How to Access DSN Connections

DSN connections provide all the details needed to connect to a particular database.

Data Source Name (DSN) connections are used to provide connectivity to a database using an Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) driver. A DSN connection contains information on how to connect to the database and includes things such as the username, password and database name. Windows provides a database connections manager to access, edit and delete database connections including DSN connections. Software that needs database connectivity often uses DSN connections to allow Windows to manage the database connection itself.

Instructions

1. Click "Start," then "Control Panel."

2. Click the "View by" drop-down box in the top right corner and choose "Small Icons".

3. Click on "Administrative tools" and double-click on "Data Sources (ODBC)."

4. Use the "User DSN," "System DSN" and "File DSN" tabs to access the DSN connections on your computer.

5. Click on a DSN connection and then click the "Configure" button to edit the DSN connection.

Tips & Warnings

• Be careful when editing DSN connections, particularly their names. Many software packages rely on referencing a DSN connection by its exact name and if this changes it can prevent software from accessing the database.

References

• xtelsio: Windows ODBC Manager
• msdn: ODBC Data Source Administrator

Resources

• Connection Strings: The Connection String Reference