Supporting 32-Bit Microsoft Access Databases With 64-Bit Mentor Applications

To support 32-bit Microsoft Access with 64-bit Mentor applications, users who host their library parametric data in Microsoft Access in 32-bit versions of Office 2010/2013 must update their ODBC drivers to 64-bit. This topic explains how to install 64-bit ODBC drivers side by side with 32-bit drivers.

To use Mentor’s 64-bit version of Databook with the 32-bit version of Microsoft Access, install the Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 and then set up the Database DSN.

Prerequisites

You have 32-bit Microsoft Office installed.
You uninstalled previous versions of the Microsoft Access Database Engine executable.
You intend on having PADS 64-bit applications VX.2.x.

Procedure

Go to the Microsoft web site at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=13255 and click Download.
Choose the AccessDatabaseEngine_X64.exe executable and click Next to download the file.
Run the file from a command window with the /passive option.
Once you have installed the new ODBC driver, configure the Database DSN using the 64-bit ODBC Data Source Administrator application by running C:\Windows\System32\odbcad32.exe.
Note:
If you have an existing 32-bit DSN and want to reestablish the same DSN name with the 64-bit driver, you must first remove the 32-bit DSN using the 32-bit ODBC Data Source Administrator. Run C:\Windows\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe.
After you create the 64-bit DSN, you should see an entry similar to the figure below where the source shows both 32-bit and 64-bit support. Click OK.

Results

Your existing database connections in your Xpedition, PADS Professional, or PADS projects should work as normal, whether running 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Mentor tools.