MS Access DB Engine (32-bit) with Office 64-bit

Question

We currently have a major issue using Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010. The engine comes in 64-bit and 32-bit forms, which is good. However, apparently you need to alwa

Answer 1

Here's a workaround for installing the 64-bit version of the Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 redistributable on a system with a 32-bit MS Office version installed:

• Check the 64-bit registry key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Common\FilesPaths" before installing the 64-bit version of the Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 redistributable.
• If it does not contain the "mso.dll" registry value, then you will need to rename or delete the value after installing the 64-bit version of the Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 redistributable on a system with a 32-bit version of MS Office installed.
• Use the "/passive" command line parameter to install the redistributable, e.g. "C:\directory path\AccessDatabaseEngine_x64.exe" /passive
• Delete or rename the "mso.dll" registry value, which contains the path to the 64-bit version of MSO.DLL (and should not be used by 32-bit MS Office versions).

Now you can start a 32-bit MS Office application without the "re-configuring" issue. Note that the "mso.dll" registry value will already be present if a 64-bit version of MS Office is installed. In this case the value should not be deleted or renamed.

Also if you do not want to use the "/passive" command line parameter you can edit the AceRedist.msi file to remove the MS Office architecture check:

• download and install Microsoft Orca: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa370557(v=vs.85).aspx
• unzip the AccessDatabaseEngine.exe or AccessDatabaseEngine_x64.exe file
• open the AceRedist.msi file in Orca
• search for two table rows containing the "CheckOfficeArchitecture" action and drop these rows
• save the updated AceRedist.msi file

You can now use this file to install the Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 redistributable on a system where a "conflicting" version of MS Office is installed (e.g. 64-bit version on system with 32-bit MS Office version) Make sure that you rename the "mso.dll" registry value as explained above (if needed).