PowerBI Desktop "hangs" when left idle for a while

[jaap_olsthoorn]

This issue happens when I have a powerBI report that is dependent on a "master PBIX file" in the Power BI service that contains my data model. It does not occur on any files that load the data into themselves. 

Steps to reproduce:

Open a PBIX file whose data source is a PBIX file in the service

Leave the file open, but don't interact with it for 2 hours

Attempt to interact with it.

Result: 
The PowerBI file will show a spinning wheel as if it's loading the visuals, but it never will. All other open PowerBI files are no longer interactable. Windows 10 will not let you maximize other PowerBI reports anymore. Only way out is to "End Task" in task manager, and hope and pray you chose the right process to kill.

[v-robertq-msft]

Hi, 

If you want to get a solution for this kind of connection problem based on your specific situation as soon as possible, I suggest you to open a support ticket to get direct help from the technical support team of Microsoft to make sure if this can be an existing issue in the Power BI.

https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Community-Blog/How-to-create-a-support-ticket-in-Power-BI/ba-p/6830...

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/support/

Thank you very much!

Best Regards,

Community Support Team _Robert Qin

[SMHolck]

I am also having this issue.  Started after installing 2021 Dec 31 Power BI Desktop update.  I did not have the preview for Microsoft Edge WebView2 installed, but in Task Manager, I now see 13 have spawned for the PBIX report file sourced from a PBI Service dataset.  Wondering if related to this new feature.  Could also be that it lost login info.  It's not prompting me.  Just hangs.

Report refresh is usually 3 seconds.  Hangs forever.  Also causes all other Power BI Desktop processes (e.g. another report/dataset) to hang.

[jaap_olsthoorn]

Hey SMHolk,

i tried switing back to CEFSharp (you can switch the webview 2 off in preview settings). It had 1 positive consequence: when my report relying on the cloud data locks up as usual, I can still interact with other open reports. 

So it doesn't seem to fix the "freezing" of the report connecting to a powerbi model, but it does seem to prevent all other reports from freezing alongside it.

[v-robertq-msft]

OK, thanks for your response!

[tonyrogersonsql]

I'm getting the same here too, two different reports it's happening on, both very simple ones that connect to a Power BI premium based dataset. The dataset itself is a mix of Dual mode and Direct Query tables against a single Azure SQL Database.

Both reports hang, on one of the reports there are two tables currently refreshing (dotted circle going round) but I can't interact on the report - I can literally only end task it through Task Manager.

Not 100% sure if this happened before the Dec refresh but I've not had this level of freezing for a couple of years, I'm literally having to end task power bi 2 or 3 times per day now.

[bravespiano5]

I am constantly getting this issue....even when not idle, the pbix gives me the refresh symbol on every visual and I have to close out via Task Manager.

[SMHolck]

I did submit a support ticket and after a bunch of logs, the Microsoft Support team was able to confirm that this was caused by the new WebView2 feature switch, which in the Dec 21 2021 version was turned on by default. 

If you download the latest version and in the Options > Preview Features section, then turn off the two options for the Power BI Desktop Infrastructure update and the Web page connector infrastructure update  as  jaap_olsthoorn, the original poster, indicated above, it will switch you back to the CefSharp.  I did test out a May 2022 release for which this issue from WebView2 seems to be resolved, so there is relief on the horizon. After confirming the fix, however, I switched back to the current release so as not to force my whole team to have to upgrade to an unsupported version. 

In the Feb 25 2022 version, CefSharp still hangs occasionally on me, as it always has, but not multiple times a day and not after only being idle a few seconds.

[bravespiano5]

I appreciate the quick response, @SMHolck! 

I did turn off both those toggles but the issue has still persists and this is using the Feb-22 version too.  It is admittedly annoying but at it's teaching me to save periodically, plus the auto-recovery catches relatively recent updates when I forget.

I look forward to the May-22 release, I hope it fixes it for good!

[jaap_olsthoorn]

This issue has been fixed in the latest version of PowerBI 🙂