[German]Microsoft believe they have fixed the ODBC connection issue on SQL databases with the January 10, 2023 security updates for Windows. But I received a report that there are still issues with Access. In addition, I have received a report that the January 2023 updates for the C2R versions of Microsoft Office 2016 and 2019 also cause issues with Access and SQL database access.
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Microsoft and accessing SQL databases via ODBC drivers are not a happy combination. In 2022 alone, there were several incidents where the ODBC connection caused problems (see links at the end of the article). Since the release of the November 2022 updates, there may be problems accessing SQL databases.
I had reported in the blog post Windows: November 2022 updates cause ODBC connection problems with SQL databases. Later the problem was confirmed by Microsoft – where as a workaround there was the possibility to install the old SQL driver version 17 and delete the old ODBC connection (see my post Windows: Microsoft Workaround for ODBC SQL connection issues (Jan. 5, 2023)). However, there is also this German comment that driver replacement does not always work.
Problem should be fixed
However, with the January 2023 updates for Windows (see, for example, Patchday: Windows 10 Updates (January 10, 2023)), Microsoft claims to have fixed this SQL connection issue via the ODBC driver and says:
This update addresses a known issue that affects apps that use Microsoft Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) SQL Server Driver (sqlsrv32.dll) to connect to databases. The connection might fail. You might also receive an error in the app, or you might receive an error from the SQL Server.
This information can be found in the updates for different Windows versions. I assumed when writing the posts that the problem was really fixed.
A reader reports problems
In a comment left on January 11, 2023, German blog reader Hans Dampf wrote that for his environment the ODBC driver error still exists. Upon further inquiry, the reader added:
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The connection that was a trusted connection before the brick is no longer. Concerns a few Access applications for users to generate reports.
The reader also confirmed that the workaround described above, in the form of switching to ODBC driver version 17 for the SQL servers works.
Office 2016 / 2019 C2R also affected
On Facebook over the weekend, Rolf from German RPF Computer got in touch in a personal message to report that there are massive issues with Access accessing MS SQL databases with the January update (both are click-2-run versions) of Office 2016 and 2019. On his German company's Facebook page, he posted:
ATTENTION: Error in Office 2016 and 2019 with version numbers 2212, build 15928.20216.
In the above mentioned version for Office 2016 and 2019 (dated 04 January 2023), at least under Access, there is an error when accessing SQL databases.
Access aborts when connecting to the SQL server with the error that the table name would not exist or contains invalid characters.
Rolf told me that on his computer only a rollback and disabling the automatic updates helped. On the Facebook page it says:
At the moment we see neither a hotfix nor a workaround to fix the problem with the latest update. Also the update of the ODBC driver does not bring success.
If you are also affected by this problem, the only solution is to deactivate the automatic updates in Office and roll back to version 2211 (build 15831.20208).
At this point my thanks to the readers for these hints. Question: Has anyone else experienced these SQL database problems with Microsoft Access?
Similar articles:
Microsoft Office Updates (January 3, 2022)
Microsoft Security Update Summary (January 10, 2023)
Patchday: Windows 10 Updates (January 10, 2023)
Patchday: Windows 11/Server 2022 Updates (January 10, 2023)
Windows 7/Server 2008 R2; Windows 8.1/Server 2012 R2: Updates (January 10, 2023)
Patchday: Microsoft Office Updates (January 10, 2023)
Windows: November 2022 updates cause ODBC connection problems with SQL databases
Windows: Microsoft Workaround for ODBC SQL connection issues (Jan. 5, 2023)
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Since around 15/1/23, after Office update 2212, I effectively get errors creating DNSless connections from MS Access to SQL server (error 3125) using CurrentDB.CreateTableDef method.