Power View User Data Source Credentials Error and Resolution

What happens if Power View loses its connectivity to the source? Or, let’s envisage another scenario: you have a PowerPivot and corresponding Power View, taken from your development system. How can you move them to the test system, and make sure that the Power View still recognises its source?

If Power View cannot connect to the source, you might get an error message like this:

If you click on the ‘Show Details’ button, you get an error message such as:

rsInvalidDataSourceCredentialSetting400The current action cannot be completed. The user data source credentials do not meet the requirements to run this report or shared dataset. Either the user data source credentials are not stored in the report server database, or the user data source is configured not to require credentials but the unattended execution account is not specified.http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=20476&EvtSrc=Microsoft.ReportingServices.Diagnostics.Utilities.ErrorStrings&EvtID=rsInvalidDataSourceCredentialSetting&ProdName=Microsoft%20SQL%20Server

What do you need to do to resolve this issue?

All is not lost.

– Go to the Gallery where the Power View is located in SharePoint, if you have correct privileges
– Make sure that the ‘View’ is set to ‘All Documents’. To check, go to ‘Library Tools’, and select ‘library. Make sure that Current View is set to ‘All Documents’.
– To the left of the Power View, click the tickbox. Slide the cursor along until you bump into the end of the column, and click the chevron so you get a menu. Choose the option ‘Manage Data Source’.
Click on ‘EntityDataSource’ and look for Connection String. If you’re connecting to PowerPivot, insert the path to the PowerPivot. Here is an example:

Data Source=”http://sapphire/sites/PowerPivot/PowerPivot Gallery/AdventureWorks TechEd Top.xlsx”;

Then, select your preferred Credentials for connecting to the Source Power Pivot. That should sort you out!

Hope that helps!
Jen