SSRS Subscriptions cannot be created

Applies to:
  • Microsoft Business Intelligence Development Studio 2008 (BIDS)
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2
What?
This article describes solutions to the error:
Subscriptions cannot be created because the credentials used to run the report are not stored, or if a linked report, the link is no longer valid.


How?
I'd like to say that the solution is far more complicated then this, but it isn't. This is one of those rare situations when the Microsoft error is describing the exact problem.

If you include linked images in the report (as in images not in the report itself but referring to other systems holding the images), then please refer to my article on SSRS External Images don't display.

The answer to this error is your report needs to use a datasource with the credentials stored, here are the details to our report
  • As developers, we connect to the datasource directly using our Windows Credentials.
  • For the SSRS server holding our report, we do NOT have an unattended service account.
  • The report uses a shared data source which stores the credentials, ie. A sql authenticated user with read-only privileges.
  • The report has 4 parameters, two of them use the default values (from and to date range) and two use specified values (setup in the subscription section).
  • The report being subscribed to is hidden in tile view.

Cases where this would NOT work
  • Reports where the connection string to the data source is held in the parameters (though, with more time, we could have tried changing the "connection string" parameter to "shared datasource" parameter where the user can select which "shared data source" to use).
  • You might be able to get this working with a shared data source but in our case the shared data source didn't have the correct database (initial catalog) specified despite looking at the correct server. We created a separate data source for this report.

Credit where Credit is Due:


Feel free to copy, redistribute and share this information. All that we ask is that you attribute credit and possibly even a link back to this website as it really helps in our search engine rankings.

Disclaimer: Please note that the information provided on this website is intended for informational purposes only and does not represent a warranty. The opinions expressed are those of the author only. We recommend testing any solutions in a development environment before implementing them in production. The articles are based on our good faith efforts and were current at the time of writing, reflecting our practical experience in a commercial setting.

Thank you for visiting and, as always, we hope this website was of some use to you!

Kind Regards,

Joel Lipman
www.joellipman.com

Related Articles

Joes Revolver Map

Accreditation

Badge - Certified Zoho Creator Associate
Badge - Certified Zoho Creator Associate

Donate & Support

If you like my content, and would like to support this sharing site, feel free to donate using a method below:

Paypal:
Donate to Joel Lipman via PayPal

Bitcoin:
Donate to Joel Lipman with Bitcoin bc1qf6elrdxc968h0k673l2djc9wrpazhqtxw8qqp4

Ethereum:
Donate to Joel Lipman with Ethereum 0xb038962F3809b425D661EF5D22294Cf45E02FebF
© 2024 Joel Lipman .com. All Rights Reserved.