OLE DB provider 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0' reported an error. The provider did not give any information about the error.

When you have an excel file open and you are trying to open it with OPENROWSET you will get this error

Server: Msg 7399, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
OLE DB provider 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0' reported an error. The provider did not give any information about the error.
OLE DB error trace [OLE/DB Provider 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0' IDBInitialize::Initialize returned 0x80004005: The provider did not give any information about the error.].

So make sure that the file is not open by you or anyone else

OPENROWSET And Excel Problems

Create an excel sheet
In the first 2 rows put some data, save the excel sheet as testing.xls on the c drive
Execute the command below
SELECT * FROM OPENROWSET( 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0',
'Excel 8.0;Database=C:\testing.xls','SELECT * FROM [Sheet1$]')

You will see 1 row since the first row will be used for header names
If you want 2 rows you need to add HDR=No like this
SELECT * FROM OPENROWSET( 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0',
'Excel 8.0;Database=C:\testing.xls;HDR=NO','SELECT * FROM [Sheet1$]')


Run the following OPENROWSET command
SELECT * FROM OPENROWSET( 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0',
'Excel 8.0;Database=SS:\testing.xls','SELECT * FROM [Sheet1$]')

The path can't be found (SS) you will get this error
Server: Msg 7399, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
OLE DB provider 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0' reported an error. The provider did not give any information about the error.
OLE DB error trace [OLE/DB Provider 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0' IDBInitialize::Initialize returned 0x80004005: The provider did not give any information about the error.].


Run the following OPENROWSET command
SELECT * FROM OPENROWSET( 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0',
'Excel 8.0;Database=C:\testing2.xls','SELECT * FROM [Sheet1$]')

When you spell the filename (testing2) wrong you get this error
Server: Msg 7399, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
OLE DB provider 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0' reported an error.
[OLE/DB provider returned message: The Microsoft Jet database engine could not find the object 'Sheet1$'. Make sure the object exists and that you spell its name and the path name correctly.]
OLE DB error trace [OLE/DB Provider 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0' IColumnsInfo::GetColumnsInfo returned 0x80004005: ].

Run the following OPENROWSET command
SELECT * FROM OPENROWSET( 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0',
'Excel 8.0;Database=C:\testing.xls','SELECT * FROM [Sheet11$]')

When you spell the sheet name (Sheet11) wrong you get this error
Server: Msg 7357, Level 16, State 2, Line 1
Could not process object 'Select * from [Sheet11$]'. The OLE DB provider 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0' indicates that the object has no columns.
OLE DB error trace [Non-interface error: OLE DB provider unable to process object, since the object has no columnsProviderName='Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0', Query=Select * from [P2 2003 DJIA updates$]'].

Run the following OPENROWSET command
SELECT * FROM OPENROWSET( 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0',
'Excel 8.0;Database=D:\testing.xls','SELECT * FROM [Sheet1$]')

When you type the wrong path (D) but the path exists, then you get this error
Server: Msg 7399, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
OLE DB provider 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0' reported an error. The provider did not give any information about the error.
OLE DB error trace [OLE/DB Provider 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0' IDBInitialize::Initialize returned 0x80004005: The provider did not give any information about the error.].

So hopefully the next time you get an error you can quickly figure out if it's the file name, sheet name or path name that is wrong

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