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Microsoft Power BI

Connect Microsoft Power BI to visualize your data and create reports.

You can connect Power BI to Dremio in one of the following ways:

  • Configure a reusable connection to use in Power BI Desktop, Power BI Gateway, or Power BI Service. Power BI Service can connect to Dremio through DirectQuery or through Power BI Gateway.
  • Connect to a specific dataset by downloading the .pbids file from Dremio and opening it in Power BI Desktop.

Supported Authentication Methods​

From Power BI, you can authenticate to Dremio with one of the following methods:

Connect to Dremio from Power BI​

The Power BI connector for Dremio now supports connectivity through the open-source Arrow Database Connectivity (ADBC) driver, which Dremio highly recommends using to connect to Dremio. To enable reports to use ADBC, see Enable Connectivity with ADBC.

Existing connections will continue to work, but we recommend using the embedded ADBC driver for all new reports and migrating existing reports to ADBC to benefit from improved performance and supportability.

To connect to Dremio from Power BI Desktop:

  1. Click Get data, search for Dremio, select Dremio Cloud, and click Connect.

  2. In the Dremio Cloud dialog, follow these steps:

    a. Use the Flight SQL ADBC driver and in the Server field specify which of Dremio's control planes to connect to:

    • If your Dremio organization is on the US control plane: adbc://data.dremio.cloud
    • If your Dremio organization is on the EU control plane: adbc://data.eu.dremio.cloud

    b. (Optional) In the Project field, if your datasets are in a non-default project of your Dremio organization or you do not have access to the default project, paste the ID of the project that you want to connect to. To obtain the project ID, see Obtain the ID of a Project.

    c. (Optional) In the Engine field, specify the name of the query-execution engine for your project. For information about query-execution engines, see Manage Engines.

    d. (Optional) In the Native Query field, specify a SQL query as the data input source.

    e. Under Data Connectivity mode, select either Import or DirectQuery. Click OK.

    f. For Authentication Method, select Key or Microsoft Account.

    • Key: Paste in the personal access token you obtained from Dremio. For details, see Create a PAT.

    • Microsoft Account: Click Sign in, and then specify your credentials.

note

Creating Dataflows through Power BI Service is also supported. To create a dataflow, click New > Dataflow. For the data source connection, follow the steps above.

Create a Live Connection to a Dataset from Dremio​

You can generate a Microsoft Power BI Data Source (.pbids) file that represents a live connection to a dataset that is in Dremio. No actual data is stored in this file, and you can think of it as a shortcut to a Power BI Desktop session with a preconfigured view of your data.

note

The .pbids file download option must be enabled for users to have access to this feature. To enable this feature, see Enable the .pbids file download.

To download a .pbids file:

  1. On the Datasets page in Dremio, find the dataset you want to work with and open the Details panel for the dataset.
  2. Click the button that displays the Power BI logo. Dremio downloads a .pbids file to your system.
  3. Open the .pbids file.
  4. Authenticate using a personal access token or your organizational account and click Load.

Use these instructions to connect to Dremio if your organization uses PrivateLink for secure private connectivity.

Prerequisites​

  • A PrivateLink connection configured in your AWS VPC.
  • The November 2025 version of PowerBI Desktop.

Connect with an Organizational Account​

  1. In Power BI Desktop, click Get data.

  2. In the Get Data dialog, choose Blank Query and click Connect.

  3. Select Advanced Editor and add the following:

    let
     Source = DremioCloud.DatabasesByServerV370("adbc://<orgAlias>.data.privatelink.dremio.cloud", null, null, null, null, "Enabled-PEM", [AuthorizationServerPort=443, AuthorizationServerDomain="<orgAlias>.login.privatelink.dremio.cloud"])
    in
     Source

    where <orgAlias> is the organization alias implemented in your PrivateLink configuration.

  4. Click Done.

  5. Select Edit Credentials.

  6. Choose Organizational Account and click Sign in.

Connect with a Personal Access Token​

  1. In Power BI Desktop, click Get data, choose Dremio Cloud, and click Connect.

  2. In the Dremio Cloud connection box, enter the PrivateLink DNS name created in your PrivateLink configuration, in the form

    adbc://<orgAlias>.data.privatelink.dremio.cloud

    where <orgAlias> is your PrivateLink organization alias. Click OK.

Power BI Gateway​

To enable Power BI users to connect to Dremio via Power BI Gateway:

  1. In Power BI Service, click ... next to your profile picture at the top-right corner of the browser and navigate to Settings > Manage gateways.

  2. Under GATEWAY CLUSTERS, select the gateway you created previously.

  3. Select the checkbox Allow user's cloud data sources to refresh through this gateway cluster.

  4. At the top of the page, click Add data sources to use the gateway. This launches the Data Source Settings page.

  5. Enter a Data Source Name.

  6. Select the Data Source Type drop-down menu and select Dremio Cloud.

  7. In the Server field, specify which of Dremio's control planes to connect to:

    • If your Dremio organization is on the US control plane: sql.dremio.cloud.
    • If your Dremio organization is on the EU control plane: sql.eu.dremio.cloud.

  8. (Optional) In the Project field, if your datasets are in a non-default project of your Dremio organization or you do not have access to the default project, paste the ID of the project that you want to connect to. To obtain the project ID, see Obtain the ID of a project.

  9. For Authentication Method, select Key or Microsoft Account.

    • Key: Paste in the personal access token you obtained from Dremio. For details, see Create a PAT.

    • Microsoft Account: Click Sign in, and then specify your credentials.

  10. Ignore the Engine field. It is not used.

  11. Under Advanced Settings, set the Connection Encryption setting for this data source to Encrypted.

  12. Click Add. A Connection Successful message is shown on top of the Data Source Settings page.

Advanced Configuration​

Enable Connectivity with ADBC​

Dremio supports connectivity through Arrow Database Connectivity (ADBC). To enable this for Power BI Service, see the following options.

Enable the ADBC Option for a New Connection​

  1. In Power BI Desktop, click Get data.
  2. In the Get Data dialog, locate and select Dremio Cloud, and click Connect.
  3. In the Dremio Cloud dialog, in the Server field, enter adbc://data.dremio.cloud or adbc://data.eu.dremio.cloud, depending on which control plane your Dremio account is on.
  4. (Optional) Complete the other fields in the dialog as you normally would.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Authenticate using your preferred method, and click Connect.

Enable the ADBC Option for an Existing Connection​

  1. In Power BI Desktop, go to Data source settings, select your source, and click Change source.
  2. In the Dremio Cloud dialog, update the Server field to adbc://data.dremio.cloud or adbc://data.eu.dremio.cloud, depending on which control plane your Dremio account is on. If you're unable to edit the source this way, click Transform data, then click Advanced Editor in the Home tab. In the dialog that appears, update the hostname/server with the adbc:// prefix, and click Done.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Reauthenticate using your preferred method, and click Connect.

Enable the .pbids File Download in the Dremio Console​

ADMIN privileges are required to make updates to this setting.

To enable users to download .pbids files for datasets in the Dremio console, follow these steps:

  1. Click in the side navigation bar and select Project Settings.
  2. Select BI Applications in the projects settings sidebar.
  3. Toggle the Microsoft Power BI Desktop setting on.

After the organization administrator completes these steps, refresh your browser window.

Enable SSO to Dremio from Power BI​

When Single Sign-On (SSO) is enabled, viewers of reports in Power BI Service run them under their own Power BI username instead of as the user who published the reports, or under the username of the user who set up Power BI Gateway. SSO is supported for DirectQuery mode.

To enable SSO to Dremio from Power BI, ensure that your Dremio organization is configured with Microsoft Entra ID and follow these steps:

  1. In the Dremio console, click in the side navigation bar and select Organization Settings.
  2. Select BI Applications from the organization settings sidebar.
  3. On the BI Applications page, click Power BI.
  4. Ensure that Enable single sign-on for Power BI is toggled on.
  5. For Microsoft Entra Tenant ID, enter the tenant ID of your Microsoft Entra ID account. The tenant ID of each Microsoft Entra ID account can only be assigned to a single Dremio organization.
  6. For User Claim Mapping, specify the key of the user claim that Dremio must look up in access tokens to find the username of the user attempting to log in. See User Claim Mapping for more information about this field.
  7. Click Save.
  8. In the Power BI Admin portal, select Tenant settings and toggle on the Enabled switch under Dremio SSO.

Enable SSO for a DirectQuery Report​

To enable SSO for a report that uses DirectQuery:

  1. In Power BI Service, open the workspace to which you published the report.

  2. Find the dataset that is associated with the report, click the three dots next to its name, and select Settings.

  3. Expand the Data source credentials section and click Edit credentials.

  4. In the configure dialog, follow these steps:

    1. In the Authentication method field, select one of these options:

      • Key: Paste your personal access token into the Account Key field.

      • OAuth2: Authenticate by using your Microsoft ID and password.

    2. In the Privacy level setting for this data source field, ensure that Private is selected.

    3. Select the check box Report viewers can only access this data source with their own Power BI identities using DirectQuery.

    4. Click Sign in.

Enable SSO for Reports with Power BI Gateway​

To enable SSO when you are using Power BI Gateway:

  1. In Power BI Service, open the workspace to which you published the report.

  2. Find the dataset that is associated with the report, click the three dots next to its name, and select Settings.

  3. In the settings for the dataset, expand Gateway connection.

  4. Recreate your data source by following these steps:

    1. Select the Maps to field.

    2. Select Manually add to gateway.

    3. In the New data source dialog, create a data source that matches the one that you previously used for your dataset. However, give the new data source a different name.

    4. In the Authentication method field, select one of these options:

      • Key: Paste your personal access token into the Account Key field.

      • OAuth2: Click Edit credentials and select the option Use SSO via Microsoft Entra ID for DirectQuery queries.

    5. Click Create.

  5. Under Gateway connection, verify that the new data source is selected in the Maps to field.

Arrow Database Connectivity (ADBC) Limitations​

  • ADBC is not enabled by default. It must be enabled by the owner of the report.
  • NativeQuery is not supported.
  • Metadata calls are not cached.
  • SSO is not supported in environments that use different domain names for the UI and Flight services.
  • Power BI Desktop occasionally caches errors that might affect future connection attempts until the cache is cleared.
  • Complex data types such as MAP and INTERVAL are not supported.
  • When using DirectQuery, chaining functions is supported, but some complex scenarios may not work as expected. Complex optional parameters for functions are not supported.

Troubleshoot Power BI​

Cached Data Issues​

If you have previously installed older versions of Power BI Desktop, cached data may interfere with the newer versions of the Flight SQL drivers resulting in connection errors.

Problem​

For example, when using Flight SQL ADBC, cached connection data in Power BI could cause the following errors:

  • ADBC: IOError [] [FlightSQL] [FlightSQL] unresolved address (Unavailable; GetObjects(GetDBSchemas))
  • ADBC: IOError [] [FlightSQL] [FlightSQL] connection error: desc = "transport: authentication handshake failed: credentials: cannot check peer: missing selected ALPN property. If you upgraded from a grpc-go version earlier than 1.67, your TLS connections may have stopped working due to ALPN enforcement. For more details, see: https://github.com/grpc/grpc-go/issues/434" (Unavailable; GetObjects(GetDBSchemas))

Solution​

Clear the Power BI Desktop cache and any cached data source permissions involving Dremio connections by following these steps:

  1. Clear Power BI Desktop Caches.
  2. In Power BI Desktop, go to File > Options and Settings > Data Source Settings.
  3. Select Global Permissions.
  4. Clear all cached connections by clicking Clear All Permissions, or select specific Dremio data sources and click Clear Permissions.

After completing these steps, try reconnecting to Dremio using the instructions above.