SQL Server Linked Server to Microsoft Access

Question

I have tried to make use of linked servers in SQL Server 2008 by doing the following to access a Microsoft Access 2003 Table.

EXEC sp_addlinkedserver access1t, 'OLE DB Provider for Jet', 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0', 'C:\tester.mdb'
EXEC sp_addlinkedsrvlogin access1t, FALSE, Null, Admin, Null
GO
CREATE VIEW TI001APCE1265 AS SELECT * FROM access1t...Table1

However, I get the error:

OLE DB provider "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0" for linked server "access1t" returned message "Unspecified error".
Msg 7303, Level 16, State 1, Procedure TI001APCE1265, Line 1
Cannot initialize the data source object of OLE DB provider "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0" for linked server "access1t".

There is no password/username on my access database but looking at the documents I understood I had to use the sp_addlinkedsrvlogin like the above. I have tried it without a login either.

Bit I still get the same error - what is going?!

Thanks all

Debug Output

Array ( [0] => Array ( [0] => 42000 [SQLSTATE] => 42000 [1] => 7303 [code] => 7303 [2] => [Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 10.0][SQL Server]Cannot initialize the data source object of OLE DB provider "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0" for linked server "access1265293168". [message] => [Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 10.0][SQL Server]Cannot initialize the data source object of OLE DB provider "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0" for linked server "access1265293168". ) [1] => Array ( [0] => 01000 [SQLSTATE] => 01000 [1] => 7412 [code] => 7412 [2] => [Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 10.0][SQL Server]OLE DB provider "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0" for linked server "access1265293168" returned message "Unspecified error". [message] => [Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 10.0][SQL Server]OLE DB provider "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0" for linked server "access1265293168" returned message "Unspecified error". ) )

I was having a look at this question: stackoverflow.com/questions/2065083/… - how would I pass in the NT login?? — Abs
– Abs, Commented Feb 4, 2010 at 15:01
Have you tried providing the Jet default username, "admin"? I don't know if it's required or not, but there is no such thing as opening a Jet data store without having a user involved. — David-W-Fenton
– David-W-Fenton, Commented Jan 15, 2011 at 1:03

Mitch Wheat · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-04 14:53:58Z

4

Have you tried with named parameters?:

EXEC sp_addlinkedserver 
   @server = 'access1t', 
   @provider = 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0', 
   @srvproduct = 'OLE DB Provider for Jet',
   @datasrc =  'C:\tester.mdb'
GO

It may be you just need your server name in single quotes 'access1t'.

[ Does your logged in user have permission to access the root of C: drive? ]

answered Feb 4, 2010 at 14:53

Mitch Wheat

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4 Comments

Abs Over a year ago

I am logged in as Admin. I thought because I passed in false for @useself attribute of sp_addlinkedsrvlogin - it would only use the username and password I have supplied to access the Microsoft access database. I have also just tried your code and removed my first line and I still get the same error. I have added some debug output with sql server error codes, but I have no idea what they mean!

Fionnuala Over a year ago

I played around with this a bit, and for me the error seems to have been due to permissions. When I logged in to SQL Server as the Admin user for this PC, I could connect to c:\docs\test.mdb as illustrated above, with other messing about, I could not.

Abs Over a year ago

@Remou I think its a permissions/credentials problem. I am using this EXEC sp_addlinkedsrvlogin acc465tghv, TRUE and this seems to be working. I am just testing and playing around with now.

David-W-Fenton Over a year ago

A Jet/ACE data store has to be writable to be used, so you need to store it in a location that is read/write for the Windows logon you're running with. By default, the root of C: is read-only for non-admin users (starting with Win2000, as a matter of fact), so it's very likely that the problem is NTFS permissions on the root of C: preventing the write access that is needed here.

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