How to enable Power BI and be able to use iti

Question

How to enable Power BI and be able to use iti

Austin Chase 0

(There isn't a choice in the tags and a child tags to specify power business intelligence issues with Azure or Fabric so please disregard the tag choices made from an insufficient option list.) I am simply trying to connect Power BI to my Excel. However, since Power BI can only be connected to a business email, I have had to create a new Azure account, a new payment method, a new resource for power BI, and yet still it will not login and will not work. And now I am being asked to start a another resource with Fabric this time in order to get Power BI to work. Last month in my personal Azure account, I kept on being redirected to create more and more resources to try to get video indexer AI to work and I was charged almost $100 in one month because of the constant loop that this system sends me in without solving the problem. And it is now apparently doing it again when I am trying to simply sign up for power BI.

Vinodh247 32,686 Reputation points MVP

2025-03-22T05:15:56.6633333+00:00

Austin Chase:

Please 'Upvote'(Thumbs-up) and 'Accept' as an answer if the reply was helpful. This will also help us close this thread and acknowledge the time spent by community volunteers like us.

1 answer

Your answer

Vinodh247 32,686 Reputation points MVP

2025-03-22T05:15:56.6633333+00:00

Austin Chase:

Please 'Upvote'(Thumbs-up) and 'Accept' as an answer if the reply was helpful. This will also help us close this thread and acknowledge the time spent by community volunteers like us.

Answer 1

Vinodh247 32,686 MVP

Hi ,

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

It sounds like you're getting caught in microsoft's convoluted service onboarding, and i get your frustration. Let’s break it down step by step so you can actually get powerbi working with your excel without unnecessary resource creation or extra charges.

Power bi licensing basics

Power bi requires a work or school email (no personal emails like gmail, yahoo).
Power bi free lets you connect to excel and use power bi desktop for local reports.
Power bi pro or premium per user (ppu) is needed for cloud publishing and sharing.

If you're just trying to connect excel to power bi without advanced enterprise features, you do not need azure resources or fabric.

Download & install power bi desktop

If you haven't already:

Go to power bi download
Install pbi desktop (free version).
Open pbi desktop and check if you can load your excel file locally (this should work without azure).

Connecting pbi to excel

Option 1: local excel file

Open pbi desktop → click home -> get data -> excel.
Select your .xlsx file and load.

This should work without signing in.

Option 2: excel online / onedrive

If you want to use pbi service (web version):

Ensure your excel file is saved in onedrive or sharepoint.
Sign in to pbi service (app.powerbi.com) with your business email.
Click get data -> onedrive – business -> select your excel file.

if pbi service keeps asking for a fabric resource, it's because it's trying to store datasets in onelake, which is unnecessary if you're just using excel.

Fixing the login & azure confusion

If pbi won’t let you log in, check:

Correct business email: ensure the email you're using is tied to an active directory tenant.
Pbi License: go to microsoft 365 admin center -> billing -> your products. If there’s no pbi free or pro, assign yourself a license.
Azure not needed (usually): if pbi asks you to create azure resources, ignore it unless you’re setting up enterprise-level fabric data storage.

Stop unnecessary azure charges
Go to azure portal (portal.azure.com).
Check active subscriptions: billing -> subscriptions -> cancel any unnecessary ones.
Delete unused resources: go to resource groups, delete anything not needed.

For video indexer ai, that’s a different service with its own costly ai processing charges, so you might want to keep that turned off unless you actively need it.

Download pbi desktop -> open excel file locally.
For online access, use pbi free (no extra resources needed).
Ignore azure unless using fabric or enterprise features.
If login fails, check microsoft 365 admin for a missing pbi license.
Check azure for unnecessary subscriptions to avoid charges.

Please feel free to click the 'Upvote' (Thumbs-up) button and 'Accept as Answer'. This helps the community by allowing others with similar queries to easily find the solution.

Austin Chase 0 Reputation points

2025-03-16T16:22:08.3533333+00:00

Thanks for the response. I'll try those. I have a MacBook so online is my only option.
Austin Chase 0 Reputation points

2025-03-16T16:27:09.33+00:00

This is what happens when I log into app.powerbi.com and choose upload excel.
Vinodh247 32,686 Reputation points MVP

2025-03-16T16:45:44.8466667+00:00
Option 1: Use Power BI Desktop Instead (Recommended)

If you're just working with Excel files, skip the online service and use Power BI Desktop:

Open Power BI Desktop (install from Power BI Download)

Click Home -> Get Data -> Excel

Load your file and build your report locally

If you need to share reports, you’ll need Power BI Pro to publish online.

Option 2: Upgrade to Power BI Pro ($10/user/month)

Since your free trial has expired, you must upgrade to Power BI Pro to use OneDrive/SharePoint storage:

Go to Microsoft 365 Admin

Check if your organization has Power BI Pro licenses

If not, you’ll need to purchase Power BI Pro (Pricing)

Option 3: Manually Upload Excel to OneDrive

If you have any Microsoft 365 business account:

Upload your Excel file manually to OneDrive for Business

In Power BI Service, select Get Data → OneDrive for Business → Select File

If this still gives the license error, you need Power BI Pro.
Austin Chase 0 Reputation points

2025-03-16T21:21:32.1633333+00:00

Update:

More Loops:

checked licenses and only had Fabric free, went to products and saw power BI, it wouldn't let me add it because it said I needed to create a new billing profile, so I clicked that. Then it said I needed to accept terms before I created a new billing profile, so I click that. Then the page failed and said an error code and asked me to try to refresh. I did that 3 times with no change. I already had a newly established billing profile, but I found another route to add more details to it like address. Still that didn't solve the problem.

No solution, So I switched from Safari to Chrome:

So I left Safari and tried chrome. Chrome allowed the process to move forward and allow me to add power BI and add for $10 per month per user without any extra billing profile nonsense. My power B I account setting show that I was finally no longer on a free trial version but on the pro version of power BI.

Able to Add Power BI, but still couldn't upload excel file:

However, I still was not allowed to upload anything. It gave me now a new error, saying that SharePoint has been thrown, yes thrown like a baseball. I went back to the products page and decided to try adding Microsoft 365 business for $12.50 a month because I thought it might be prohibiting me to upload anything because I don't have a cloud access under this business account. I have one under a personal account which I have been trying to have power B I use, but power B I will only work with a business account. So I had to add that for $12.50 a month.

Finally, success:

Finally, I was able to upload an Excel file to power VI. I made a quick dashboard and tested to see if I could publish it on my website and it said I needed permission from my admin. However, I am the only admin and the only user on the business. So I am waiting for that question to be answered on Microsoft forums as well. So thank you for the general direction to add a license of power HPI. Just to clarify I can't add a license. There was no way to add licenses. I had to go to the products section and add a product and then later assign the license to myself as the user.
Vinodh247 32,686 Reputation points MVP

2025-03-17T05:28:58.7933333+00:00
Glad to hear you finally got it working, even if Microsoft made you jump through a dozen unnecessary hoops. Your breakdown is super useful for anyone else dealing with this Power BI licensing mess.

Key Takeaways from Your Experience

Safari vs. Chrome:

Safari caused unnecessary billing profile issues.

Chrome let you bypass that nonsense and directly subscribe to Power BI Pro.

Licensing Workflow is a Mess:
- You couldn't just "add a license"; you had to buy Power BI Pro as a product first and then assign it to yourself. SharePoint Error Prevented Excel Upload: - You had to add Microsoft 365 Business ($12.50/month) so you’d have OneDrive/SharePoint access.

Publishing to a Website Still Requires More Permissions:

Even as an admin, Power BI asks for extra permissions to publish reports externally.

Final Step: Fixing the "Need Admin Permissions" Issue (this is just a try and i am not sure if this certainly fix the problem)

Since you're already the admin, the issue is likely Power BI Tenant Settings blocking external sharing.

Try This:

Go to Power BI Admin Portal

In Power BI Service, click Settings -> Admin Portal

Enable Publish to Web

In the Admin Portal, go to Tenant Settings

Find Publish to Web and enable it

If it’s grayed out, check if your Microsoft 365 global settings prevent external sharing

Check Azure AD Permissions
- Go to Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Active Directory) in [Azure Portal](https://portal.azure.com) - Ensure you are a Global Admin in your tenant

Try Republishing

If it still blocks you, you may need to log out and back in or wait for Microsoft to apply the new settings.

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How to enable Power BI and be able to use iti

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