Using post SP2 SQL 7 (+ 2000 etc) attempting to access an OLEDB data source using OPENROWSET can produce the slightly spurious error: Ad hoc access to OLE DB provider 'MSDASQL' has been denied. You must access this provider through a linked server. In usual Microsoft style the message doesn't really mean what it says. From SQL 7 SP2 onwards MS by default blocked ad hoc query access with OLEDB. As the message suggests you could setup a linked server but that can be a real pain. Alternatively if you need ad hoc access server wide you could turn on ad hoc access for the SQL server you are using, explained in MS speak here: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=266008 Ah, but it's not that simple. A little more witchcraft is required. The following registry settings can be used to enable ad hoc access: REGEDIT4 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\Providers] "DisallowAdhocAccess"=dword:00000000 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLSer
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