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How to install the 64-bit Microsoft Access Database Engine for 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Office suites.

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Objective:

I have just installed Geosoft Desktop Applications v9.0 (or higher) and received a warning message that the Microsoft Access Database Engine could not be installed. 

OR

I have a Geosoft Desktop Applications v9.0 (or higher) product installed and get the following error message whilst trying to import an Excel or Access file into a Geosoft database:

"The Microsoft Office driver necessary to connect to 'filename' is not present. It may not be properly installed."

or

"The Microsoft Office driver necessary to connect to "C:\ [folder location]" is not present. It may not be properly installed. See this article for more information."

 

Resolution:

The resolution you'll need to follow depends if you have a specific registry key currently setup on your PC.

To confirm if the required registry key is present, please follow these steps:

  1. Launch the Registry Editor (type "regedit" in the Windows search box under the Start menu and select regedit.exe)
  2. Navigate to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Common\FilesPaths" 
  3. Check to see if the following registry key:  mso.dll

This registry key value would be present if Microsoft Office 64-bit was installed on the computer, in which case you should be able to install the 64-bit Access Database Engine without using this workaround.

If the 'mso.dll' is present follow these steps:

You can download and install the Microsoft Office 64-bit access database engine from:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=13255

 

If the 'mso.dll' is not present, please follow these steps:

  1. Open the Command Prompt by typing "cmd" in the Windows search box under the Start menu and selecting cmd.exe.

  2. Type the file path and file name of the 64-bit Access Database Engine 2010 install file (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=13255), followed by a space and "/passive" (this runs the installation without showing any error messages).

    commandPrompt.jfif

  3. Open the Registry Editor by typing "regedit" in the Windows search box under the Start menu and select 'regedit.exe'.

  4. Delete or rename the "mso.dll" registry value in the following registry key: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Common\FilesPaths" 
registry.jfif
 
 
Please try to import the XLSX files after the above workflow. If the issue still persists please do the following:
  1. Download and install the 2007 Access Database Engine here.
  2. Open your Geosoft Desktop Applications and attempt the import workflow
 

Notes:

  • If you do not delete the "mso.dll" registry value, you will get a "Reconfiguring" message every time you open up an Office application.
  • You will need to use this same workaround to install Service Pack 1 for Access Database Engine 2010 for 64-bit (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26605)
  • This workflow only works for 2010 and not 2016 access database engines. That's not a problem right now because you can have the 2016 32-bit office installation and the 2010 64-bit access database engine on the same machine.