Question : MS Access not connecting to Oracle11g using ODBC

I am trying to use Access 2003 to link to table in an Oracle 11g system. I create the ODBC and the connection test works.  I go into access, select ODBC, select the ODBC entry I made, and then I get the popup box error:

ODBC -- Call failed
[Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] Data source name not found an not default driver specified

The funny thing is that the error references a Microsoft driver and the driver I am using in the ODBC setup says Oracle.

Answer : MS Access not connecting to Oracle11g using ODBC

1. Make sure you have installed the Oracle 32 bit driver

2. Make sure you create your DSN in the 32 bit registry. To do this you use ODBCAD32.exe found in the wow64 folder (not the standard windows system32 folder, which is where the normal ODBC Admin shortcut on the start menu points to)

As already mentioned, MS Access is a 32 bit application. It only talks to 32 bit drivers, and only looks in the 32 bit registry for DSN's.

The 32 bit Oracle client should talk fine to the 64 bit Oracle installation, as it is communicating over TCP/IP (not in-process)