Setting up an ODBC Data Connection in Microsoft Windows

Someday you may find yourself needing to set up an ODBC data connection in Windows.  Depending on your reporting tool and the database you need to access, on ODBC connection may be required to connect your database to the reporting tool.  This can feel overwhelming, but it is actually straightforward and only a few steps.

In Microsoft Windows, you need to open the Control Panel.  Depending on your version of Windows, there are different ways to do that.   In Windows 8, you will find it under Settings in the right-side menu.

Once your Control Panel is Open, double-click on Administrator Tools.  

In the Administrator Tools window, you will see “ODBC Data Sources”.  If you are using later versions of Windows, you will have to choose either 32 bit or 64 bit.  Double-click to choose the one you need.

In the ODBC Data Source Administrator window, click the Add button.

Next, you will see a list of available drivers.  In this case, this PC has only one driver available, for SQL Server.  You will want to select the driver that matches the type of data you need to access.  Select the driver, and click Finish.

Next you will need to tell Windows where to find the data.  The name of the data source should match the name of the database in most cases.  Select the server from the dropdown list.  Click Next.

If you have a single-sign-on using Windows authentication to access the data, select use Windows.  If not, select  authentication specifically for that database and enter the User ID and Password below.  Some databases may not require authentication at all.  Click Next

Clicking next will test the connection and will let you know if any errors occur.  The next step is to use your new ODBC connection in your software.  If you have any issues going forward, come back to the ODBC Data Source Administrator in Control Panel, select the source and choose Configure to modify the settings.

Wishing you happy database reporting!!