[AccessD] Windows 7 64 bit

Good info Drew.  Just goes to show that 64 bit ain't entirely there yet.

John W. Colby
www.ColbyConsulting.com


Drew Wutka wrote:
> There's been some talk about Windows 7 on here, and since it going to be
> hitting your user base, I figured I would share some 64 bit info.
> 
> I've been running 64 bit on my work desktop for about 2 years now.
> (Vista until October when 7 was actually released).  I've now been
> running 64 bit on my laptop for the last 3 months.
> 
>>From our user's standpoint, there were two issues that we had with 64
> bit.  Oracle ODBC connections, and our Cisco VPN.  Everything else we
> install on a typical machine works just fine on a 64 bit box.  There are
> some 'admin' things that don't work in 64 bit, but I don't care much
> about that, cause I use Virtual PC like it's my right arm, so I just
> have that stuff in a VPC environment.
> 
> The Oracle thing was a show stopper though.  Our production database
> (Glovia) is running in an Oracle database.  It used to be a Unix box,
> but is now on a Window's based rack server.  The application for our
> production database works just fine in a 64 bit environment, and doesn't
> use an ODBC connection.  However, long before I got here, they were
> using Access as a 'report engine' for Glovia.  So there are a handful of
> these databases that need to connect to Oracle through an ODBC
> connection, for all these reports to work.  
> 
> Problem #1.  Oracle doesn't make a 64 bit ODBC driver.  They do however
> have ODAC101040.exe  which is an ODBC driver for Oracle 10g.  When
> trying to install this several 'unknown' errors come up, and the install
> fails. However, you can right click on it and select Troubleshoot
> Compatibility, this then goes and let's you run the install without a
> hitch.  Once that is done, the next trick is that the ODBC manager in
> the control panel is a 64 bit manager.  To use the 32bit manager, you
> have to go to C:\Windows\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe .  Looks the same, but
> this will then let you setup your ODBC connection.  Now, I got this part
> done months ago, but ran into the next problem.
> 
> Problem #2.  I could 'test' the connection from the 32 bit ODBC
> connection manager, successfully, but whenever I tried to use the ODBC
> connection from Access, I would get 'ODBC Error'.  Sigh.  Well a few
> weeks ago, an order was placed for a laptop for one of our accounting
> people that I wanted to setup with a very decent laptop.  It came in
> last week, but I was hesitant to put Windows 7 64 bit on it, because she
> uses these ODBC tables all day long, and I didn't want to force her to
> use a Remote Desktop session to a machine that had everything
> working...so I dug into some more research, and guess what....the
> problem was in WHERE Access was installed too.  On a 64 bit machine, 32
> bit programs get installed (by default) to C:\Program Files (x86)\  and
> those parenthesis' were tripping a bug in Oracle, cause apparently
> whatever app tries to connect to the ODBC connection is sending along
> it's full application path.  On my own desktop, by just moving
> msaccess.exe to the root of one of my drives, the ODBC stuff started
> working right away! Go figure!
> 
> The other 64 bit issue was the Cisco VPN client.  Apparently Cisco
> refuses to make it's standard VPN client compatible with 64 bit
> technology (which is weird, because Cisco is supposed to be so 'cutting
> edge'...LOL).  So I found http://www.shrew.net/home a FREE 3rd party app
> that let's you use Cisco .pcf files for configurations, and it connects
> like a charm!  Woohoo.
> 
> Drew
> The information contained in this transmission is intended only for the person or entity 
> to which it is addressed and may contain II-VI Proprietary and/or II-VI Business 
> Sensitive material. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender 
> immediately and destroy the material in its entirety, whether electronic or hard copy. 
> You are notified that any review, retransmission, copying, disclosure, dissemination, 
> or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons 
> or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited.
> 
>