Unable to access Unity Catalog tables using Power BI desktop or Tableau

Use UC-enabled clusters with supported access modes, update your Databricks Runtime version, and check ODBC Driver configuration.

Written by kingshuk.das

Last published at: March 25th, 2025

Problem

While connecting Databricks with an external ecosystem tool such as Power BI Desktop or Tableau, you notice you can only access Hive metastore (HMS) tables. Unity Catalog tables are not accessible.

 

Cause

You are using No Isolation Shared access mode, which does not support Unity Catalog. 

Alternatively, or additionally, you are using a deprecated Databricks Runtime version, which can cause compatibility issues. 

 

Solution

  1. Switch to a supported access mode that allows Unity Catalog access. Refer to the “Access modes” section of the Compute configuration reference (AWS | Azure) documentation for more information. 
  2. Upgrade to Databricks Runtime 13.3 LTS or above to connect to UC tables.
  3. Additionally, create an ODBC DSN for the Databricks ODBC driver. Ensure that the ODBC driver is installed before proceeding with the setup. Follow the instructions in the Create an ODBC DSN for the Databricks ODBC Driver (AWS | Azure) documentation.

 

After completing the above steps, test the connection in the external tool to confirm you can see your Unity Catalog tables.