Unity Catalog Internal Error - UC_INTERNAL_ERROR (#UC-AUDKE) while accessing Sample Data in Catalog Explorer

Based on the symptoms, this does not look like a basic permission issue. The fact that the catalog, schema, and table are visible already indicates that Unity Catalog metadata can be resolved successfully. The failure occurs specifically when Catalog Explorer attempts to retrieve preview data.

A few targeted checks can help isolate the root cause:

SELECT * FROM <catalog>.<schema>.<table> LIMIT 10;

If the query succeeds, the table itself is accessible and the problem is likely limited to the Catalog Explorer sample-data retrieval path rather than core UC access.

I would also verify the table metadata:

DESCRIBE DETAIL <catalog>.<schema>.<table>;

Pay particular attention to:

• Table type (managed vs external)
• Storage location
• Data source format
• Any recently changed table properties

Another useful test is to compare behavior across tables:

• If all UC tables fail in the Sample Data tab, the issue is likely workspace-wide.
• If only one table fails, focus on that table's metadata definition and storage configuration.

One area that is often overlooked is whether the issue is isolated to the Catalog Explorer UI. Databricks documentation notes that Catalog Explorer provides sample-data preview capabilities separate from normal SQL query execution. If direct SQL queries work while Sample Data consistently returns UC_INTERNAL_ERROR (#UC-AUDKE), that points toward a failure in the preview service path rather than a problem with the underlying data itself. [learn.microsoft.com], [learn.microsoft.com]

It may also be worth testing with a different Unity Catalog table such as one from the built-in samples catalog. If preview works there but not on your table, that further narrows the issue to table-specific metadata or storage characteristics rather than Unity Catalog as a whole. [docs.databricks.com]

If you can share the results of:

SELECT * FROM <catalog>.<schema>.<table> LIMIT 10; DESCRIBE DETAIL <catalog>.<schema>.<table>;

along with whether the issue affects other Unity Catalog tables, it should be possible to narrow down the cause further.

Help make this community better for everyone: if this answer resolved your issue, please accept it or leave an upvote. If not, share more details in a comment so we can continue the discussion and find the right solution.

Hi @RAJLAXMI

Root Cause :

Please confirm are you using free account and using the compute are serverless. if your using serverless you not able to fetch data from Catalog Explorer directly.

Solution :

if you want use serverless compute execute queries from your notebook. it will be execute.

SELECT * FROM catalog.schema.table LIMIT 10;

if you want to use catalog explorer you need to configure or add new compute based on your minimum requirements.

Thanks.