How To Read From A 32 Bit .mdb With 64 Bit Python And Odbc Driver

Hello again community, I'm looking for a solution to 32 bit .mdb's conflicting with my 64 bit environment: 64 bit Windows 7, with a 64 bit MS Access Database driver running 64 bit

Solution 1:

Access database files (.mdb, .accdb) are not architecture-specific; there is no such thing as a "32-bit .mdb file" or a "64-bit .accdb file". There are 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the Access Database Engine (and drivers, etc.) but the database files they produce are identical.

You are receiving the

Cannot open a database created with a previous version of your application.

error because your version of the Access Database Engine no longer supports the version (not "bitness") of the database file you are trying to use. If you are using the Access Database Engine for Access_2013 or newer then your file format must be for Access_97 or older. If you are using the Access Database Engine from Access_2010 then the format of the file you are trying to use is super-old (likely Access_2.0).

As you seem to have noticed, we can still work with older database files using the legacy "Jet" database engine that ships with Windows (Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)) but it is a 32-bit driver and there is no 64-bit version.