Tuesday, January 29, 2008 Tip of the Day: Configuring R:BASE/Oterro ODBC Drivers on 64-bit OSs
Section: ODBC Drivers Supported Versions: . R:BASE 7.x for Windows . R:BASE C/S:I 7.6 for Windows . R:BASE Turbo V-8 for Windows . Oterro 3.5 for Windows . Oterro 4.0 for Windows (Private Beta) . Oterro 8.0 for Windows When logged in as an Administrator or a user with administrator rights, the automated installation and configuration of R:BASE and Oterro on Windows XP x64 Edition or Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 with Service Pack 2 is very simple and straightforward. Typically, using the full installers, after a successful installation of R:BASE 7.x, R:BASE C/S:I 7.6, R:BASE Turbo V-8, Oterro 3.5, Oterro 4.0 (Private Beta) or Oterro 8.0, using the full installers, you would expect the R:BASE or Oterro ODBC drives to be listed under the Drivers for ODBC Data Source Administrator panel. Well, by default, on Windows XP x64 bit Edition and Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 with Service Pack 2 machines, the installed ODBC Drivers list is empty. There are no drivers listed even for Microsoft's own default drivers (can you believe that?). Figure 01 http://www.rbase.com/rbg76/ODBC/ODBCDataSourceAdministrator01.jpg The reason the installed drivers are not listed is the way Windows x64 editions operate with the ODBC drivers. On Windows x64 editions, all ODBC drivers are installed in the "%SystemRoot%\SysWOW64" folder. However, the default ODBC Data Source Administrator that is available through the Administrative Tools or Control Panel in Windows x64 Editions is located in the "%SystemRoot%\system32" folder, and only searches this folder for ODBC drivers. To fix this behavior on Windows x64 editions, you should update the target information for shortcut properties of the ODBC Data Source Administrator tool to reflect "%SystemRoot%\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe". This will correctly locate and list all installed ODBC drivers as well as enable you to create a System DSN. Figure 02 (Default Properties for ODBC Data Source Administrator) http://www.rbase.com/rbg76/ODBC/ODBCDataSourceAdministrator02.jpg Figure 03 (Modified Properties for ODBC Data Source Administrator) http://www.rbase.com/rbg76/ODBC/ODBCDataSourceAdministrator03.jpg Figure 04 (Installed ODBC Drivers on Server 2003 R2 x64 SP2 machines) http://www.rbase.com/rbg76/ODBC/ODBCDataSourceAdministrator04.jpg Have fun running R:BASE 7.6, R:BASE Turbo V-8, and Oterro 3.5/4.0/8.0 on Windows XP x64 bit Edition and Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 with Service Pack 2 operating systems! Very Best R:egards, Razzak.
