How can I programmatically create a DSN?

Question

I have an Access Form that uses a linked sql server table as a datasource. I will need to distribute this file to other users soon and I need a way to programmaticly install

Answer 1

First and foremost, Albert D. Kallal is absolutely correct with his answer. If you can use a DSN-less connection, you should. However, for the sake of answering the question you asked...

ODBC DSN entries are stored in the windows registry. You can add by directly modifying the windows registry. I DO NOT recommend this if you are not familiar with the registry. You can brick a machine if you remove/alter the wrong keys. The particular keys we're looking for are located under Software/ODBC of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_CURRENT_USER, depending on whether we're looking for a System or User odbc connection respectively.

My solution is too long and involved to post in it's entirety on Stack Overflow. You can find it on my blog under VBA ODBC DSN Installer complete with class module downloads and examples of how to use them. (Full disclosure, one of them was originally written by Steve McMahon, but I have modified it for use with MS Access.)

The short version is I built a DSN class on top of Mr. McMahon's registry class in order to install DSNs when my MS Access application is started.