Fix Power BI Prompting Free Users for a Trial on Shared Reports
Question details
Users with a free Power BI license are unable to view shared reports or SharePoint-embedded reports and are instead prompted to start a trial.
- Product
- Microsoft Power BI
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Sharing Power BI reports or embedding them in SharePoint for team members who only have free licenses.
- Observed behavior
- Viewers cannot see the report content; they receive a prompt requiring them to upgrade or start a Power BI Pro trial.
Ensure you have administrator access to your Power BI workspace to verify its capacity settings. You will also need to know the current license types (Free, Pro, or PPU) assigned to the users trying to view the reports.
Host Content in a Premium Capacity Workspace
Upgrading the workspace to Premium capacity allows free users to consume shared content without needing individual Pro licenses.
For enterprise environments, hosting reports in a Premium capacity workspace is the most cost-effective way to distribute data to a large number of viewers without purchasing individual Pro licenses for everyone.
Sign in to the Power BI service using an account with workspace administrator privileges.
Navigate to 'Workspaces' in the left pane, hover over the workspace containing your shared reports, and click the 'More options' (three dots) menu, then select 'Workspace settings'.
Go to the 'Premium' tab within the settings menu and ensure the License mode is set to 'Premium capacity' or 'Fabric capacity'.
Save the settings. Navigate to the workspace 'Access' management pane and ensure your free users are assigned the 'Viewer' role.
Assign Power BI Pro or Premium Per User (PPU) Licenses
If Premium capacity is not available in your organization, each viewer must have an individual paid license to access shared reports.
Analyze and Visualize Data Effortlessly with WPS Office
While Power BI handles complex enterprise-scale BI dashboards, WPS Office provides a lightweight, free alternative for everyday data analysis and visualization. With WPS Spreadsheet, you can create stunning charts, pivot tables, and share data seamlessly without worrying about complex per-user licensing fees or trial prompts.
- 1. Import Your Data: Open WPS Spreadsheet and easily import your raw data from CSV or existing Excel files.
- 2. Visualize Information: Use the 'Insert' tab to create Pivot Tables or colorful charts to summarize your findings.
- 3. Share Freely: Save the document in .xlsx format and share the file directly with your team via email or cloud storage without worrying about viewing licenses.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does a SharePoint-embedded Power BI report ask for a Pro license?
Embedding a Power BI report in SharePoint securely requires the viewer to have a Power BI Pro or Premium Per User license, unless the report is hosted in a workspace backed by Power BI Premium capacity.
Can a user with a free Power BI license share reports with others?
No, sharing reports directly from a personal workspace requires a Power BI Pro or Premium Per User (PPU) license. Free users cannot securely share content unless they are operating within a Premium capacity workspace.
How do I know if my Power BI workspace is in Premium capacity?
In the Power BI service, look at your workspace list in the left navigation pane. If the workspace name has a diamond icon next to it, it is hosted in Premium capacity.
Does 'Publish to web' require a Premium license for viewers?
The 'Publish to web (public)' feature allows anyone on the internet to view the report without any license. However, this method provides no security or authentication and should never be used for confidential, internal, or proprietary company data.
