Powerpivot data connection will not save the password

Question

I'm trying to create a Powerpivot workbook with data that users can refresh themselves before analysis.  We don't have Powerpivot data refresh in Sharepoint active, so I can't make use of that service.
When I create a Powerpivot data connection to SQL server using SQL Server Authentication (unchanging read-only username and password), and checking the box to save the password, the connection works fine for refreshing the data as long as I leave the workbook
open.
If I close the file and re-open it, the password is gone from the data connection and the user cannot refresh the data.
I've tried configuring the data connection with the SQL native client provider and the SQL OLEDB provider and I see exactly the same results.
The connection string gets built with Persist Security Info=True and the Password shows up as hidden text (dots).  It stays this way through refreshes as long as the workbook is open.  However, once I close the file and re-open it, the
connection string no longer has the Password parameter listed at all, not even as hidden text.  Persist Security Info is still there and set to True.  As might be expected, the connection string does not have the information needed to access the
SQL Server instance.
This type of connection string using SQL Server Authentication still works fine with the password saved when used directly as an Excel data connection, or when used as a data source in Reporting Services.  It's only Powerpivot where the password gets
blown away.
Is there a workaround for this issue?

Answer 1

Thanks Jaynet.
Unfortunately, the procedure described in the link you provided does not work for PowerPivot, at least in Excel 2010.
If I create the PowerPivot data connection using "From Database/From SQL Server" there is no option to "Allow saving password".  There is only the checkbox to "Save my password".  There is an "Advanced" button that allows you to set many additional
properties of the data connection, but there is nothing like allow saving password.
If I create the PowerPivot data connection using "From Other Sources/Others (OLEDB/ODBC)" and then click the "Build" button, I get a dialog that is pretty close to the one in your link.  For the Provider tab, I can choose either the Microsoft OLE DB
Provider for SQL Server or the SQL Server Native Client 10.0.  In the connection tab I do have the "Allow saving password" checkbox.  I check this and complete the rest of the data connection configuration.  After I save the file with this data
connection and then re-open it, the data will not refresh.  If I edit the existing connection from the PowerPivot design tab, the Password parameter is completely missing from the connection string.  If I go back into the connection string builder,
there is nothing in the password field (not even dots) and allow saving password is no longer checked.
I've even tried creating my own connection string in Notepad and pasting it into the connection string box (definitely including Persist Security Info=True).  This does not work either and PowerPivot erases the entire Password parameter just the same
as if I had used the builder and checked Allow saving password.
I'm beginning to think that the previous poster, David Hager, has it right.  This may be a bug introduced with the latest version of PowerPivot.  If there is no workaround, it is a total pain for me.
Mike Paulonis