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Dynamics GP missing DSN - 32 bit v. 64 bit ODBC/DSN
December 4, 2010
As of 2010 most new PCs & servers use 64 bits instead of the older 32 bit standard. Consequently, a 64 bit version of Windows has both 32 bit and 64 bit versions of the ODBC drivers installed. Since Dynamic GP is a 32 bit program, it needs to use the 32 bit version of ODBC when you setup it's DSN. The same is true for other 32 bit applications.
If you are on a 64 bit computer and add a DSN - by default you are adding a 64 bit DSN. This won't work with Dynamics GP since it is a 32 bit program. In fact, Dynamics GP won't recognize a 64 bit DSN at all. If you added the DSN & see it in the list of DSNs, but Dynamics GP does not show the DSN - this article is for you.
Here's what to do:
Open Windows Explorer, browse to & double-click on:
c:\windows\syswow64\odbcad32.exe
This opens up the 32 bit ODBC settings - just add the System DSN as usual.
You might want to make a shortcut on the desktop for future use.
The lines above assume that windows is installed on the C: drive. If this is not your scenario, you can use this universal syntax to open the 32 bit ODBC settings from the command line:
%windir%\syswow64\odbcad32.exe
This will open the 32 bit ODBC settings from a 64 bit computer. Open up a command prompt & type it in, or click on Start / Run & type it, or click Start & type it into the 'search programs and files' box. By using the %windir% variable this will always work regardless of where Windows is installed.
This is a classic example of Microsoft's inverse 'logic'. We know there's both 32 bit & 64 bit versions of the ODBC config tool. They are both named odbcad32.exe - it gets better. The 32 bit version is stored in the syswow64 folder while the 64 bit version is stored in the system32 folder. This might have made sense to the Microsoft developers, but it's backwards for the rest of us.
Here's the official Microsoft article on How to tell if you're running 32 bit or 64 bit Windows
Definitions: ODBC = Open DataBase Connectivity / DSN = Data Source Name
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