The 'Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.16.0' provider is not registered on the local machine

[astrid.stollberger]

Hi,

I'm trying to use OLEDB to connect to an Excel file.
This worked fine as long as the Robot was running on MS2016.
After migration to (Click-to-Run) M365 I'm getting this error: "The 'Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.16.0' provider is not registered on the local machine."

I can see OLDEB drivers are registered in the registry, but I have the feeling Blue Prism can't find them for some reason....

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Cheers Astrid
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[theBelovedKing]

@astrid.stollberger and @Sheela Parthasarathy,

I know this is an old post. However, I was able to resolve a similar challenge I had experienced with this error, after about a year and a couple of months.

1. I uninstalled all instances of Microsoft Access Database Engine (2010, 2016) from Control Panel.

2. I downloaded the Microsoft Access Database Engine 2016 file from this Microsoft. Ensure you download the 32-bit version, as the 64-bit version still threw the same error after installing.

3. Open cmd, navigate to your downloads folder and execute this command: [file_path]/filename.exe /quiet. You can follow this guide.

Let me know how it goes.

Best regards,

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Kingsley David
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[astrid.stollberger]

Hi David,

as I mentioned above, we used MS Access 2010 DB Engine (x32) but we had to get away from 32-bit components as Microsoft will no longer support them.

We solved it now by down-grading the Office 365 installation to 32-bit so that Blue Prism can use the OLEDB drivers which come with the M365 installation. So at least we don't have a dependency now on the EOL MS Access 2010 DB Engine.

Cheers

Astrid

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Cheers Astrid
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[ewilson]

For everyone's reference, there are a couple VBOs that use OLEDB, in some fashion, including Data - OLEDB and Utility - File Management. I'm pretty sure every BP VBO that uses OLE DB has been updated to use the ACE provider in the default connection string as JET only supports 32-bit. With ACE, you have 32 and 64-bit options. However, you have to match the ACE driver to the BP architecture as well as the Office installation type. 

What that means is a 32-bit installation of Blue Prism can only use a 32-bit installation of the ACE driver and a true 64-bit installation of Blue Prism (v7.3 or later) can only use the 64-bit version of the ACE. Please note, prior to BP v7.3, the 64-bit installer for Blue Prism didn't actually install a 64-bit version of the Automate.exe program. It is 32-bit. Yes, a little confusing, but that's the way it is.

You also must account for the Office version. If you have a 64-bit version of Office installed, it won't let you install the 32-bit version of ACE, as far as I know. 

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Eric Wilson
Director, Integrations and Enablement
Blue Prism Digital Exchange
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