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FME and Microsoft Office on a 64-bit system

Liz Sanderson
Liz Sanderson
  • Updated

Symptom

If 32-bit Office drivers are installed, it will fail with the message “Plugin 'MDB_ADO' was loaded, but a reader could not be created. Error was #1: A fatal error has occurred.'” In addition, you will see the following messages in the log files:

 Trying to find a DYNAMIC plugin for reader named `MDB_ADO' Loaded module 'MDB_ADO' from file 'E:\apps\FME\plugins/FME_ADO.dll' FME API version of module 'MDB_ADO' matches current internal version (3.7 20111219) ADO Provider not installed or not compatible with FME architecture. Try installing Microsoft Access Database Engine (x64); follow this link for more information: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=13255

Cause

To read Microsoft Access databases (and Microsoft Excel files using the deprecated ADO reader), FME requires drivers supplied by Microsoft. These must match the architecture of FME (64-bit). If the drivers do not match, FME cannot use them. Note that the new Excel reader does not have this limitation.

Resolution

Install the appropriate drivers. The Office redistributable is available at https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download/details.aspx?id=54920. Please ensure you select the correct file; the 64-bit version has the suffix “x64”.

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