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Seb_Lz
Frequent Visitor

Cannot change data source credentials to anything different than current credentials because of SSO

Hello,

I'd like to set up in my dataset a sharepoint data source  that would use a generic O365 account.

I'm following this guide https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/refresh-data#accessing-cloud-data-sources.

However, because of SSO, I can't sign in with a different account than mine and therefore cannot setup the data source to use a generic account. Each time I come to the login window, it will log me in using my current credentials regardless of the login I type (i'm not even asked for the password). How can we therefore enter custom data source credentials with SSO enforced ?

Kind regards,

Sébastien.

 

23 REPLIES 23
Anonymous
Not applicable

I had written messages 16, 18, 19, in this thread in November 2020, and am finding the same issue as ever.

 

Again, I had gone through the somewhat painful process of opening a ticket with Microsoft support and only being given the workaround of having IT give my personal account access to the data source in order to get it to refresh.

 

I would love to hear anyone else's experience of also working with Microsoft support on issue resolution or acknowledging this bug.

Hi! I struggled with this issue for various weeks (the only solution we had found in my company was to give  the generic / machine user access to Power BI which I didn't like at all).

But after trying out some things I managed to do it while working from home and connected with VPN. I think it very much depends on your company's implementation of SSO in Azure AD. Please try it out if you have a similar set up and let us know.

 

-If you ARE connected through VPN, disconnect it.

-In the Power BI workspace go to your Dataflow / Dataset > Edit Credentials.

-The "Pick an account" screen should open in a pop up window. You should see your regular company email address account at the top "Connected to Windows", BUT by now after trying to log in with the generic user in different places you would have it already available to select it below. If not you can also try with "Use another account" but not sure if it will work the same way.

-You then get to a Login prompt with a Password box (in my case this was automatically bypassed when connected through the VPN).

-After putting the generic user's password you would get an error message saying you should activate VPN.

-Activate the VPN

-Refresh the pop up window with the error message

-And BOOM: the actual sign in with the generic user account would happen at this point.

 

How to check: I guess depends on the source. In my case the source is databricks and the only way I know of telling is to trigger a refresh of the dataset in Power BI, then access to databricks with the generic user and go to the query history to see if any queries related to the dataset were just triggered. 

 

Hope this solutions works for others and not only in my case, but as said it might depends on particularities of each case.

Maxlan71
New Member

Hello, 

Same issue here.... Has someone resolved, please?

Thanks in advance.

Enzo
Regular Visitor

Same issue here. Anyone got success with Microsoft Support? Or can you please direct me to a link that show how to resolve this.

 

Thanks

cperuski
Advocate II
Advocate II

This problem still exists as we have the same problem.   @Anonymous I'm assuming Power BI Service is still using your credentials to access the SharePoint data.  So my experience at this point would indicate that Power BI Service has a bug.

Anonymous
Not applicable

Update after spending 2-3 hours with Microsoft support this week. I am grateful for their help and patience. I believe they gave me a workaround but that this issue that remains unresolved.

 

Changes made:

- The service account had been locked out and was re-enabled.

- My own account did not have access to the Sharepoint data source and was granted access.

- The setting "Allow user's cloud data sources to refresh through this gateway cluster" was enabled on the gateway cluster.

 

After those steps, support had me deploy a copy of the report (while logged in to Power BI service as the service account) and the report was successful.

I also attempted to change credentials on the initial report deployed by me, logged in as me, and as reported throughout this thread, I was not prompted for a password. The report refreshes successfully. (as would be expected if my own credentials were still being used.)

 

Because I cannot see which credentials are actually being used on the data source, I cannot report success in the objective mentioned in post 5: "Publish a report that uses a generic O365 account (different than the one used to publish/manage the report) to query a sharepoint data source."

 

At this point I do not want to experiment further with changing credentials in order to prove this issue exists (at least under some scenario) in case I have to spend more time fixing this issue.

Anonymous
Not applicable

I am facing the same symptoms described in messages 7 and 11 of this thread. 

Attempting to "sign in as a different user" for an "organizational account" takes me to "pick an account" where "use another account" allows me to enter another account name but NOT a password.

 

I have tried clearing cache/cookies, clearing global permissions, using incognito/private browser windows, forgetting user/logging out, to no avail. This occurs both in Power BI desktop and when trying to edit the data source credentials in the Power BI service.

 

Has anyone encountered this problem and found a solution? Thanks.

Hi @Anonymous ,

 

I just asked the originator of this issue if he has it resolved so that maybe we can all learn how it was resolved.  If not, perhaps you can open a ticket with Microsoft and let us all know the resolution?

 

I would appreciate Kudos if my response was helpful. I would also appreciate it if you would Mark this As a Solution if it solved the problem. Thanks!




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Anonymous
Not applicable

Thanks @collinq , I've opened a ticket and I will report back here with results.

Anonymous
Not applicable

I have the exact same issue. I have a data source that I am trying to connect to using a general service account that our IT team created so that users don't have any issues connecting to the data if I were to leave the company. However, I never get a chance to enter the service account details, I just click "Sign in as different user" then enter the email as some random caracters @[mycompanydomain] and then I get a page saying "Taking you to your organization's sign in page" and I am taken automatically all the way through the sign in process using my account without a chance to enter a password or anything. I would expect to at least get an error because the emailTinyTake24-08-2020-11-28-43_637338799860069117.png I entered is jibberish but nope. Worth noting that I am working on Power BI Desktop so there is no option for incognito mode or anything of the sort because the signing in is done in a generic browser window from within Power BI itself.

HI @Anonymous ,

 

I just asked the originator of this issue if he has it resolved so that maybe we can all learn how it was resolved.  If not, perhaps you can open a ticket with Microsoft and let us all know the resolution?

 

I would appreciate Kudos if my response was helpful. I would also appreciate it if you would Mark this As a Solution if it solved the problem. Thanks!




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v-lili6-msft
Community Support
Community Support

hi @Seb_Lz 

You may try it in another browser, or in incognito mode for the browser.

 

Regards,

Lin

Community Support Team _ Lin
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

Hello @v-lili6-msft , this is something I've tried but won't work. In order to access the report settings, I first need to login using my credentials. From that moment on, whatever browser I'm using, the credentials are cached and will be used automatically for the rest of the session. Disabling completelly cookies is also something I've tried, but then you can't even get into the PowerBI portal.

I'm actually wondering if someone has already successfully managed to get this use case working:

Publish a report that uses a generic O365 account (different than the one used to publish/manage the report) to query a sharepoint data source.

collinq
Super User
Super User

Hi @Seb_Lz ,

 

You didn't mention the context - are you in the service, the gateway or the desktop and the type of security settings for SSO that you have implement.  However, I did find these documents that might help:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/service-gateway-sso-overview

 

If you are using Kerberos:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/service-gateway-sso-kerberos

 

OR, if you are actually wanting to sign in from the very beginning with the generic userid, you can go here:

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/landing/signin/   and sign in with that generic userid.  Or, on the desktop, sign in in the top right corner with the generic userid.

 

I would appreciate Kudos if my response was helpful. I would also appreciate it if you would Mark this As a Solution if it solved the problem. Thanks!

 

 

 




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Dear collin,

Thanks for your reply. I honestly doubt this issue has anything to do with the Gateway SSO configuration as this is more linked to the way our browsers manage auto-authentication on O365 / PowerBI cloud. I'm simply trying to configure data source credentials on the dataset of my report hosted on app.powerbi.com. I access the powerbi portal using my own O365 (I'm the owner of the report), but I want the report to use another generic account to query the Sharepoint data so that users with no access to the Sharepoint data source can still view the report. Since I'm logged in PowerBI/O365 with my own account, and because of SSO on app.powerbi.com, it seems I cannot actually choose the credentials (whatever account I manually enter will be ignored and replaced by the credentials used to visit app.powerbi.com).

pbi.png

 

Hi @Seb_Lz ,

 

When you use "Try another account" it doesn't let you change the account?  What is the error message?  We do this often - where we are signed in but the Data Credentials is different, where we use the generic account.  We do this because my userid/password changes but the service account doesn't expire.




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Dear @collinq 

After I click on "use a different account", I get the following 2 screens:step 1step 1step 2step 2

 Then it returns to settings page directly, without asking the password, which makes me think it's just using the cached credentials and not the generic account (that account is not cached / saved on my computer). The fact we can only change the data source credentials but not view what the current credentials are is also a bit confusing.

Hi @Seb_Lz ,

 

I agree that is is kind of tough when you can't see the credentials.  But, you will get all sorts of errors if the userid that you entered isn't correct.  For example, I go this one when I entered the wrong credentials:

DataSource.png

 

 

But, it goes to this when I got it right:

Data2.png

And, you are right, it doesn't show the current credentials of the id being used.

 

I would appreciate Kudos if my response was helpful. I would also appreciate it if you would Mark this As a Solution if it solved the problem. Thanks!

 

 




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Dear @collinq 

Thanks for your help, this is appreciated. Unfortunately, the problem remains:

Although I know some credentials are accepted (mine) because there is no error, those are not the ones I would like the system to use (i.e. the generic account).

Hi @Seb_Lz ,

 

There have been a couple more folks add to this thread with the same problem.  If this was resolved, can you tell us how?  If this was not resolved, maybe it is time for a Microsoft ticket?

 

I would appreciate Kudos if my response was helpful. I would also appreciate it if you would Mark this As a Solution if it solved the problem. Thanks!




Did I answer your question? Mark my post as a solution!

Proud to be a Datanaut!
Private message me for consulting or training needs.




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