantic-model definitions.
- Basic catalog metadata may still appear in Search.
| Cause | Fix |
|---|---|
| Missing workspace access: The connector service principal or its security group does not have Contributor access to the workspace. | In Power BI, open Manage access for the workspace, add the connector service principal or its security group, and assign the Contributor role. Repeat for every workspace that Glean should index. |
| Crawl has not completed: Glean has not finished a crawl and indexing pipeline after you changed workspace access. | Run or wait for a successful crawl, then check the workspace again. |
The Power BI tools setup does not initialize
Symptoms:
- The Connect tools step does not open the Microsoft authorization flow.
- The setup remains on the same step after you enter the delegated app credentials.
- The Connect tools step does not display a Redirect URI.
- Microsoft Entra ID requires a redirect URI before you can finish the delegated app setup.
| Cause | Fix |
|---|---|
| Delegated app configuration is incomplete: The app does not include the required delegated permissions or its Redirect URI does not match the value shown in Glean. | Add the required permissions to the app registration and make the Web redirect URI match the current value shown in Glean. |
| Tools setup has not initialized: The setup page has not completed the indexing step or loaded the tools configuration. | Complete Set up indexing, refresh the setup page, and reopen Connect tools. |
| Setup UI issue: The field remains blank after you complete the indexing step. | Do not enter a guessed value. Contact your Glean administrator or Glean Support. |
If the issue persists after you complete the indexing setup, contact your Glean administrator or Glean Support.
Search and indexing
Users cannot find expected Power BI content
Symptoms:
- A supported workspace, report, semantic model, or dashboard does not appear in Search.
- Other Power BI content from the same tenant appears as expected.
| Cause | Fix |
|---|---|
| Unsupported content: The missing item is not a supported workspace, report, semantic model, or dashboard. | Confirm that the item belongs to a supported Power BI Service or Microsoft Fabric workspace. |
| Missing workspace access: The connector service principal cannot access the workspace. | Grant the connector service principal or its security group the Contributor role in the workspace. |
| Identity mapping issue: The linked Microsoft 365 identity integration cannot resolve the relevant user or group. | Confirm that the user’s Microsoft 365 identity and group membership appear in the linked identity integration. |
| Indexing delay: A successful crawl and indexing pipeline has not completed after the content or permission change. | Wait for the next successful crawl or run a content crawl, then search again. |
Glean does not index Power BI table rows. Search finds indexed metadata and definitions, such as report pages, visual metadata, tables, columns, measures, and relationships where available.
Recent Power BI changes are not showing in Glean
Symptoms:
- A recently created or updated Power BI item does not appear in Glean.
- A permission change does not affect indexed visibility yet.
| Cause | Fix |
|---|---|
| Crawl delay: The connector relies on periodic full crawls instead of incremental crawls based on Power BI timestamps. | Wait for a successful crawl and indexing pipeline to complete. |
| Live and indexed data differ: A live Assistant query uses current Power BI data, while Search uses the connector’s indexed metadata and definitions. | Use Assistant for current table values. Check the connector crawl status when you need updated Search results. |
A pasted Power BI link does not route to the expected asset
Symptoms:
- Assistant does not identify the workspace, report, semantic model, or dashboard from a pasted link.
- Assistant asks for more context before it can answer the question.
| Cause | Fix |
|---|---|
| Unsupported link: The link does not identify a supported Power BI asset. | Search for the Power BI asset in Glean, open the matching result, and ask the question from that context. |
| Insufficient context: The question does not include the report, dashboard, workspace, or semantic-model name. | Include the asset name in the question and specify the metric, time, and filters you need. |
Assistant and live queries
The Semantic Model Execute Queries REST API setting enables Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) queries through the Power BI Representational State Transfer (REST) API. DAX is the query language used for live semantic-model queries.
Assistant cannot run a live query
Symptoms:
- Assistant finds the Power BI asset but cannot return current data.
- A live query fails after the user asks a question about a semantic model.
| Cause | Fix |
|---|---|
| Delegated authorization is incomplete: The user has not authorized the delegated Power BI OAuth app, or the app credentials are incorrect. | Complete Connect tools and authorize the delegated OAuth app with the user’s Microsoft identity. |
| Required tenant setting is off: The Power BI tenant does not enable one or both of Users can use the Power BI Model Context Protocol server endpoint (preview) and Semantic Model Execute Queries REST API. | In the Power BI admin portal, enable both settings for the organization or the security groups that should use Power BI tools. |
| Missing semantic-model access: The user does not have Build permission on the target semantic model. | Grant the user Build permission on the semantic model. |
| Unsupported workspace: The semantic model is in My Workspace. | Move or publish the semantic model to a standard Power BI workspace. |
| Missing model relationship: The report or dashboard does not link to the semantic model that Assistant selected. | Confirm that the report or dashboard uses the expected semantic model, then include that asset’s name in the question. |
The connector service principal’s workspace access does not replace the end user’s delegated Power BI authorization.
Generate Query is unavailable
Symptoms:
- Assistant cannot use the Generate Query tool.
- Assistant can still retrieve schema or execute DAX when the required permissions are available.
| Cause | Fix |
|---|---|
| Missing Copilot license or capacity: Power BI Generate Query requires the applicable Copilot license or capacity. | Provide the required Copilot access, or use schema-based DAX generation with Execute Query instead. |
| Tool is not enabled: The MCP client configuration does not enable Generate Query. | Enable the tool if your organization wants to use Power BI Copilot for query generation. |
Two users receive different answers
Symptoms:
- Two users ask the same question but receive different results.
- One user can query a semantic model while another user cannot.
| Cause | Fix |
|---|---|
| Different Power BI access: Live queries run with each user’s delegated Power BI identity. | Confirm that both users have the expected workspace, report, and semantic-model permissions. |
| Row-level security: Power BI applies row-level security to the user at query time. | Review the semantic model’s row-level security roles and the affected user’s Power BI membership. |
Users may receive different answers when they have different Power BI access or row-level security results.
The answer does not match a dashboard tile
Symptoms:
- Assistant returns a value that differs from a dashboard or report tile.
- The answer changes when you change the metric, time, or grouping.
| Cause | Fix |
|---|---|
| Different query context: A tile may represent a predefined slice of data, while Assistant runs a live query for the question you asked. | Check the selected semantic model and include the intended metric, time, grouping, and filters in the question. |
| Different permissions: Power BI applies the requesting user’s access and row-level security to the live query. | Confirm that the user has the expected Power BI permissions and row-level security membership. |