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What is data source credentials management in Power BI?

Parthiban Kannan
Updated on February 9, 2026

< 1 min read

  • Data source credentials management is how Power BI securely stores and uses login details to access data.
  • We configure credentials in Power BI Desktop and again in Power BI Service after publishing.
  • In my project, SQL Server used service account authentication instead of personal login.
  • For on-premise sources, gateway stored encrypted credentials for scheduled refresh.
  • API sources required token-based authentication which we refreshed periodically.
  • Access level like Windows, OAuth, or Basic auth depends on the source type.
  • Permissions ensured only authorized users could refresh datasets.
  • If credentials expire, scheduled refresh fails automatically.
  • We monitored refresh history to quickly update passwords or tokens.
  • This ensures continuous and secure data extraction without manual intervention.
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