Enable Ad Hoc Distributed Queries (OPENROWSET) On SQL Server 2005

By default Ad Hoc Distributed Queries are disabled on SQL server 2005

If you try to run OPENROWSET you will get this error message

Server: Msg 15281, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
SQL Server blocked access to STATEMENT 'OpenRowset/OpenDatasource' of component 'Ad Hoc Distributed Queries' because this component is turned off as part of the security configuration for this server. A system administrator can enable the use of 'Ad Hoc Distributed Queries' by using sp_configure. For more information about enabling 'Ad Hoc Distributed Queries', see "Surface Area Configuration" in SQL Server Books Online.


To enable it do this

EXECUTE sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
GO

EXECUTE sp_configure 'Ad Hoc Distributed Queries', '1'
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
GO

EXECUTE sp_configure 'show advanced options', 0
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
GO