I went to test an app on a fresh install of W8 64bit with Access 2013 32bit and an error message within Access reminded me that I need to install the correct SQL Server drivers in order to connect via the SQL Server Native Client 11.0 ODBC driver.

Here is the error message. It can be a little different depending on your connection string and where the connection string is placed.

ODBC--connection to 'SQL Server Native Client 11.0servername.database.windows.net' failed.
When I went to look for the download link, I had a hard time finding it. I started to remember how there used to be a specific download for "Microsoft SQL Server Native Client (SNAC)" and that had changed to SQL Server Feature Pack or something...



Well I found the link I used to use, the one for Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012 Feature Pack and it was not working. Since I was trying to connect to a DB on SQL server 2014, I figured I would search for the 2014 Feature Pac. But, I could not find the correct file in the 2014 Feature Pack. Or, maybe I skipped over it. Anyway, I ended up using the following...

Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012 SP2 Feature Pack
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downl....aspx?id=43339

and went after the sqlncli file. I used the 64bit version (ENU\x64\sqlncli.msi); there is a 32bit version also.