PRB: Index Server: "ADO could not find the specified provider"

ID: Q216822

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Index Server, version 2.0
Microsoft Visual Basic Learning and Professional Editions for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0

SYMPTOMS

Using ADO in a Visual Basic application to query an Index Server might result in the following error:

ADO could not find the specified provider

CAUSE

The reason for the above error is that the Index Server OLE DB provider (MSDIXS) is not installed on the machine. This situation applies to the case where Visual Basic application resides on a machine that is remote to the queried Index Server. Index Server 2.0 can not be queried remotely using ADO and Visual Basic.

RESOLUTION

Install Index Server 2.0 from the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack. Use ADO within a Visual Basic application to query Index Server on the local machine.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

SQL Server 7.0 also installs OLE DB provider for Microsoft Index Server. However, you can not directly use the provider from a consumer such as ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) to perform a query without first installing Index Server on the same machine. You might see the following error if you run a Visual Basic ADO application that tries to open a connection using MSDIXS provider on a machine where SQL 7.0 was installed but Index Server was not:

Service is not running

REFERENCES

For additional information about Index Server, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q178849 INFO: Index Server OLEDB Provider Cannot Be Installed Separately

Q196295 INFO: Index Server and Site Server OLEDB Providers with SQL 7.0

For additional information on Index Server, refer to the Index Server documentation in the Windows NT Option Pack documentation. The chapter "SQL Access to Index Server Data" is the best reference for SQL query syntax for Index Server.

(c) Microsoft Corporation 1999, All Rights Reserved. Contributions by Ammar Abuthuraya, Microsoft Corporation.

Additional query words:


Keywords          : kbADO kbIdxServ kbVBp 
Version           : WINDOWS:2.0,5.0,6.0
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: March 11, 1999