High severitycredentials
Power BI Refresh Error:
Access to the resource is forbidden
What does this error mean?
Power BI attempted to refresh using cached credentials that have since been revoked or restricted at the resource level. The connection itself succeeds but access to the specific data is denied by the source system.
Common causes
- 1The user whose credentials are stored for this dataset left the organization or had their account disabled
- 2A service principal's Azure RBAC role assignment was removed or its permissions were reduced
- 3The OAuth token for a SharePoint or OneDrive source expired or was revoked externally
- 4Permissions were tightened on the data source after the credentials were originally saved in Power BI Service
- 5Personal credentials are used instead of a service account — when that person's permissions change, all dependent datasets break
How to fix it
- 1Navigate to the dataset in Power BI Service → Settings → Data source credentials
- 2Re-enter or re-authorize the credentials for the affected data source
- 3Switch from personal credentials to a dedicated service account that is not tied to an individual employee
- 4For Azure resources, verify the service principal or managed identity still holds the required RBAC role (e.g., 'Storage Blob Data Reader', 'SQL DB Reader')
- 5For OAuth sources (SharePoint, OneDrive), click 'Sign in' to force a fresh token — externally revoked tokens require re-authorization
- 6Set up MetricSign alerts to catch credential failures immediately rather than discovering them when a report goes stale