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How to change Power Automate Flow to a Service Account?

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Posted on by FW-07051511-0

Is it possible to replace the connection references and primary owner with a generic service account or will I have to rebuild all my flows while logged in as the service account?

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David_MA 14,640 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Based on your screen shot, the workflow is in a solution. That is required in order to change the owner. Once you do that, you'll need to change the connection references to connection references generated with the service account.

However, you'll also need to make sure that the service account has the same permissions that you do in the connections in your flows. For example, you'll need to make sure the account is an owner/member of any SharePoint connections the flow accesses.

If flows use actions that get files out of OneDrive, you'll need to make sure you copy any of these files to the OneDrive of the service account, and you may need to repoint these actions to the file once you copy them.

We've been using service accounts for so long now that I don't know what else you'll need to look out for. But one thing you'll want to check is for manually triggered flows and if you will need to update the run-only user settings if you changed them to use the owner account connection instead of the person who triggers the flow.

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FW-07051511-0 72 on at

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@David_MA I don't see where I can change/up the connection references. I also looked at the solutions and I don't see where to add the service account to the solution. Of course the service account would need to be added to the environment.

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David_MA 14,640 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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To change the connection references, you need to open every single workflow where you make the service account the primary owner. Then go to every action that uses a connection reference. Under the parameters tab you'll find the link to update the connection reference:

Click on the change connection reference link and either choose an existing connection reference created by the service account or create a new one.

As for adding the service account to a solution, you cannot do that. You need to make the service account the owner of each workflow.

You are correct that the service account would need to be added to the environment and would need to have at least the maker role. You may also want to give it the environment admin role as well. We just give service accounts maker permissions.

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FW-07051511-0 72 on at

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@David_MA Thank you, this makes a lot of sense. I've got some work ahead of me.

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