SSDT/SSRS - Report Previewer Won't Run

That is a current bug in SSDT-BI. The current workaround for now is to right click on the report you want to preview in your Solution Explorer and click RUN.

You will also notice that if you try to preview the report for the first time a command prompt window opens up that runs the preview process, If you don't close this window and just minimize it then you can preview the report but I think the RUN method is much easier for now. Please mark as answer if this helped.


This can happen when you have some SQL Services installed and running on your machine that interfere with the Report Preview. You can check your current services by going opening Sql Server Configuration Manager:

Sql Server Configuration Manager

To fix this you can do the following:

  1. Type WinKey + R, input services.msc in the Run box, and press Enter.
  2. Find the "Net.Pipe Listener Adapter" and either Restart or Disable it.
    Net.Pipe Listener Adapter - Services

The workaround, as SQLnbe mentioned, is to:

  1. Right Click the RDLC file from solution explorer
  2. Click "Run" from there which will open up a new window.
    Run RDLC from Solution Explorer

The Preview issue was resolved for me when I deleted the .DATA files associated with the solution.