Where Are Data Source Credentials in Power BI?

Trying to locate your data source credentials in Power BI can feel like a game of hide-and-seek you didn't sign up for. It’s a common frustration: your report works perfectly on your desktop, but the moment you publish it, the data refresh fails. This article cuts straight to the solution, showing you exactly where to find and manage credentials in both Power BI Desktop and the Power BI Service.

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First, A Quick Refresher: What Are Data Source Credentials?

Before we pinpoint their location, let's quickly clarify what these credentials are and why they're so important. Data source credentials are the keys that unlock your data. They can be a username and password for a database, an API key for a web service, or authentication tokens for a cloud application like SharePoint or Salesforce.

Power BI uses these credentials to do two things:

• Connect to your data: When you first build a report in Power BI Desktop, you provide credentials to pull the data in.
• Refresh your data: For your reports to be useful over time, they need to update automatically. Power BI uses stored credentials to reconnect to your data sources on a schedule and fetch the latest information.

The core of the problem for most users is that Power BI Desktop and the Power BI Service store these credentials in different places and for different purposes. What works locally on your machine won’t automatically work in the cloud.

Managing Credentials in Power BI Desktop

Power BI Desktop is where you build your reports. When you connect to a new data source - whether it’s an Excel file on your computer or a SQL database - Desktop needs to know that you have permission to access it. It saves these permissions so you don't have to log in every single time you open the report.

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The "Data Source Settings" is Your Central Hub

This menu is your single source of truth for all data connections on your local machine. Here’s how to find it:

1. Open Power BI Desktop.
2. Click on File in the top-left corner.
3. Select Options and settings from the menu.
4. Click on Data source settings.

This will open a dialog box with two key sections: "Data sources in current file" and "Global permissions". Understanding the difference is crucial for effective management.

Data Sources in Current File

This tab lists only the specific data sources being used by the Power BI report (the .PBIX file) you currently have open. Any changes you make here only apply to this specific file. This is useful if you want to use a different login for a particular report without affecting your other projects.

For any source in this list, you can:

• Change Source: This lets you repoint the connection. For instance, you could switch from a staging database to a production database.
• Edit Permissions: This allows you to update the credentials for that source (e.g., after a password change).
• Clear Permissions: This removes the saved credentials, forcing Power BI to prompt you for them the next time you refresh.

Global Permissions

This is the master list. Think of it as Power BI Desktop's password manager for every data source you've EVER connected to on your computer, across all your report files. When you connect to a new source, your credentials are saved here by default so you can easily connect to it again in a different report later.

This is the most common place you'll go to manage credentials on a global level:

• Fixing widespread access issues: If you've updated a database password that is used by ten of your reports, you only need to change it here once. Click the data source, select Edit Permissions..., and enter the new login information. The next time you open any of those ten reports, they will use the new, centrally-stored credentials.
• Cleaning up old connections: If you no longer use a certain data source, you can select it from the list and hit Delete to remove it from your global permissions.
• Troubleshooting failed connections: Sometimes connections get corrupted or cached incorrectly. The best first step is to find the data source in the Global Permissions list, select it, and click Clear Permissions. This wipes out the saved login details and gives you a fresh start, prompting you to re-authenticate when you next refresh your data.

Managing Credentials in the Power BI Service

This is where things most often break. You’ve built a fantastic report in Desktop, everything refreshes perfectly, and then you publish it to the Power BI Service (app.powerbi.com). When you try to set up an automatic refresh, it fails with a credentials error. Why?

For security, Power BI Desktop does not pass your credentials to the cloud service when you publish a report. You have to enter them again directly into the Power BI Service to authorize it to access your data on your behalf.

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Navigating to Dataset Settings

In the Power BI Service terminology, reports are the visuals, but datasets are what hold the data and the connection information. You need to manage the credentials at the dataset level.

1. Log in to your Power BI account at app.powerbi.com.
2. Navigate to the Workspace where your report was published.
3. Find your dataset in the list. It will have the same name as your report but typically has an orange/gold icon.
4. Hover over the dataset and click the three dots (...) for 'More options'.
5. Select Settings from the dropdown menu.

Connecting Your Data Sources Online

Once you are on the Settings page for your dataset, you'll see several sections. The one we care about is Data source credentials.

Here, Power BI will list all the sources your report uses. If it’s the first time you are setting up the refresh schedule, you will likely see a yellow warning triangle with a message like "Failed to update data source credentials."

Click the Edit credentials or Sign in link next to the warning. This is where you re-enter the login information.

Authentication and Privacy Levels

When you edit credentials, you'll have to choose the method.

• oAuth2: This is a modern, secure method used for many cloud services like Salesforce or SharePoint Online. It will typically open a pop-up asking you to sign in with your organizational account.
• Basic: This is for traditional username and password authentication, commonly used for SQL databases.
• Anonymous: For public data sources that don't require a login, like a public website.
• Windows: For connecting to sources within your corporate network, often used in conjunction with a data gateway.

You’ll also need to configure a Privacy Level (Private, Organizational, Public). This setting determines whether Power BI can combine data from this source with data from other sources. For most private company data, Organizational is the safest and most common choice.

Once you’ve authenticated all your data sources correctly, the warning message will disappear, and you can successfully set up a scheduled refresh.

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Special Case: The On-Premises Data Gateway

What if your data isn't in the cloud? What if it's on a SQL Server in your office or a file on a local computer? The Power BI Service (which lives on Microsoft's cloud servers) has no way to see inside your company's private network.

This is what the On-Premises Data Gateway is for. It’s a small, secure piece of software you install on a computer inside your network that acts as a bridge. It fetches data from your local sources and securely sends it up to the Power BI Service.

When using a gateway, credential management has an extra layer:

1. You configure the source on the Gateway first: In the Power BI Service, under Settings (the gear icon) > Manage connections and gateways, you’ll add your on-premises data source (e.g., your SQL Server). You provide the credentials here once.
2. You map the dataset to the Gateway source: Then, back in your dataset settings, instead of entering credentials directly, you’ll see an option to map your report's data source to the connection you just configured on the gateway.

In this workflow, the Gateway is what stores and manages the credentials for all on-premises data. The dataset simply gets permission to use the gateway's connection.

Common Credential Problems and How to Fix Them

• Problem: Scheduled refresh starts failing with a credential error, but it used to work. Solution: Your password probably expired or was changed. Go to the Power BI Service > Workspace > Dataset Settings > Data source credentials and click "Edit credentials" to enter your new password.
• Problem: Power BI says I need an on-premises data gateway. Solution: This means your data source is not accessible from the public internet (e.g., pointing to C:\Users\YourName\Documents\data.xlsx or a server name like SQLSRV01). You must install and configure the On-Premises Data Gateway to allow the Power BI Service to reach it.
• Problem: The authentication works fine in Desktop but I keep getting errors in the Service. Solution: Remember, credentials are not published. You must set them up independently in the Power BI Service. Go to the dataset settings and re-authenticate each data source there.
• Problem: I'm trying to sign in with my Windows account and it fails. Solution: If you're using a gateway, the Windows account credentials for the gateway service must have the proper permissions on both the gateway machine and on the actual data source (e.g., be a user in the SQL database).

Final Thoughts

Understanding data source credentials boils down to a key concept: a dual-location system. Power BI Desktop manages credentials locally for building and testing reports, while the Power BI Service requires its own separate set of credentials to perform automated data refreshes from the cloud.

If managing credentials, gateways, and dual settings feels like a lot of technical overhead standing between you and your insights, you're not alone. We built Graphed to remove this kind of friction. With our platform, you just connect your data sources with a few clicks, and we handle the complex parts like credential refreshing and data pipelines, so you can just ask questions in simple language and get live dashboards without ever getting stuck in a settings menu again.