> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.nekt.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Power BI

> Connect Power BI to your data in Nekt to build reports and dashboards.

Connect Power BI to your data in Nekt. How you connect depends on your cloud deployment.

|                  | Connector                                 | Token required |
| :--------------- | :---------------------------------------- | :------------- |
| **Nekt Express** | Google BigQuery (native)                  | No             |
| **GCP**          | Google BigQuery (native)                  | No             |
| **AWS**          | ODBC + Nekt custom connector (`nekt.mez`) | Yes            |

***

## Nekt Express

Nekt Express uses GCP infrastructure. Connect via the native BigQuery connector using the shared Nekt project.

<Warning>
  The new BigQuery connector implementation must be **disabled** for Nekt Express workspaces. This is a required step — see below.
</Warning>

### Step 1: Register the integration in Nekt

1. In the Nekt platform, go to **Integrations** and click **Add integration**.
2. Select **Power BI** from the list.
3. Enter an email address from a Google account, as that will be used to authenticate against BigQuery connector on Power BI.
4. Add a description to identify this integration.

### Step 2: Disable the new BigQuery connector implementation

1. Open **Power BI Desktop**.
2. Go to **File** → **Options and settings** → **Options**.
3. Under **Preview features**, uncheck **"Use new Google BigQuery connector implementation"**.
4. Click **OK**.

<img height="200" src="https://mintcdn.com/nekt/vxAAZwDeiub1fLN6/assets/power-bi/pbi-disable-new-bigquery-connector.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=vxAAZwDeiub1fLN6&q=85&s=35964aa83ad9bea96d0fc74194a91c4b" data-path="assets/power-bi/pbi-disable-new-bigquery-connector.png" />

This falls back to the ODBC connector instead of ADBC, which is required for Nekt Express.

### Step 3: Choose the BigQuery connector

1. Click **Home** → **Get Data** → **More...**.
2. Search for **Google BigQuery** and select it. Click **Connect**.
3. On your first use, sign in with the Google account registered in Step 1. Click **Allow** to grant permissions.

### Step 4: Select the data and load

1. In the **Navigator** panel, expand the project to browse datasets and tables.
2. Select the table(s) you want.
3. Click **Load** to import directly, or **Transform Data** to open Power Query Editor first.

***

## GCP

Your Nekt workspace is on your own GCP account. Connect using the native BigQuery connector in Power BI Desktop or Power BI Online.

### Power BI Desktop

1. Open **Power BI Desktop** and go to **Get Data**.
2. Search for and select **Google BigQuery**.
3. Optionally, expand **Advanced options** to specify a **Billing Project ID**.
4. Choose your authentication method:
   * **Organizational login** — standard Google account OAuth.
   * **Service Account Login** — paste the service account email and the JSON key contents (ensure the JSON has all newlines removed).
5. Click **Sign In**, complete the Google authentication prompt, then click **Connect**.
6. In the **Navigator**, browse your BigQuery datasets and tables.
7. Select a table and click **Load** or **Transform Data**.

### Power BI Online (Service)

1. In the Power BI web app, choose **Get Data**.
2. Select **Google BigQuery**.
3. Create a new connection or reuse an existing one.
4. Select your authentication method (organizational account or service account).
5. Sign in and browse to your BigQuery tables. Click **Next**.

### Authentication notes

* **Organizational Account**: standard Google OAuth with your user account.
* **Service Account**: for Power BI Service or Power Query Online, use **Basic authentication** — username = service account email, password = flattened JSON key (no newlines).
* If you encounter permission errors, verify your IAM roles include sufficient BigQuery permissions.
* Nested fields may appear as JSON strings; use Power Query to expand or parse them.

***

## AWS

Your Nekt workspace is on your own AWS account. Connection uses an ODBC driver and Nekt's custom Power BI connector (`nekt.mez`). A scoped access token is required.

### Requirements

* Power BI Desktop installed from the **official website** (not the Microsoft Store — Store installations block custom connectors).

### Step 1: Generate a token

1. In the Nekt platform, go to **Integrations** and click **Add integration**.

2. Select **Power BI** as the integration type.

3. Select the tables you want to make available.

   <Note>
     The token grants access only to the tables selected here. You can create multiple tokens for different sets of tables.
   </Note>

4. Click **Next**.

5. Give the integration a description and optionally add a report link.

6. Click **Next**, then copy the **Identifier** (e.g. `power-bi-abcd`) and the **Token** from the Integrations page.

### Step 2: Install the ODBC driver

Download and install the **Amazon Athena ODBC 2.x** driver for Windows from [AWS documentation](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/athena/latest/ug/odbc-v2-driver.html).

<img height="100" src="https://mintcdn.com/nekt/h1spgKxG1l5LNY-b/assets/odbc-driver.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=h1spgKxG1l5LNY-b&q=85&s=73759dc9dc0bb6e5eb6920f9dc1dae0d" data-path="assets/odbc-driver.png" />

### Step 3: Download and place the Nekt connector

[Download `nekt.mez`](https://public.nekt.ai/bi-connectors/pbi/nekt_v1_1_2.mez) and place it in:

```
[Documents]\Microsoft Power BI Desktop\Custom Connectors\
```

Create the folder if it doesn't exist.

<Tip>
  The exact folder path may vary. Make sure the file is inside the Custom Connectors folder within the Power BI Desktop directory.
</Tip>

<img height="200" src="https://mintcdn.com/nekt/h1spgKxG1l5LNY-b/assets/pbi-custom-connectors-folder.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=h1spgKxG1l5LNY-b&q=85&s=65298b8bbc5df35311ec4af93eb5eece" data-path="assets/pbi-custom-connectors-folder.png" />

### Step 4: Allow external connectors

1. In Power BI Desktop, go to **File** → **Options and settings** → **Options**.
2. Go to **Security** → **Data Extensions**.
3. Select **"Allow any extension to load without validation or warning"**.

<img height="200" src="https://mintcdn.com/nekt/h1spgKxG1l5LNY-b/assets/pbi-allow-external-connectors.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=h1spgKxG1l5LNY-b&q=85&s=1af20956815d6ce2269ad711676e6e61" data-path="assets/pbi-allow-external-connectors.png" />

### Step 5: Connect

1. Open a new file in Power BI Desktop and click **Get Data**.
2. Search for and select **Nekt** as the data source.
3. Enter the **Identifier** from your integration (e.g. `power-bi-abcd`). Click **OK**.
4. Enter the **Token**. Click **Connect**.
5. Select the tables you want and proceed normally.

### Troubleshooting

* Use the most recent version of Power BI Desktop, the ODBC driver, and the `nekt.mez` file.
* Confirm Power BI was installed from the official website, not the Microsoft Store.

***

### Automatic refresh with a gateway (AWS)

To enable scheduled data refresh in Power BI Service, you need an **On-Premises Data Gateway** running on a machine that has the ODBC driver and `nekt.mez` installed.

<Accordion title="Gateway setup guide">
  #### On the gateway machine

  Ensure the following are installed and up to date on the gateway machine:

  * Power BI Desktop
  * On-Premises Data Gateway
  * Amazon Athena ODBC 2.x driver
  * `nekt.mez` in the `[Documents]\Power BI Desktop\Custom Connectors` folder
  * External connectors allowed in Power BI's Data Extensions settings

  #### Configure the On-Premises Data Gateway

  1. Open the **On-Premises Data Gateway** app and complete installation.
  2. In the **'Email address to use with this gateway'** field, enter the email used in Power BI Service.
  3. Log in with your Power BI Service account.
  4. Select **Register a new gateway on this computer**.
  5. Give the gateway a name (e.g. `aws-gateway`) and set a recovery key. Click **Configure**.

  The gateway is now online.

  **Grant the gateway user access to the connector folder:**

  1. Check which user the gateway runs as: open the gateway app → **Service Settings**. The default is `NT SERVICE\PBIEgwService`.
  2. Right-click the Custom Connectors folder → **Properties** → **Security** tab → **Edit**.
  3. Click **Add**, type `NT SERVICE\PBIEgwService`, click **Check Names**, then **OK**.
  4. Grant **Read & execute**, **List folder contents**, and **Read** permissions. Click **Apply** then **OK**.

  <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SNChdlxvwxo" title="Gateway connector permissions" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen />

  5. In the gateway app, go to **Connectors** and point it to your Custom Connectors folder. Click **Apply** — the gateway will restart. If the Nekt connector doesn't appear, restart the gateway from **Service Settings**.

  #### Publish and configure in Power BI Service

  1. **Publish** your semantic model from Power BI Desktop while logged in to your Power BI Service account.
  2. In Power BI Service, go to **Settings** → **Manage connections and gateways**. The gateway should appear under **On-premises data gateways**.
  3. Open the gateway settings:
     * **General**: enable "Distribute requests across all active gateways in this cluster".
     * **Power BI**: enable "Allow user's cloud data sources to refresh through this gateway cluster" and "Allow user's custom data connectors to refresh through this gateway cluster". Click **Save**.

  #### Add the data source to the gateway

  1. Open the semantic model's settings → **Gateway and cloud connections**.
  2. The data source will show "Not properly configured". Click the play icon → **Add manually to gateway**.
  3. Configure:
     * **Connection name**: use the Integration Identifier (e.g. `power-bi-abcd`)
     * **Visualization identifier**: the Integration Identifier
     * **Authentication method**: Visualization Token
     * **Visualization token**: the token from your integration in Nekt
  4. Click **Create**.
  5. In the dropdown, select the gateway for this semantic model. Click **Apply**.

  <Note>
    Repeat this process for each semantic model you want to configure with the gateway.
  </Note>

  #### Set up automatic refresh

  In the semantic model settings → **Refresh**, configure the schedule and click **Apply**. All reports using this model will refresh on that schedule.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Using an AWS Windows EC2 instance as a gateway">
  If you don't have a local Windows machine to run the gateway, you can use a Windows EC2 instance on AWS.

  #### 1. Launch a Windows EC2 instance

  1. Log in to the AWS Console and go to **EC2** → **Launch instance**.
  2. Configure:
     * **Name**: `power-bi-gateway` (or any descriptive name)
     * **OS**: Microsoft Windows Server 2025 Base (Quick Start tab)
     * **Instance type**: `t3.medium` minimum (2 vCPU, 4 GiB RAM, \~\$0.06/hr)
     * **Key pair**: select or create one (needed for RDP access)
     * **Network settings**: create a security group and allow RDP traffic from your IP
     * **Storage**: 60 GiB gp3 root volume
  3. Click **Launch instance**.

  #### 2. Connect via Remote Desktop (RDP)

  1. In EC2, select the instance → **Connect** → **RDP Client** tab.
  2. Click **Get Password**, upload the key pair file, and click **Decrypt password**.
  3. Note the **Public DNS**, **Username**, and **Password**.
  4. Install **Microsoft Remote Desktop** on your local machine.
  5. Add a new PC: paste the Public DNS, add a user account with the Username and Password, then connect.

  #### 3. Configure Power BI on the instance

  Inside the Windows instance, install:

  * [Power BI Desktop (latest)](https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?id=58494)
  * [On-Premises Data Gateway (latest)](https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?id=53127)

  Then follow the [gateway setup](#automatic-refresh-with-a-gateway-aws) steps above to complete the configuration.
</Accordion>