Error on Access, Excel or Text Data Connection

If while trying to connect to an Access database, Excel or Text file, or while viewing a Heterogeneous Query you get the following message:

The ‘Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0’ provider is not registered on the local machine.

It means that you don’t have the 64 bits Access Database Engine installed on your computer, there are several possible solutions for this, which in order of recommendation are:

Install the 64 bits Access 2010 Database Engine

The Access Database Engine, it’s deployed, but not installed, by DBxtra’s installer, you can find it on DBxtra’s installation folder, located on C:\Program Files\DBxtra .NET by default, the setup program it’s named AccessDatabaseEngine_x64.

Note: The 64 bits Access Database Engine it’s not installed by default because it has known compatibility problems with 32 bits Office 2010, mainly with Excel.

Be aware, that if you have 32 bits Office already installed in your computer, then the setup program will refuse to continue, to force it to install, open a Command Prompt and navigate to the folder where the installer is and use the passive switch, writing something like this:

AccessDatabaseEngine_x64 /passive

Install 64 bits Office

For this you’ll need Office 2010 or newer; historically, Office has been a 32 bits application, so by default the setup program installs the 32 bits version of Office, so you’ll need to open the installation media and look for the x64 folder and run the setup program in there.

Note: If you want to create heterogeneous queries, we recommend you to install Office 2010, as Office 2013 have compatibility problems with such queries.

Be aware that this requires you to uninstall 32 bits Office, if you had it before, as Office can’t be installed side by side with other Office versions.

Note: Office 2016 has a new installation mechanism that doesn’t register the appropriate driver, so you’ll need to install the 64 bits Access 2010 Database Engine if you’re using any version of Office 2016.

Use 32 bits versions of DBxtra

DBxtra installs 32 bits versions of all their programs as a compatibility measure for databases which don’t have a 64 bits driver, or when you need 32 bits compatibility, on this case you can refer to the following article DBxtra 64 bits version for further instructions.

Troubleshooting

– I installed the Access Database Engine and now every time I open Excel or other Office application, it tries to repair its install.

-> Most likely, you have 32 bits Office 2010 installed, we recommend you to switch to 64 bits Office 2010 or install 32 bits Office 2013, if you have 32 bits Office 2013, let the repair finish and you shouldn’t see this error again.

– I need to have 32 bits Office for other applications.

-> We recommend you to install 32 bits Office 2013 and then install the 64 bits Access Database Engine, then open Excel and let it repair its install (it does this once), and it should be good to go.

– I need to use specifically 32 bits Office 2010, or I’m using Heterogeneous Queries, and I need to use specifically 64 bits Office 2013.

-> In both cases, your only option will be to use the 32 bits versions of DBxtra applications, as in the former, you won’t be able to install the 64 bits Access Database Engine, and in the later, heterogeneous queries won’t work properly on 64 bits DBxtra.

– I installed everything but DBxtra keeps showing me the same error message

-> If you’re using any version of Office 2016, you need to install the 64 bits Access 2010 Database Engine, otherwise, if DBxtra was open when you installed everything, then you need to close it and reopen it, if it wasn’t open, then you may need to restart your computer.