How to create Microsoft Access database in C# programmatically?

Question

How do you create a Microsoft Access database file in C# if it does not exist yet?

Answer 1

You can use the CreateDatabase method in the DAO / ACE library (it's installed with Office, or available for download from here).

// using Microsoft.Office.Interop.Access.Dao;
// using static Microsoft.Office.Interop.Access.Dao.DatabaseTypeEnum;

const string dbLangGeneral = ";LANGID=0x0409;CP=1252;COUNTRY=0";

var engine = new DBEngine();
var dbs = engine.CreateDatabase(@"c:\path\to\database.accdb", dbLangGeneral, dbVersion120);
dbs.Close();
dbs = null;

Note that depending on the version of Access/Jet you want your database to support, you can use other values from the DatabaseTypeEnum enum:

• dbVersion10
• dbVersion11
• dbVersion20
• dbVersion30
• dbVersion40
• dbVersion120
• dbVersion140
• dbVersion150

Also note that you can choose to encrypt the database, or select a different collation.

NB: If you have a 64-bit machine, and want to run the code as part of a 64-bit program, you'll need the 64-bit version of the engine. If you already have the 32-bit version installed (either via Office, or via the download), you'll have to run the 64-bit installer with the /passive and /silent flags; otherwise you'll get a message that you can't install 64-bit components over previously installed 32-bit components.