I have an SQL database with an MS Access front-end. The linked table I created is only available to me and no one else. I need the other users on the domain to be able to open this linked table. When they open the table, they get an error message that says the connection to the database failed.
What am I doing wrong to where other users (besides myself) can't open the linked MS Access linked table?
If you are connecting to the SQL database using an ODBC connection, the end users need to have that ODBC connection set up on the machine they are connecting from as well.
Related
I am a beginner in Microsoft Access and one of my friend gave me a copy of his SQL Server file and something with .BAK extension which I believe is the database as it is almost 300MB.
When I try to run the SQL Server file I get cannot connect to backend database error. Searching on the internet I found that I can prevent this by holding shift while opening the database.
Even though this does open the Access file, where I can see all the table,queries, forms, reports and macros icons and names. I cannot open any of them. When I press on one of the table names for example I get
Connection Failed SQL server does not exist or access denied' error.
How do I view the tables?
Your MS Access file is linked to a SQL Server. You basically need to
Install SQL Server Express (it's free)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/sql-server/sql-server-editions-express
Restore the .BAK file into SQL Server Express How to import a bak file into SQL Server Express
Relink all of the MS Access linked tables to your installed SQL Server
How does one change the connection string of linked tables in MS Access
This may seem complicated but it is a great opportunity to learn about databases.
Seems your friend is not very helpful.
I've been trying for a while to connect the database to visualstudio.net and it just doesn't work.
First I made the database and made everything I needed there and when I tried connecting it in visual.net through datagridview (trying to get it displayed there) it only gives me access to the "System databases" in which I can't make a database.
After that I decided to make the tables under the "master" database to see if that worked and yeah I can select the database and everything but it says it's empty when I know it's not. It says it has no tables when I've checked multiple times and saw the tables I've created there.
I would appreciate some help to either be able to get for visual to accept a database I make (to be able to automatically detect it once I enter the server name) or to see how can I use the master one properly.
You can add a data source to your project and it will be able to connect to the user databases. Also, it is highly inadvisable to create any user objects in the master database.
master database is a system database and you should not create user objects in the system database. In the connection string, provide the user database name explicitly. If you dont provide the database name, it defaults to master database.
Refer to connection strings for Sql Server for providing the right connection string for SQL Server in .net.
Ok, I am using an Access 2010 database linked to a SQL 2012 backend. All is well. I migrated using the Migration Wizard - this creates the link without using any pre-created ODBC\DSN file etc. This works great as I do not have to deploy any DSN file to users (it is used by 21 users) I have noticed that linked tables have the below in the Properties\Description:
ODBC;DRIVER=SQL Server;SERVER=XXX;Trusted_Connection=Yes;APP=Microsoft Office 2010;DATABASE=XXX;Network=DBMSSOCN;TABLE=dbo.tblCountries
Now my problem is if I create a new table in the SQL backend, how do I link without using ODBC\DSN? How do I link so it behaves the same as when migrated?
I have tried creating a table then using the description from above and changing the table name to no avail. If I do link via ODBC to the SQL backend, link to the new table then change the ODBC to match that above, Access does not let you change the connection string?
So in summary, are you able to link to new tables in SQL server, after you have used the migration wizard to link?
THanks,
Michael
The DSN connection string is actually stored with the linked table. That's why your users can connect to the linked table without needing to set up a DSN connection.
I do very similar work on a daily basis with Microsoft Access connecting to a SQL database server. I have set up ODBC connections on my development machine, which allows me to easily list the tables available on the SQL server databases, and link to them in my Access applications. When linking to the table, I always save the connection string with the table link, so the end users never need the ODBC connection.
In a sense, you can think of your ODBC connection as a template for connecting to the database. As long as you always save the connection string with the linked table, your users won't need the DSN connection to access the database.
There are times when it is appropriate to use a DSN connection, but in my experience, I find it far more practical to just save the full connection string with the linked table and manage the links using the Linked Table Manager.
Hope that helps!
Adam
I am trying to create a new linked server.
I am using provider as SQL Server Native Client 11.0
I have entered Product Name and Data Source
If I create connection using these settings it works just fine.
But I am trying to create a linked server using catalog option where I enter the Db name example AdventureWorks
Now when I create connection, and expand new connection I just created
Then further Expand Catalogs folder
I see more than one databases, where as it should only show the one I specified while creating the linked server connection in the catalog option.
Can any tell me why this is happening? I have not been able to find anything related to this. Please let me know if you have any further questions.
I've found that the provider SQL Server Native Client 11.0 does do this and allows access to all catalogs. If you don't want this it sounds like you want to use the Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server as this allows you to specify a catelog (default database) and it only show you and allow access to that one database
I've used the Access 2007 upsizing wizard to move my files to a SQL server. A problem I'm experiencing now is that when I try to link the tables in either Excel or Access, it requires me to create a DSN or a machine data source connection. In either case, when I do this, it makes the connection only useful on the current PC.
What I'm trying to do is create an access file and an excel file, both of which link to the newly upsized tables on the sql server, which I can distribute to users across the network (let's assume they all have sufficient user rights on the SQL server to read data).
Any suggestions?
Chuck
Use Doug Steele's code to convert your DSN's to DSN-less connect strings:
http://www.accessmvp.com/DJSteele/DSNLessLinks.html