'Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0' provider is not registered on the local machine not working for Excel, but works for Access

Question

I have used OledbConnection in two places in my solutions, one that reads Access and another that reads Excel. The one that reads Access is fine, but the one that reads excel is giving me error - The 'Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0' provider is not registered on the local machine.

This is my method where I read Excel and return Datatable.

string CONSTRSTRING = "Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=<FILENAME>;Extended Properties=\"Excel 12.0;HDR=Yes;IMEX=1\";";
using (OleDbConnection objConnection = new OleDbConnection(CONSTRSTRING.Replace("<FILENAME>", fullFileName)))
{
    DataSet dsImport = new DataSet();
    try
    {
        objConnection.Open();
        DataTable dtSchema = objConnection.GetOleDbSchemaTable(OleDbSchemaGuid.Tables, null);
        if ((null == dtSchema) || (dtSchema.Rows.Count <= 0))
        {
            throw new Exception("Excel doesn't contain any readable table/tab");
        }
        new OleDbDataAdapter("SELECT * FROM [" + sheetName + "]", objConnection).Fill(dsImport);
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        throw ex;
    }
    finally
    {
        objConnection.Close();
    }
    return dsImport.Tables[0];
}

Other thing is that if I run the code from VS Debug, it works, but it doesn't when run from the IIS. This only happens for this code, other one for connection access works fine.

ps reading access:

try
{
    string sAccessConnection = "Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=" + filename + ";Persist Security Info=False;";
    using (System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection con = new System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection(sAccessConnection))
    {
        con.Open();
        //doing stuffs
        con.Close();
    }

}
catch (Exception ex)
{
    throw ex;
}

EDIT No, It doesn't have answer there. There it says how to register Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0. My solution has it working for Access(which means, it is registered) but doesn't work for Excel file. The question is why it is different for Excel and Acces?

And also, if I install x64 Access Driver I get following excetion

Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {73A4C9C1-D68D-11D0-98BF-00A0C90DC8D9} failed due to the following error: 80070005 Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED)).

Also, get rid of those try/catch blocks. The `using` will close the connection, and that `throw ex;` does nothing except screw up your stack trace. — John Saunders, Jan 10 '15 at 01:24
@mybirthname- thanks for the quick answer. However, my solution does some office automation stuffs, and if i install both driver, i get "COM Factory failed to register .....id {238648aosdfioii834..... exception." Also, the server and office is x64 and changing project's platform to x86 screws up the automation process. — messed-up, Jan 10 '15 at 01:29

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:23

There are two well known fixes for this case:

Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 Redistributable

Or

2007 Office System Driver: Data Connectivity Components

Install both of them and it should work.

I had more serious problem with this when my project was run on 64bit, but the I was installed 32 bit version. You can check this question:OleDbConnection.Open() throws exception only in one project, same code works in other projects. You should find everything which you need to fix this problem in the other question.

'Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0' provider is not registered on the local machine not working for Excel, but works for Access

1 Answers1