What causes EXTERNAL_LOCATION_CREDENTIAL_FAILED?

The IAM role ARN (AWS) or managed identity (Azure) attached to the storage credential was modified or deleted. The trust policy on the IAM role no longer includes the Databricks account or the Unity Catalog AWS principal. The external location path has changed but the credential is still pointing to the old location. The cloud storage bucket or container was moved to a different account or region

How do I fix EXTERNAL_LOCATION_CREDENTIAL_FAILED?

Step 1: In the Databricks workspace, go to Catalog > External Locations and find the failing location.. Step 2: Click Validate and review the credential validation error detail.. Step 3: Open the storage credential linked to this external location and verify the IAM role ARN or managed identity is correct.. Step 4: On the cloud side, confirm the IAM role trust policy still allows the Databricks Unity Catalog principal and the role has the required S3/ADLS permissions.. Step 5: Re-run validation in the Databricks UI. If it passes, re-trigger any blocked jobs.

Critical severityauthentication

Power BI Refresh Error:
EXTERNAL_LOCATION_CREDENTIAL_FAILED

What does this error mean?

Databricks Unity Catalog failed to validate the storage credential for an external location, meaning the IAM role, service principal, or managed identity can no longer access the underlying cloud storage path.

Common causes

1The IAM role ARN (AWS) or managed identity (Azure) attached to the storage credential was modified or deleted
2The trust policy on the IAM role no longer includes the Databricks account or the Unity Catalog AWS principal
3The external location path has changed but the credential is still pointing to the old location
4The cloud storage bucket or container was moved to a different account or region

How to fix it

1Step 1: In the Databricks workspace, go to Catalog > External Locations and find the failing location.
2Step 2: Click Validate and review the credential validation error detail.
3Step 3: Open the storage credential linked to this external location and verify the IAM role ARN or managed identity is correct.
4Step 4: On the cloud side, confirm the IAM role trust policy still allows the Databricks Unity Catalog principal and the role has the required S3/ADLS permissions.
5Step 5: Re-run validation in the Databricks UI. If it passes, re-trigger any blocked jobs.

Frequently asked questions

How do I validate a storage credential without running a job?

In Databricks Catalog Explorer, click the storage credential and use the Validate button. It performs a read/write test against the configured path and reports the exact IAM error.

Does rotating an IAM role automatically update the storage credential in Databricks?

No. If you replace an IAM role ARN, you must manually update the storage credential in Databricks to reference the new ARN, then re-validate.