Getting Started: Accounts and Licensing

Before Part I and Part II • Last updated 2026-07-03

Before working through Part I and Part II of the book, decide which Microsoft account you'll use for Power BI and, later, Microsoft Fabric with Copilot. The right choice depends on what you already have access to.

Before you start Part II: Copilot needs a paid capacity, not a trial

Microsoft's own Copilot for Power BI requirements state:

“Your organization needs a paid Fabric capacity (F2 or higher) or Power BI Premium capacity (P1 or higher). A Power BI Pro or Premium Per User (PPU) license alone isn't sufficient.”

“Copilot in Microsoft Fabric isn't supported on trial SKUs or trial capacities. Only paid SKUs are supported.”

In practice: the 60-day Fabric trial covered below is enough for Part I and for exploring the Fabric environment generally, but it will not unlock Copilot on its own — this is a hard platform limitation tied to the capacity type, not a setting anyone can toggle around. To do the Part II exercises with Copilot, you (or your organization) need access to a genuinely paid Fabric capacity (F2 and up is the smallest tier) or Power BI Premium capacity (P1 and up).

If you're working through this book without an organization behind you, this is worth knowing before you invest time expecting the trial alone to get you there.

What a paid capacity costs: per the Azure Fabric pricing page (checked 2026-07-03, US pay-as-you-go pricing — actual cost depends on region, currency, and any Microsoft agreement you have), the smallest paid tier (F2) runs about $263/month pay-as-you-go, or roughly $156/month with a 1-3 year reservation (~41% savings). This is meant for an organization's budget conversation, not an individual's — if you're reading this as an individual without an employer behind you, a paid capacity generally isn't a realistic path, and your Part II options are limited to whatever your organization (school or employer) is willing to provision.

Which situation are you in?

You have a corporate or school Microsoft 365 account

Check with your organization's IT admin whether Power BI and Microsoft Fabric are already licensed in your tenant — specifically, whether it's a paid capacity (see above) rather than a trial, since that's what Copilot needs. If so, use that account throughout — for both Part I (hand-built) and Part II (AI-directed) exercises.

If your organization has Power BI but not a paid Fabric/Premium capacity, ask your admin whether a Fabric trial can be activated in your tenant. This is a real, supported option — Microsoft's self-service trial settings explicitly cover work and school tenants, not just individuals — but remember a trial capacity still won't unlock Copilot per the note above. If tenant policy doesn't allow a trial either, use the path below for Part I at least.

You don't have a work or school email at all

Power BI and Fabric sign-up requires a work or school email account — personal consumer email (Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook.com, Yahoo, etc.) does not work directly for sign-up.

  1. Part I (hand-built exercises): sign up for a Microsoft 365 trial, which creates a work email (*.onmicrosoft.com) and a new tenant for you. This requires a credit card and is a 30-day trial — cancel it if you don't plan to keep paying, since it's separate from the Fabric trial below. Use that new work account to sign up for free Power BI Service (My Workspace, no Copilot needed for Part I).
  2. Part II (AI-directed exercises): the 60-day Microsoft Fabric trial under that same work account will let you explore the Fabric environment, but per the note above, it won't unlock Copilot on its own — you'd need that account to also have (or acquire) a paid capacity.

The 60-day trial window

The Fabric trial lasts 60 days from activation. If you're working through the book at your own pace, don't activate the trial until you're actually ready to start the Part II exercises — activating early just burns down the clock before you need it.

If you're pacing the book alongside a structured course or cohort, coordinate the activation date with your instructor or study group so everyone's trial window covers the same span of exercises.

Requirements

Links

If your trial won't activate

Some accounts have already used a Fabric trial in an unrelated prior context, and trial eligibility doesn't automatically reset. If this happens, a second Microsoft 365 trial tenant (see above) is the most reliable workaround.