Power Platform Community Forum Thread Details

Hi everyone,

I've been stuck on this Power Automate desktop flow issue for a few days and would really appreciate some help from the community.

The problem:
I have a desktop flow called test01. When I run it directly in the Power Automate Desktop client, it works perfectly – all steps execute successfully from start to finish.

However, when I trigger the same flow via a cloud flow (using attended mode), it fails to complete. The flow gets stuck repeating certain steps out of order, then terminates prematurely without executing the remaining actions.

Environment:

Target machine has Machine Runtime installed and shows as online
Connection credentials in the cloud flow are valid
Basic troubleshooting (paths, permissions, etc.) done – no luck so far

Questions for the community:

Has anyone experienced this before? What could cause a desktop flow to run fine in the client but fail when triggered from the cloud?
What logs should I focus on to identify the root cause? Is there a detailed execution log available somewhere?
If I switch to unattended mode, will UI automation actions like retrieving UI elements, clicking buttons, and sending keystrokes (e.g., Enter) work properly? Are there any known limitations or gotchas I should be aware of?
Also, how do you usually get fast support from Microsoft for this kind of issue? Any recommended support channels for the China region?

Thanks in advance for any insights! 🙏

Categories:

Building flows

Hi,

A common cause is that the desktop flow depends on a UI state that exists when run directly in PAD but is different when launched from a cloud flow. Attended runs can execute under a different session context, window focus, screen resolution, timing, or user state, which can cause UI actions to behave unexpectedly and appear to run out of order.
For troubleshooting:

Review the desktop flow run details in Power Automate and compare them with a successful local run.
Add logging or Display message/Write to log actions between key steps to identify the exact action where behavior diverges.
Increase waits and use Wait for window/UI element actions instead of fixed delays where possible.
Verify the target application is in the same state when started from the cloud flow.

Regarding unattended mode, UI automation actions such as clicking buttons, retrieving UI elements, and sending keystrokes generally work, but the machine must be correctly configured for unattended execution and the application must support being automated in a locked/non-interactive session.
Since the flow works locally but not from the cloud, I'd focus first on session state, window focus, timing, and UI element recognition differences between the two execution methods.

Thanks & Regards,

Manoj Annavajjala