Tricks for Using ODBC Drivers to Access Paradox Tables

Contributed by Allen Mulvey

07 June 2003

Want to use ODBC to access Paradox tables? Check out these tips on how to use the Intersolv and MS ODBC drivers for Paradox tables.Tricks for Using ODBC Drivers to Access Paradox Tables
© 2003 Allen Mulvey

Preface

When using ODBC drivers to access Paradox tables (with IIS, for example), the following error can occur:

#Error Type:

Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers (0x80004005)
[MERANT][ODBC Paradox driver][Paradox]Network initialization failed.

This article covers how to avoid this problem.

Configuring the ODBC Driver

The above error usually means the IIS user can't access the Network Control Folder (NetDir). Check both the share permissions and the NTFS security settings. The IIS user needs to modify the .net file and create lock files in the database folder. Also be sure the IIS user is pointing to the same NetDir that everyone else is using.

This error references the Merant (Intersolv) driver. The Microsoft driver has some other issues. The Microsoft driver insists on using mapped drives for network shares but these mappings don't exist when no one is logged on to the server. To resolve this, I go into the registry under [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC] and make sure the following keys have UNC values rather than mapped drives: (Note: You do not need to double the backslashes if entering directly into regedit; only if you merge from a .REG file.)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC\odbc.ini\YourDSNName\Engines\Paradox]
"ParadoxNetPath"="\\\\servername\\netdir"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC\odbc.ini\YourDSNName]
"DefaultDir"="\\\\servername\\tableFolder"

This is not a problem with the Intersolv driver as it will accept UNC names directly.

Other ODBC-Related articles

Using ColdFusion with Paradox Tables

Using ODBC Data Sources

Accessing an ODBC Data Source from Paradox

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