Running Microsoft Access Database Engine with Astera

If you have a 32-bit Astera Client running on a machine and would like to use the Microsoft Access Database Engine provider as a data source, you will need to have the corresponding 32-bit version of it installed on the machine as well.

The problem arises when a 64-bit version of Microsoft Access Database Engine is already installed on the machine, and a 32-bit version is needed by Astera. Microsoft does not permit installation of both 32-bit and 64-bit by default, but it can be done with a workaround.

Microsoft has released the installers here.

To install the driver required you would need to run it with the “/passive” argument specified.

If you have a 32-bit Astera Client and have a 64-bit Microsoft Access driver installed, you will need to install the 32-bit driver version:

AccessDatabaseEngine.exe /passive

If you have a 64-bit Astera Client and have a 32-bit Microsoft Access driver installed, you will need to install the 64-bit driver version:

AccessDatabaseEngine_X64.exe /passive

Please try uninstalling either version (e.g. 32 bit or 64 bit) after you have both versions installed. You will get into an error.

Note: You will have this error from either version (e.g. 32 bit or 64 bit) when both versions are installed.

The workaround is to run the setup with the /extract switch first. This extracts it to a temp folder. Then right-click on it and select Uninstall from the context menu.