Power Platform Community Forum Thread Details

Hi everyone,

We are facing an issue with a Power Automate flow in a test environment and would appreciate any guidance.

Environment

We have a Power Automate flow created by User 1.

The flow contains multiple actions that require connections, such as:

Office 365 Outlook
Office 365 Users
Microsoft Dataverse
Microsoft Copilot Studio

The flow works correctly when it is tested from User 1's account.

User Roles

We currently have two users in the same environment.

User 1 – Flow Owner

Basic User
Environment Maker
System Administrator
System Customizer

User 2 – Tester

Basic User
Environment Maker

Issue

We use the "Send a copy" option in Power Automate to share the flow with User 2.

User 2 receives the flow and can set it up, but after opening the flow, all actions that require a connection show a connection error / connection needs to be configured.

This happens across multiple connector actions rather than with only one specific connector.

For example, actions that work correctly for User 1 show a connection error for User 2.

Error Message

For the affected actions, we receive the following error:

"Invalid connection, please update your connection to load complete details."

When we open the affected action and go to Change connection reference, the required connection reference is visible in the list, but it is not selected.

Even though the connection reference is available, the action still shows the invalid connection error until the required permissions are provided.

Important Observation

We tested the same flow with User 2 after assigning the System Customizer role.

After giving User 2 System Customizer privileges, the connection issues are resolved and the flow works correctly.

When User 2 has only:

Basic User
Environment Maker

the connection errors occur.

This makes us suspect that there may be a Dataverse privilege/security-role requirement related to Connection References or the underlying connection metadata.

Connection References

We are also investigating whether this is related to Connection References.

Our understanding is that the flow should use Connection References so that the flow can use the appropriate connection for the user/environment rather than being dependent on the original owner's connection.

However, we are not sure whether the "Send a copy" option correctly handles/rebinds the Connection References for the receiving user.

We have also created the required Connection References in the Solution and verified that the connection exists. However, for the affected actions, the connection reference can be seen under Change connection reference, but it is not automatically selected.

What We Want to Achieve

We do not want to give the Tester user the System Customizer role just to make the flow work.

We would like to keep the Tester user's permissions limited to:

Basic User
Environment Maker

and provide only the specific additional privileges required for the flow and its Connection References.

Questions

Why do all connector actions show connection errors when the flow is shared using "Send a copy"?
Is this expected behavior when using "Send a copy" instead of deploying/importing the flow through a Solution?
What does the error "Invalid connection, please update your connection to load complete details" indicate in this scenario?
Why is the Connection Reference visible under Change connection reference but not automatically selected?
Are there specific Dataverse privileges/security-role permissions required for a user to use or access Connection References?
What is the recommended security-role configuration for a user who needs to create/test/run the flow without having System Customizer?
Is there a recommended architecture for sharing/deploying a solution-based flow where each user can use their own connector connections without requiring elevated Dataverse privileges?

Any guidance on the required permissions or the recommended architecture would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Categories:

Using connectors

Building flows

Using flows

The issue is caused by a combination of user-specific connector connections, connection-reference binding, and insufficient privileges for User 2 to fully load/use the solution-aware flow components. "Send a copy" is not the recommended enterprise deployment mechanism for this scenario. The fact that System Customizer immediately resolves the problem strongly suggests that User 2 is missing required Dataverse/customization privileges, but System Customizer should not be used as the permanent solution.

For your environment, I would recommend:

Put the flow and all Connection References into a Solution.
Deploy the Solution from DEV → UAT rather than using "Send a copy."
Create/bind the UAT Connection References to appropriate UAT connections.
Decide whether the tester needs to edit the flow or merely run/test it.
If editing is required, create a dedicated least-privilege custom security role instead of System Customizer.
If only testing is required, don't give the tester customization privileges unnecessarily.
Validate each connector separately—Dataverse, Outlook, Users, Copilot Studio—because each can have its own connection ownership, authorization, and security requirements.

The key architectural principle is:

Don't solve a connection-reference/deployment problem by giving users broader Dataverse privileges. Solve it through Solution-based ALM, correctly configured Connection References, appropriate connections, and least-privilege security roles.

That will give you a much more supportable architecture for DEV → UAT → PROD, and it avoids making System Customizer a prerequisite for every tester.