ODBC Connections for Regular Users

  • Thread starter Thread starter M. Farrenkopf
  • Start date Start date
M

M. Farrenkopf

I looked in the FAQ and through Google for this, but didn't find anything.
Please forgive me if I've missed it (but I don't think I have). Also, if
this would be better served in an ODBC group, please let me know.

I have a Windows 2000 SP4 system that runs an application requiring an
ODBC connection. When a user logs in that is a standard user (not Power
User), the application cannot find the ODBC connection. If I upgrade
the user to Power User, then it can find and use the ODBC connection.

I believe it to be fairly obvious that this is an issue with rights or
permissions, but I'm not sure where to look -- if there is a group policy
or if this is something that can be remedied through permissions on the
file system.

We would like to set this up so that the user can be a regular user and
not require Power User privileges. If someone could direct me on where to
look to get this working, that would be great.

Thanks,
Matt
 
Hi,

If you create the DSN as a System DSN then by definition it should be
available to all users on the computer.

HTH
- Tim
 
Hi,

If you create the DSN as a System DSN then by definition it should be
available to all users on the computer.
Click to expand...

And indeed, it is set up as a System DSN. I thought this meant that it
should be available to all users, but it doesn't appear to be.

However, since you've confirmed my suspicions, that tells me there is
another permission problem somewhere that I must track down. So now it
becomes a matter of trying to figure out what files the application is
trying to access. With some Unix-based solution, I would just use
strace and watch the flow. Any suggestions for the Windows platform?

Thanks,
Matt
 
What type of database is it?
If it is file based (EG like dbase, or MS Access), then you will no doubt
need permissions to the file for the ordinary users.

Take a look at wininternals filemon program.

- Tim
 
What type of database is it?
If it is file based (EG like dbase, or MS Access), then you will no doubt
need permissions to the file for the ordinary users.

Take a look at wininternals filemon program.

- Tim
Click to expand...

Tim --

I want to thank you for your assistance in this matter. I thought it was
odd that an ODBC connection would not show up, because I thought that
system DSNs were just that -- available for everyone on the system.

Some additional investigation, using both FileMon and RegMon, isolated
the problem to several registry keys to which the program did not have
access as a regular user. Since it wasn't able to read the information
from these keys, it just displayed a blank list of databases (this is a
custom database list generated by the program, not a list generated by
Windows). Once I gave it permission to access those keys, the program
ran just fine.

But I do want to thank you for your assistance. You allowed me to bounce
ideas off of you, and you confirmed what I had thought in the first place,
which was that system DSNs are available to everybody. I do appreciate
the input you gave me in this matter.

Respectfully,

Matthew Farrenkopf
 
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