Custom Connector Icon - broken image

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Posted on by MF-20121628-0

We have created a custom connector that we deploy to multiple Power Platform environments using a solution. When the connector is first deployed there is no problem, the icon image is displayed correctly. But after some period of time, we have observed that the image stops being displayed when using a connection action in the Power Automate designer. In the old designer it displays a generic image of a white plug with a grey background when you are choosing the action, and it shows a broken image icon when the action is added to your flow. In the new designer it shows a different generic image of a red dot with a red arrow coming out of it on a white background.

Has anyone else seen this and know why it happens and how we can prevent it?

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Connector development

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Jon Unzueta 1,827 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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@MF-20121628-0

this issue with custom connector icons disappearing in Power Automate after deployment is known and has been discussed in the Power Platform Community forums.

🧩 Root Cause

The icon image for a custom connector is typically referenced via a URL in the connector’s definition (OpenAPI/Swagger). Over time, this URL may become inaccessible due to:

Expired or invalid links (e.g., if hosted on a temporary or private location).

CDN caching issues or environment-specific access restrictions.

Deployment via solutions that don’t properly preserve or refresh the icon reference.

When the image fails to load, Power Automate falls back to a generic icon — a plug or red dot depending on the designer version.

✅ Recommended Fixes

1. Host the Icon on a Stable Public URL

Use a publicly accessible and permanent URL (e.g., Azure Blob Storage with anonymous read access).

Avoid using environment-specific or tenant-restricted URLs.

2. Reimport the Connector with Updated Icon Reference

Update the icon URL in the connector’s OpenAPI definition.

Reimport the connector manually or via paconn CLI.

Ensure the icon is referenced like this:

"iconUrl": "https://yourdomain.com/images/connector-icon.png"

3. Deploy the Connector Separately from the Solution

As noted in another thread , bundling the connector and connection references in the same solution can cause issues. Instead:

Deploy the custom connector first in its own solution.

Then deploy the flows and connection references in a separate solution.

This ensures the connector is fully registered before the flows try to use it.

🧪 Additional Tips

Test the icon URL in a browser to confirm it loads without authentication.

Use SVG or PNG formats for best compatibility.

Avoid referencing icons from internal SharePoint or OneDrive locations.

🏷️ Tag me if you have any further questions or if the issue persists.

✅ Click "Accept as Solution" if my post helped resolve your issue—it helps others facing similar problems.

❤️ Give it a Like if you found the approach useful in any way.

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MF-20121628-0 23 on at

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@Jon Unzueta Thank you for your response! I will try your suggestions, but I have some questions.

The link you provided when saying this is a known issue was a link back to this same post. Did you intend to provide a link to another post about this issue?

We are packaging our connector using a Power Platform Solution as described here: Automate the connector life cycle - Training | Microsoft Learn because we are managing the solution in source control and automating packaging and deployment to multiple environments.

We separate this solution from solutions with connection references, but we do include environment variables that are used by the connector.

Therefore, we use the pac CLI rather than the paconn CLI.

QUESTION: In the Connector XML file in our solution, there is an <iconblob> where we reference the icon image file that is packaged with the connector in our solution. Microsoft support has suggested replacing the path to the file with a URL in <iconblob>. Are you saying that we should be defining the URL in <iconURL> instead of <iconblob>? Can you point to documentation for the Connector XML schema? I've had a hard time finding documentation on this.

Thanks again!

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Jon Unzueta 1,827 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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@MF-20121628-0

Thanks for the follow-up and for clarifying your setup. You're packaging your custom connector using a Power Platform Solution and managing it via the Power Platform CLI (pac), not paconn, which is the older CLI tool. You're referencing the connector icon via <iconblob> in the connector XML, and Microsoft support suggested switching to a URL. You're asking whether you should use <iconURL> instead and where to find documentation for the connector XML schema.

Here’s what I found based on internal documentation and Microsoft’s published resources:

✅ Clarifying <iconblob> vs <iconURL>

<iconblob> is used when embedding the icon directly into the solution package. This typically references a local file path (e.g., icon.png) that gets bundled during packaging.

<iconURL> is used when referencing an externally hosted image (e.g., on a CDN or SharePoint). This avoids packaging the image and can resolve broken image issues if the packaging or deployment process fails to embed the icon correctly.

If you're experiencing broken image issues and Microsoft support suggested using a URL, then yes—you should switch to using <iconURL> instead of <iconblob>.

🧩 Why the Image Might Be Breaking

The image file might not be correctly embedded or accessible in the packaged solution.

The path in <iconblob> might be incorrect or not resolved during deployment.

The image format might be unsupported or corrupted.

Using <iconURL> ensures the image is loaded from a reliable external source and avoids packaging issues.

📚 Documentation and Schema References

While Microsoft does not publish a full schema for the connector XML file, the following resources provide examples and guidance:

Microsoft Learn: Create a custom connector with the CLI
1

GitHub: Power Platform Connectors CLI
2

DeepWiki: paconn CLI Tool
3

These resources describe the structure of the connector package, including the use of icon files and metadata.

🛠️ Suggested Fix

Update your connector XML to use:

<iconURL>https://yourdomain.com/path-to-icon.png</iconURL>

And remove or comment out the <iconblob> reference. Make sure the image is publicly accessible and in a supported format (PNG or SVG).

Would you like help validating your connector XML or testing the icon rendering in a sandbox environment? I can also help you automate the packaging process to ensure consistency across environments.

🏷️ Tag me if you have any further questions or if the issue persists. ✅ Click "Accept as Solution" if my post helped resolve your issue—it helps others facing similar problems. ❤️ Give it a Like if you found the approach useful in any way.

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MF-20121628-0 23 on at

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@Jon Unzueta Unfortunately using <iconURL> to specify a URL to the icon image does not work.

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Jon Unzueta 1,827 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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And what if you add an image and set its 'Image' property to the URL?

🏷️ Tag me if you have any further questions or if the issue persists. ✅ Click "Accept as Solution" if my post helped resolve your issue—it helps others facing similar problems. ❤️ Give it a Like if you found the approach useful in any way.

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MF-20121628-0 23 on at

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Hi @Jon Unzueta,

I'm not sure what you mean by: "And what if you add an image and set its 'Image' property to the URL?"

Can you give me more details about what you are suggesting?

We've tried uploading the image to blob storage and adding the URL to the <iconURL> property and we've also separately tried referencing the URL in the <iconBlob> property. Neither of those attempts worked. When we use<iconBlob> to reference the relative path to the icon included in the solution, it automatically adds it to blob storage but the URL that is used for the icon in the designer expires and is not renewed automatically, so it looks fine for several days until the URL expires.

If we manually upload the icon in the UI, we get a non-expiring URL, however that is not a good solution for us because we are deploying this solution to multiple environments in our organization and we would have to manually upload the icon every time we deploy or update the solution in every environment.

We are willing to try other suggestions if you can give us more details. We also have a ticket open with Microsoft support, and I'll post an update if they give us a good solution.

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Jon Unzueta 1,827 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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@MF-20121628-0

vamos a intentar algo:

- Cambia el blob storage a acceso anonimo de solo lectura y sube el icono al Blob en formato PNG o SVG
- Cambia el conector XML => de iconBlob>icon.png</iconBlob> a <iconURL>https://tudominio.com/ruta/icono.png</iconURL>

- Abre la URL en un navegador in private sin autenticarte y comprueba que accedes a la url y no requieres nada.

-Ya que estás usando el CLI pac, puedes mantener el XML actualizado en tu repositorio y evitar tener que subir el icono manualmente en cada entorno.

Me cuentas si te funciona o no y sino seguimos viendo opciones, pero espero que te funcione

🏷️ Tag me if you have any further questions or if the issue persists. ✅ Click "Accept as Solution" if my post helped resolve your issue—it helps others facing similar problems. ❤️ Give it a Like if you found the approach useful in any way.

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