I cannot access the labs available in the Microsoft preparation of the PL-300 Power BI Data Analyst Associate certification

Question

The "Launching lab" message is never ending : I cannot connect to the virtual machine to do the exercices.

Besides I cannot access the queries available in the .pbi files, because I cannot access the SQL databases.

As a consequence I cannot do the labs.

Answer 1

Suggest following Nathan Roberts (SN) 's advices in his answer and comments here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5955995/microsoft-learn-labs-are-permanently-stuck-on-load?page=1#answer-12883519

Answer 2

For the lab that never finishes launching, try these checks first:

1. If the lab opens to a blank white screen, open a new browser tab and go to https://portal.azure.com/. This resolves the issue most of the time.
2. If the lab is still provisioning, wait for the environment to finish loading. The lab environment is provisioned in the cloud, and loading can take time.
3. If the lab continues to fail, submit the exam item challenge process for lab issues: Exam item challenge process.

For the SQL database access problem in the PL-300 labs, the lab content expects a local SQL Server instance running on localhost.

Check these items:

1. Verify the server name is correct.
2. Make sure the SQL Server service is running.
3. If SQL Server Express is installed, try the instance name localhost\SQLEXPRESS instead of localhost.
4. Confirm the AdventureWorksDW2020 database exists.
5. If needed, enable TCP/IP in SQL Server Configuration Manager and restart the SQL Server service.
6. If the lab was not set up locally, set up the local lab environment so the lab can connect to a localhost SQL Server instance.

If the lab VM does open but the remote connection fails:

1. Open the Lab portal and verify the VM shows as running.
2. If it is not running, start it from the lab portal.
3. Allow 2 to 5 minutes for the machine to become fully available.

If the VM still cannot be accessed after it is running:

1. Redeploy the lab VM to another infrastructure node while keeping user data.
2. Verify organizational firewall settings with the educator or IT admin.
3. Reimage the lab VM only if necessary. Warning: reimaging deletes user data stored on that VM.

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