How to Recover Deleted Workspace in Power BI

Accidentally deleting a Power BI workspace can feel like a stomach-dropping mistake, but it doesn't have to be a catastrophe. With the right permissions and a few lines of code, you can often recover your reports, dashboards, and datasets just as they were. This guide will walk you through the exact steps to restore a deleted Power BI workspace using PowerShell.

First Things First: Can a Deleted Workspace Be Recovered?

Yes, in most cases, a deleted Power BI workspace can be recovered. When a workspace is deleted, Microsoft doesn't erase it immediately. Instead, it places the workspace into a "soft-delete" state for 30 days. During this window, a Power BI administrator has the ability to restore it.

There are two key requirements for this recovery process:

• You must be a Power BI Administrator. If you're not an admin for your organization's Power BI tenant, you won't have the necessary permissions to see or restore deleted workspaces. You'll need to contact your IT department or whoever manages Power BI.
• It must be within 30 days of deletion. After this period, the workspace and all its contents are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered through this method.

The recovery process isn't done through the Power BI user interface. Instead, it requires using PowerShell, a command-line tool that lets you manage Microsoft services directly. Even if you've never used PowerShell before, the steps are straightforward and easy to follow.

Prerequisites for Workspace Recovery

Before you get started, make sure you have everything you need in place. This will save you a lot of time and prevent potential errors.

1. Power BI Administrator Role

We can't stress this enough: you must be assigned the Power BI Administrator role in Microsoft 365. Standard workspace members, admins, or even global admins without this specific assignment won't be able to run the necessary commands. You can check your role in the Microsoft 365 admin center or ask your tenant administrator.

2. Windows PowerShell

You need access to Windows PowerShell. It comes pre-installed on most Windows machines. You can find it by searching for "PowerShell" in your Start Menu. For the best experience, right-click it and select "Run as Administrator" to avoid any permission issues during installation of modules.

3. Power BI Management PowerShell Module

This is an official collection of commands used to manage your Power BI tenant. You'll likely need to install it the first time you perform this task. We'll cover the installation in the first step of the guide.

Step-by-Step Guide to Restoring Your Workspace

Follow these four steps carefully to find and restore your deleted workspace. As long as you meet the prerequisites, the process should be quick and painless.

Step 1: Install the Power BI PowerShell Module

Open PowerShell as an administrator. First, you need to install the Power BI Management module, which contains all the commands (called "cmdlets") for interacting with your Power BI service. If you've never installed it before, paste the following command into PowerShell and press Enter:

Install-Module -Name MicrosoftPowerBIMgmt

PowerShell may ask you to confirm if you want to install from an "untrusted repository" (the PSGallery). This is normal and safe. Type 'Y' and press Enter to proceed. This is a one-time setup, you won't need to install this module again in the future.

Tip: If you get an error about an execution policy, run this command first to allow scripts to run, then try the installation again:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

Step 2: Connect to Your Power BI Account

Next, you need to sign in to your Power BI account through PowerShell. This is an authentication step that confirms you have the authority to perform administrative actions. Use this command:

Connect-PowerBIServiceAccount

A sign-in window will pop up just like signing into any other Microsoft service. Enter the email address and password for your Power BI administrator account and complete any multi-factor authentication steps.

Step 3: Find the Deleted Workspace ID

Now that you're connected, you can ask Power BI to show you a list of all workspaces in the "soft-deleted" state within your organization. Use the following command:

Get-PowerBIWorkspace -Scope Organization -Deleted -IncludeAll

This command can take a moment to run if your organization has many deleted workspaces. It will return a list. Look for the workspace you want to restore and find its Id. This unique identifier is what you need for the final restoration step.

A faster method if you know the name:

If the list is too long, you can filter it to find your specific workspace by its name. Replace "Your Workspace Name Here" with the exact name of the workspace you deleted:

Get-PowerBIWorkspace -Scope Organization -Deleted -IncludeAll | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "Your Workspace Name Here"}

Once you've run the command, you'll see details about your workspace. Copy the value from the Id property. It will be a long string of letters and numbers. Be sure to copy it exactly!

Step 4: Restore the Workspace

This is the final step. With the workspace ID you just copied, you can tell Power BI to restore it. Use the Restore-PowerBIWorkspace cmdlet. Replace "WORKSPACE_ID_YOU_COPIED" with the actual ID from the previous step (make sure to keep the quotes).

Restore-PowerBIWorkspace -Id "WORKSPACE_ID_YOU_COPIED" -Scope Organization

After you press Enter, PowerShell will process the request. It typically takes a few seconds, but there won't be a big "Success!" message. As long as you don't see a red error message, the command worked. To confirm, log in to your Power BI account in your web browser. The restored workspace should now appear in your list!

What to Check After Restoring a Workspace

Once your workspace is back, almost everything should be just as you left it. However, it's always a good idea to perform a quick health check to make sure things are working correctly.

• Content: All your reports, dashboards, and datasets should be restored.
• Permissions: User access and roles (Admin, Member, Viewer) should be reinstated.
• Scheduled Data Refreshes: Check your dataset settings to ensure your scheduled refreshes are still configured correctly. Occasionally, these might need to be re-enabled.
• Gateway Connections: If the dataset connects to on-premises data sources, verify that the gateway connection is still active and properly configured.

Common Issues and Quick Fixes

• "I'm not an admin." Unfortunately, there's no way around this. You will need to contact your organization's Power BI or Microsoft 365 administrator and ask them to perform these steps for you. Provide them with the exact workspace name and the date it was deleted to help speed up the process.
• "It has been more than 30 days." If more than 30 days have passed, the workspace cannot be recovered using this method. Your only remaining option would be to contact Microsoft Support, but restoration is not a guarantee. This highlights the importance of having backups of your original .pbix files.
• "The workspace name is already in use." You cannot restore a workspace if another active workspace with the exact same name already exists. You'll need to rename or delete the conflicting workspace before you can proceed with the restoration.

Prevention: How to Safeguard Your Workspaces

Recovering a workspace is great, but avoiding the situation altogether is even better. Here are a few best practices to protect your critical reporting assets:

• Limit Administrator Access: Not everyone on the team needs to be an "Admin" of a workspace. The "Member" or "Contributor" role allows users to publish and edit content without having the ability to delete the workspace itself. Assign roles based on the principle of least privilege.
• Implement a Governance Policy: Create clear rules within your organization for who can create, manage, and delete workspaces. This prevents accidental deletions and helps maintain a clean and organized Power BI environment.
• Backup Critical .pbix Files: The original Power BI Desktop files (.pbix) are your ultimate safety net. Keep them saved in a secure, shared location like a SharePoint site or a Teams channel. If a workspace is ever permanently lost, you can at least republish the original reports.

Final Thoughts

Deleting a Power BI workspace is an easy mistake to make, but thankfully the fix is just as straightforward. As long as you're a Power BI administrator and you act within 30 days, a few simple PowerShell commands are all it takes to reverse the deletion and get your valuable data and reports back where they belong.

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