Cannot connect to MS Access file from SQL Server 2008

Question

I have been trying for the past week or so to import data programmatically to a SQL Server 2008 table from a Microsoft Access .mdb file. I have been getting nothing but errors, and solving one just reveals another. I made the file into a linked server, and now when I try to query it with:

Select * from OPENQUERY(Importdata, 'Select * from [IMBPieceBC]')

I get the error:

OLE DB provider "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0" for linked server "Importdata" returned message "Cannot open database ''.  It may not be a database that your application recognizes, or the file may be corrupt.".
Msg 7303, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
Cannot initialize the data source object of OLE DB provider "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0" for linked server "Importdata".

I've read several suggestions to relink dlls in the registry, but I've done that, and I'm still getting the error. Is there anything else I can do to fix it, or at least figure out what is wrong?

Migrating the data to a SQL Server instance is not an option. The mdb files are generated by a third-party program, so there's nothing we can do about it.

Answer 1

I have a similar situation at my workplace - a third party application that maintains data in MDBs, but other applications needing access to it. How I've done it is that this 'intermediary' application has links to the SQL Server tables and the MDB tables. You could use either a query or a VBA written form event to transfer information from the MDB table(s) involved into your corresponding SQL Server tables using a INSERT INTO query, fitted with a SELECT FROM subquery providing the values being inserted.