Unable to launch external tool

[asjones987]

Had an odd case where I realize this would be a nice option. However it would not start.
I even reinstalled Analyze in Excel but nothing.

Error:
"Unable to launch external tool"
"Analyze in Excel could not be launched Contact the tool author for support"

My Power BI instance is current and pulled from the MS Store, not the general download site.

[albertospelta]

Hi @asjones987, the error suggests that Power BI Desktop cannot find or launch the executable file.

Please check the registration file located at:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Power BI Desktop\External Tools\AnalyzeInExcel.pbitool.json

Open this file with a text editor and verify that the path field points to the correct location of AnalyzeInExcel.exe on your system. The external tool registration works by reading this JSON file — if the path is incorrect or points to a non-existent file, Power BI Desktop won't be able to launch the tool.

Please let us know what you find.

[asjones987]

Hi @albertospelta thanks for the fast reply.

The .jason file has this line
"path": "C:\Program Files (x86)\Sqlbi\Analyze in Excel for Power BI Desktop\AnalyzeInExcel.exe",

AnalyzeInExcel.exe is located here
C:\Program Files (x86)\Sqlbi\Analyze in Excel for Power BI Desktop

I think they match up unless i am missing something crazy (I do that sometimes).

Screenshot

[albertospelta]

The AnalyzeInExcel.pbitool.json file looks correct, so the issue is likely happening when Power BI Desktop attempts to launch the program.

A few things to check:

• Try running the tool manually: go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Power BI Desktop\External Tools\
  and double-click AnalyzeInExcel.exe directly. It should open a small window like the one in the screenshot below.
• Check the other External Tools: do the other installed external tools launch correctly, and is it only Analyze in Excel that fails to start?
• Check the report type: does the error happen with every semantic model, or only with a specific one? For example, does it also happen if you open a brand new, empty Power BI Desktop report with a local model in Import mode?
• Check Windows Event Viewer: open Event Viewer, look under "Windows Logs → Application" (and also "Security" if visible) around the time you got the error, and see if there's any related error logged.

[asjones987]

Hi @albertospelta,

I did test with a different Power BI report and had the same issue.

From the Power BI External Tools Ribbon
I successfully ran Bravo, DAX Studio, and Measure Killer

You suggested going to
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Power BI Desktop\External Tools\
and running the tool manually, but that is just the JSON files for Power BI not executable.

I did go to
C:\Program Files (x86)\Sqlbi\Analyze in Excel for Power BI Desktop
and ran the file and got this odd error message (even if i did run as admin)

This error really confused me and made me wonder if i have some local issue, but not sure what.

To test with another tool I went to
C:\Program Files (x86)\Measure Killer
and ran the Measure Killer.exe just fine

thanks for the support.

Alan

[albertospelta]

Hi @asjones987, thanks for testing — it was really helpful, and it points to something on our side.

We suspect this may be a digital signature problem. Our installer file is digitally signed, but the program file it installs is not — and Windows may block unsigned programs from starting. That would match the error you're seeing, and it would also explain why Bravo, DAX Studio and Measure Killer work fine, since those are signed. If that's confirmed, we'd need to release a new version that signs both files.

Could you run three quick checks so we can confirm which security feature is blocking it?

1. Look in Windows Security
   Open the Start menu, type Windows Security, and open it. Go to Virus & threat protection → Protection history.
   Is AnalyzeInExcel.exe listed there as blocked or quarantined? If yes, that answers everything and you can skip the rest.

2. Start the program from PowerShell
   When you double-click the file, Windows only shows a generic error. Running it from PowerShell may provide a more detailed error message. Open the Start menu, type PowerShell, and open Windows PowerShell. Copy and paste the line below, then press Enter.
   Please paste back whatever text appears. It may mention a virus/unwanted software, a group policy, or access denied. Please remove or redact any sensitive information before sharing it.

& "C:\Program Files (x86)\Sqlbi\Analyze in Excel for Power BI Desktop\AnalyzeInExcel.exe"

3. Which protection is switched on
   In the same PowerShell window, paste the line below and press Enter. It will print 0, 1, 2, or nothing at all. Just let us know which.

(Get-Item HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CI\Policy -EA 0).GetValue('VerifiedAndReputablePolicyState')

Thanks again — we'll follow up here as soon as we know more.

[asjones987]

@albertospelta I have some good news and some frustrating news... it turns out my IT Team had Analyze In Excel blocked for some reason. Why it would give that kind of error is beyond me. The error message should have been better.

I am frustrated the had it blocked and can not get a clean answer as to why. I was trying to find out if Cybereason or other tools saw something that might have flagged it. If that was the case I would share that with you for the future. However I have not gotten a response to those questions.

Thank you for being so responsive. I had run your last set of tests and something just looked funny so i started asking around a bit more aggressively.

[asjones987]

@albertospelta

Our IT Security use Cybereason (I am not a fan of it). They ran the logs though Claude and got this.

Ttwo specific things about this build of AnalyzeInExcel.exe tripped Cybereason:

1. It's packed with Costura/Fody, a .NET tool that bundles all the app's dependencies into a single .exe. That packing pattern looks similar to how malware hides payloads, so Cybereason's heuristics flag it.
2. It gets memory-mapped into several other processes (Explorer, svchost, PowerShell, and PBIDesktop itself) instead of just running as its own process — which mimics a process-injection technique EDR tools are built to catch.
   Neither of those is unique to SQLBI or this type of tool — it's specific to how this build is compiled and how it loads itself at runtime. That's why similar add-ins from the same or other developers don't necessarily get flagged the same way.

If you want to pass something along to the developer, here's what would actually reduce the risk of this getting flagged again:
• Avoid Costura/Fody assembly embedding — ship dependencies as separate DLLs instead of merging everything into one packed .exe.
• Code-sign the executable with a valid publisher certificate, if it isn't already — signed binaries get more benefit of the doubt from EDR reputation engines.
• Take a look at why AnalyzeInExcel.exe needs to load itself into Explorer/svchost/PowerShell rather than running in its own process — if that's tied to how the Power BI add-in hooks in, it might be restructurable.
• Send us the current build's SHA-256 hash/version so we can either whitelist it more precisely or submit it to Cybereason as a false positive.

[marcosqlbi]

@asjones987 thank you very much for the details you provided. I didn't know that Costura/Fody has this side effect. Now that recent versions of .NET have their own system to create a single executable, we may evaluate using the native support to reduce the executable size instead of relying on Costura/Fody. @albertospelta this is something we could discuss later.

I am surprised by the memory-mapped behavior described at (2). I wrote the tool, and I can confidently say that none of those techniques is actually used. AnalyzeInExcel does not load itself in other processes. It could be a side effect of (1), but I have no idea what Cybereason does to detect such behavior. I would say it is a false positive in this case. If you have a link to documentation or additional material, I would like to know more about it.

Thanks again!

[asjones987]

@marcosqlbi thanks for the follow-up. My frustration is it was not clear Cybereason was blocking the tool. Maybe some changes for the future if you are thinking of adding more features to Analyze In Excel.... not sure if any new features are needed.

I have mentioned this to you before that in my world I would rather have your time adding tons of new features (many may not even be possible) to the VertiPaq Analyzer export for Excel. I see so many ways that can help document part of a model (or connected model). I have had so many thoughts on that I can't even remember them all. There have been things I have wanted to use for connected to a bigger PBI report connected to other stuff and also to understand a few small standalone ones I have had to help someone with.

thanks again for looking this over.

Alan

[albertospelta]

Hi @asjones987, thanks again for all the digging on this.

We're preparing a new version that addresses the missing digital signature on the executable, along with some other changes. Once it's ready, it would be very helpful if you could test it and let us know whether this makes any difference on your end.

We'll follow up here as soon as the new version is available.

Thanks again for your help troubleshooting this.
Alberto

[asjones987]

@albertospelta happy to test... right now my team has an opened an exception so I can use the tool. So I will need to ask them to remove that.

Alan