March 5, 2014 Newsletter #111
To our knowledge, until July 2013, Microsoft has never released a 64 bit version of their popular Access ODBC drivers that allows 3rd party applications such as Web+Center to connect with an Access Database on a 64 bit machine in 64 bit mode. This forces Web+Center users who migrated to 64 bit Windows OS platforms to run their IIS web servers in 32 bit mode to be compatible with the 32 bit ODBC database drivers that connect to those applications. Read the article below to find out how you can download and install the 64 bit drivers when migrating, upgrading or installing Web+Center on 64 bit Windows Operating systems. This additionally might be helpful for other applications that may require this 64 bit ODBC Access driver.
Sincerely,
Scott Vanderlip
President, Internet Software Sciences
64 Bit Access ODBC Drivers
32 bit versus 64 bit compatibility is very important when running Web applications running under IIS. We wrote a special newsletter article about these 32/64 bit compatibility issues back in 2009 with newsletters #57.
The basic summary of this 32/64 bit issue is that one must have all of the components (databases and drivers, any complied 3rd party add-on products and scripting/web services) all running in either 32 bit mode OR 64 bit. No mix and match! As vendors started creating updated versions, they started providing updates in 64 bit compatible formats while the critical 64 bit Access ODBC database driver component from Microsoft was never released until July 2013 from what we can tell. Even now (March 2014), this 64 bit ODBC driver is not part of the installed OS and must be installed separately and has some other restrictions (see below).
Web+Center supports both SQL*Server or Access as the backend database, and MS Access works well for many smaller tech support organizations. To support Access for the past few years under 64 bit windows Operating systems which is the default, special install instructions were required to run ISS webserver in 32 bit mode and find a hidden 32 bit version of the ODBC driver for Access.
Some exceptions: There appears to be some restrictions from Microsoft on whether you can install this new driver on a 64 bit that already has Access drivers installed. Here is the note they provide on their download page:
Note: Before installing this download, you must first remove any previous versions of the Access Database Engine from your computer by using Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel.
This new Driver is now available from the Microsoft Download Site:
To install this download:
- Download the file by clicking the Download button and saving the file to your hard disk.
- Double-click the AccessDatabaseEngine.exe program file on your hard disk to start the setup program.
- Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.
Summary
Now that this option is available from Microsoft, we will be offering this option in our Web+Center installations and upgrades instructions to use this 64 bit drivers as it eliminates steps to run your Web+Center and web server in 32 bit mode when you have a 64 bit machine. Feel free to forward this article to others in the industry who may be interested to know about this upgrade option.
Article by Scott Vanderlip
President, ISS
Contact ISS if you have any additional questions.