Power BI Widget

Power BI is the collective name for an assortment of cloud-based apps and services that help organizations collate, manage, and analyze data from a variety of sources, through a user-friendly interface.
Primarily, Power BI pulls data together and processes it, turning it into intelligible insights, often using visually compelling and easy-to-process charts and graphs. This allows users to generate and share clear and useful snapshots of what’s happening in their business.

Limitations and Warnings

IMPORTANT

Using this widget requires advanced knowledge and deep understanding of Microsoft PowerBI integration and setup. This article only details the functionality of the Wallboard widget itself.

We recommend contacting our support team before proceeding with a PowerBI integration.

• Supported Webview Versions:
  • The widget functions only on Webview versions 94 and higher. Any browser on devices and otherwise that has a lower version than 94 will display a warning message
  • Microsoft's documentation recommends Webview 120 and up so proceed with integration accordingly. Refer to official documentation.
  • Most of our supported platforms do not have Webview version 94 or higher.
• Updating Webview version is not available for every platform we support:
  • Android: Manually updating webview version is available. Webview updates can fail, and it is advisable to have physical access to the device to repair it!
  • Windows: Webview is built in the client application and is regularly updated by the Wallboard team
  • BrightSign: Webview version tied to firmware version. You can update BrightSign firmware version but it is advisable to consult the supported firmware section and have physical access to the device to troubleshoot!
    • For Series 5 devices from firmware version 9.0.168 and application version 4.1.1073 you can enable Chromium WebView 120 with advanced configuration.
  • LG and Samsung: Webview version unchanged within the same model series. Generally new model series come out with newer webview versions
• Other methods to display the widget
  • On non-interactive screens you can use the screenshot service See details.

Custom Fonts

If using custom fonts in Power BI reports, install those fonts on the signage device to avoid display issues.

Requirements and Setup

Prerequisites

Wallboard License

A Wallboard Professional screen license is required. The PowerBI widget is not available on lower licenses.

Microsoft Licensing

Embedding Power BI reports requires two independent Microsoft licenses — a capacity license for the workspace, and a per-user license for a dedicated account that generates embed tokens. Both are required for production use.

Capacity License (Workspace)

The Power BI workspace must be assigned to a dedicated capacity. Without this, embed token generation is rate-limited to ~100 requests/hour — suitable for development/testing only, not production.

Capacity Type	SKUs	Production Ready	Notes
Microsoft Fabric	F2–F2048	✅	Recommended. Current standard, replaces P SKUs
Power BI Embedded	A1–A6	✅	Azure-based, hourly billing, can be paused
Shared/Pro capacity	—	❌	Rate-limited, dev/test only

SKU Statuses

P SKU Retirement
Power BI Premium P SKUs have been retired as of 2024–2025. New customers cannot purchase P SKUs — see Microsoft's official retirement announcement. Existing customers on Enterprise Agreements may continue until contract end.
F SKUs are the recommended replacement.

A SKU Status
Microsoft originally planned to retire A SKUs alongside P SKUs, but reversed this decision. A SKUs remain available for purchase.
That said, F SKUs are the modern recommended path for new deployments.

Minimum recommended setup:
Fabric F2 — the most cost-effective capacity that supports production embed token generation.

Per-User License (Dedicated Account)

A paid per-user license must be assigned to the Microsoft account used to authenticate with Wallboard. This dedicated account is used solely for Wallboard's Power BI integration and generates embed tokens on behalf of all screens.

License	Suitable for Wallboard?	Notes
Fabric (Free)	❌	Cannot generate embed tokens
Power BI Pro	✅ Recommended	Sufficient for embed token generation — see pricing
Premium Per User (PPU)	✅	Same embed capabilities as Pro, extra features not relevant for signage use — see pricing

Premium Per User clarification

PPU behaves identically to Pro for embed token generation purposes.
Both Pro and PPU user accounts without a dedicated capacity are rate-limited to ~100 embed tokens/hour — this is a Microsoft shared infrastructure limitation, not a per-user license issue.

With a Fabric or equivalent capacity workspace assigned, either license works fine.

Pro is recommended simply because it costs less.

Minimum Production Cost Summary

Component	Option	Notes
Wallboard license	Professional screen license (minimum)	Per your contract
Microsoft capacity	Fabric F2 (minimum)	See Fabric pricing
Microsoft user	Power BI Pro (1 dedicated account)	See per-user pricing

Workspace Requirements

• Shared workspace required — personal workspaces ("My Workspace") are not supported for embed token generation. The workspace must be a shared collaborative workspace accessible to the dedicated account.
• The workspace must be assigned to a paid capacity (Fabric F2 or equivalent) by a Power BI admin.

How to verify your workspace capacity

Before setting up the widget, confirm your workspace has a capacity assigned:

1. Open Power BI Service (app.powerbi.com)
2. Go to your workspace
3. Click Settings (gear icon) → Premium
4. Check if a capacity is assigned — if it shows "Shared" or nothing, the widget will hit token limits in production

Power BI Settings

• Enable Embed content in apps in the Power BI Admin portal under Tenant settings.

danger

If "Embed content in apps" is not enabled in the Power BI Admin portal, the widget will fail. This is the most commonly missed setup step.

The dedicated account must also have at least Viewer access to the report workspace.

Setup Steps

• Connect Power BI Account:
  • Go to Settings > Cloud Integration > Microsoft credentials > Add new
  • Select Scope: Power BI and Type: Work or School Account
  • Authenticate using the dedicated Microsoft account (must have a Pro or PPU license)
  • Advanced users can opt for Service Principal. Contact support for details

• Create Content:
  • Use the Power BI credential in the Wallboard designer with the Power BI widget to create content.

Widget Overview

The Power BI widget is located in the Dynamic Charts section of the editor.

Source Options:

• Credential: Use the connected Cloud credential.
• Embed Types:
  • Dashboard: Displays a dashboard view.
  • Report: Displays a report view.
    • Will also have Bookmark input
  • Tile: Displays individual tiles.
• Settings:
  • Interactive mode.
  • Navigation options (e.g., Tabs, bookmarks).
  • Filters display.
  • Bookmark selection.
    • Bookmarks require Chrome version 69 or higher.

Auto Rotate:

• Rotates pages automatically based on a set delay.
  • Bookmarks and Auto rotate are incompatible! Only the selected Bookmark will show in Content instead of rotating through all of them!

Proof of Play:

• The widget supports statistics reporting, including:
  • Display duration.
  • Number of displays.
  • Interaction events.
• Enable this feature in the widget statistics section.

Troubleshooting

Power BI errors can be challenging to resolve.
In this section, we outline a general troubleshooting approach using a specific scenario and compile a list of the most common error codes you might encounter.

The scenario is an example where PowerBI does not show up on the device

• On the device itself, ensure it meets the required Webview version.
• On the administrator UI and PC browser, perform the following steps:
  • Open the content preview (Right-click > Preview in browser).
    • Check if the widget shows up in the preview at all.
  • Use browser developer tools (F12) to access the Console and Network tabs.
  • Reload the preview page (F5) to gather fresh logs
  • Identify and capture red error messages from the Console tab.
  • In our example you can see on the screenshot that it is a 404 error, below is a short summary of these error codes and what they mean regarding PowerBI.

Error Code Guide

• 412 - Only folder user with reshare permissions can generate embed token
  • User lacks reshare permissions for embed token. Solution.
• 400 - Microsoft tenant is undefined in http://server.address/undefined/generateEmbedToken
  • This issue occurs when a cloud key is deleted and replaced, but the content isn't updated to use the new key. Ensure all connected Power BI content is updated!
• 404 - File or directory not found
  • This issue occurs when a cloud key is deleted and not replaced, leaving the content without a key. Ensure all connected Power BI content is updated with new keys.
  • It can also happen if the Microsoft tenant is deleted, cutting off access to the reports.
• 500 - You have exceeded the amount of embed token that can be generated on a shared or ProPlus capacity
  • This means the Power BI workspace is not assigned to a dedicated capacity. Assign the workspace to a Fabric F2 (or equivalent) capacity in the Power BI admin portal. More details.

Debugging Tips

• Use the Network tab to inspect requests, focusing on Payload and Response tabs.
• In the screenshot, you can see the 404 error from our example and gather more details about it.
  • You can use this information to investigate further on your own
  • Or share it with our support for further assistance!

Useful Resources

• Embed Token Limits: Learn more
• Power BI Premium vs. Embedded: Microsoft recommendation
• P SKU Retirement announcement: Microsoft blog
• A/EM SKU retirement reversal: Directions on Microsoft
• Microsoft Fabric pricing: Azure pricing page
• Power BI Embedded (A SKU) pricing: Azure pricing page
• Power BI per-user pricing: Microsoft pricing page