Using Power BI service with the Looker–Power BI Connector

The Looker–Power BI Connector lets you use Power BI Desktop to connect to and access data from Looker Explores, and then publish reports with the data. See the Looker–Power BI Connector documentation page for information on connecting Power BI Desktop to Looker.

After you have published reports in Power BI Desktop using the Looker–Power BI Connector, you can optionally set up an on-premises gateway to refresh the reports in Power BI service.

This page describes the following steps for using Power BI service with the Looker–Power BI Connector:

  1. Set up the on-premises gateway.
  2. Add folder permissions for the Power BI service account.
  3. Create a connection between the on-premises data gateway and a Looker dataset.

Once you have set up Power BI service with the Looker–Power BI Connector, you can optionally publish a report with Power BI service using row-level security.

Setting up the on-premises gateway

After you have set up Power BI Desktop to connect to Looker (see the Looker–Power BI Connector documentation page for the procedure), you can set up the on-premises data gateway for the Looker–Power BI Connector by following these steps:

  1. Open a browser and navigate to Power BI service (Power BI online) at app.powerbi.com.
  2. Select the Download icon at the top of the page. If you don't see the Download icon in your window, select the three-dot Settings menu, and then select Download from there.
  3. From the Download menu, select the Data Gateway option. A new browser tab will open to the Power BI Gateway window.
  4. In the Power BI Gateway window, select the Download standard mode button. This will download a GatewayInstall.exe file.
  5. When the download is complete, open the GatewayInstall.exe file.
  6. When prompted, select Run, accept the terms of use, and then select Install.
  7. When prompted, enter the email address associated with your Power BI service account.
  8. If prompted, sign in with your Microsoft 365 account credentials.
  9. Select Register a new gateway on this computer.
  10. Enter a name for the new gateway, and record the name for your future use. You will need to select this gateway when you create a connection between the on-premises gateway and a Looker dataset.
  11. Enter a recovery key for the gateway. Record this information in a safe place.
  12. Select Configure. Once the registration is complete, the On-premises data gateway window will open.
  13. In the On-premises data gateway window, select Connectors from the side panel. The Custom data connectors panel opens.
  14. Use the file browser function in the Custom data connectors panel to select the directory where you downloaded and saved the Looker_1.0.0.mez file during the Download and save the connector file procedure ([Documents]\Microsoft Power BI Desktop\Custom Connectors).
  15. Select Apply.
  16. Select Apply & Restart.

The On-premises data gateway application restarts and reopens, displaying a Name drop-down menu with the Looker option. You can now publish a report using Power BI service.

Adding folder permissions for the Power BI service account

The Power BI service account needs folder permissions to the Custom Connectors directory where you downloaded and saved the Looker_1.0.0.mez file during the Download and save the connector file procedure. The recommended directory is [Documents]\Microsoft Power BI Desktop\Custom Connectors, but you may have downloaded the file to a different location.

If the Power BI service account does not have permissions to the Custom Connectors folder, you will see this message in the Connectors tab of the On-premises data gateway application: "Ensure the gateway service account has permission to access the selected folder..."

Perform the following steps to give the Power BI service account access to the Custom Connectors folder:

  1. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the [Documents]\Microsoft Power BI Desktop folder.
  2. Right-click on the Custom Connectors folder and select Properties.
  3. In the Security tab, see if the PBIEgwService user is listed.
  4. If the PBIEgwService user is not listed, click on Edit, and then click Add.
  5. Enter NT Service\PBIEgwService, and then select OK.
  6. Ensure that the following permissions are checked for the user PBIEgwService:
    • Read & execute
    • List folder content
    • Read
  7. Select OK.
  8. Open the On-premises data gateway application and select Connectors from the side panel.
  9. Use the file browser function in the Custom data connectors panel to select the Custom Connectors directory.
  10. Select Apply.

  11. Select Apply & Restart.

Creating a connection between the on-premises data gateway and a Looker dataset

If you have set up the on-premises data gateway, you can use Power BI service to refresh reports that you have published in Power BI Desktop with data from the Looker–Power BI Connector. See Connecting to Looker data from Power BI Desktop for information on connecting to Looker data.

The following procedure connects your published Power BI dataset (based on Looker) to Power BI service using the on-premises gateway.

  1. Open the on-premises data gateway and go to the Status tab. If you aren't signed in, sign in using your Power BI service account credentials.
  2. Open a browser and navigate to Power BI service (Power BI online) at app.powerbi.com.
  3. Select the Settings icon at the top of the page. If you don't see the Settings icon in your window, select the three-dot Settings menu, and then select Settings from there.
  4. Under Settings, select Manage connections and gateways.
  5. Select the On-premises data gateways tab.
  6. Find the listing for the on-premises gateway for the Looker–Power BI Connector that you created as part of the Setting up the on-premises gateway procedure.
  7. In the listing for your on-premises gateway, select the three-dot More actions menu, and then select Settings.
  8. In the Settings window, scroll down to the Power BI section.
  9. Enable both options:
    • Allow user's cloud data sources to refresh through this gateway cluster
    • Allow user's custom data connectors to refresh through this gateway cluster
  10. Click Save.
  11. Open your dataset in Power BI service (Power BI online).
  12. From your dataset, select File > Settings.
  13. Scroll down and select Gateway connection to show the gateway connection options.
  14. In the listing for your on-premises gateway for the Looker–Power BI Connector, select the View Datasources arrow icon.
  15. Select Manually add to gateway.

  16. Fill in the fields of the New connection window:

    • Gateway cluster name: Leave this value as it is.
    • Connection name: Add a label for the connection. This can be any name of your choosing.
    • Connection type: Leave as Looker.
    • Host: Enter your Looker instance URL. For example: example.cloud.looker.com. The URL must exactly match the URL that you used when you connected to Looker data from Power BI Desktop. If you used https://example.cloud.looker.com/ during setup, you should use that exact URL in the Host field.
    • Disable Preview Optimization: Optionally, check the Disable Preview Optimization box to disable the Preview Optimization feature.
    • Authentication method: Keep OAuth2 selected.
    • Edit credentials: (Required) Click this link to sign in to the Looker instance using your OAuth credentials.
    • Skip test connection: Optionally, check Skip test connection. When Skip test connection is not selected (the default), Power BI will verify that it can connect to your data source before it creates the connection. If your data source is unavailable or slow, the test connection may time out and prevent Power BI from creating the connection.
    • Privacy Level: Select the privacy level for the connection: None, Private, Organizational, or Public.

  17. Select Create to create the connection.

There will be a delay as Power BI connects to your Looker instance and reloads the dataset. Once the connection is successfully established, the Gateway connection section will show a green status for the listing of your on-premises gateway for the Looker–Power BI Connector.

Publishing a report with Power BI service using row-level security

Power BI Desktop enables you to restrict data access to users with row-level security (RLS). See the Power BI documentation for the procedures to define roles and rules and for validating the roles within Power BI Desktop.

Once you define the roles in Power BI Desktop, you can use the roles and rules online with Power BI service if you have set up the on-premises gateway for the Looker–Power BI Connector.

To publish a report with Power BI service using row-level security, follow these steps:

  1. In Power BI Desktop, open your report and select the Home menu from the top of the window.
  2. Select the Publish option from the Home menu.
  3. Select a workspace from the drop-down menu, and then click Select. Power BI Desktop shows a success message that includes a link to open the report in Power BI.
  4. Click the link to open Power BI.
  5. In Power BI service, go to Workspaces and select the workspace where you published the report.
  6. Find the listing for your report's dataset (not the report itself).
  7. In the dataset's listing, click on the three-dot More options menu, and then select Security.

Power BI will show the Row-Level Security window. From here, you can select the role you created in Power BI Desktop and add people or groups who belong to the role and validate your roles in Power BI service.

Now you can share the report with anyone you want, and they will see only the data that they are allowed to see, based on the roles that you created.