Summary
This article describes the latest versions of Microsoft Analysis Services OLE DB Provider for Microsoft SQL Server (MSOLAP) and where you can download the providers.
Microsoft Excel uses MSOLAP to connect to Microsoft SQL Server. However, Excel cannot connect to a SQL Server Analysis Services database if an incorrect version of MSOLAP is used. For example, Excel 2010 cannot use Analysis Services OLE DB Provider for SQL Server 2008 R2 (MSOLAP.4) to retrieve data from a Microsoft SQL Server 2012 cube. To retrieve the data, Excel 2010 must use Analysis Services OLE DB Provider for SQL Server 2012 (MSOLAP.5) instead.
Note If you want to connect to SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1 (SP1), you have to upgrade the provider to the latest version of MSOLAP.5. You can obtain the corresponding providers and drivers for SQL Server from the feature pack for each version of SQL Server.
The providers for SQL Server are backward compatible. Therefore, if a provider tries to retrieve data from a data source server, and the version of the data source server corresponds to a version of the provider that is later than the version of the provider that is installed, the provider may experience certain issues. However, if the version of the data source server corresponds to a version of the provider that is earlier than the version of the provider that is installed, the provider can retrieve data from the data source server. We recommend that you install the version of MSOLAP that matches the latest version of the data source server that you are using.
Note Some features that are supported in later versions of SQL Server may not be available in versions of Excel that are not written specifically to take advantage of the features.
To connect to SQL Server Analysis Services, download the appropriate version of MSOLAP for your operating system. To determine which version of MSOLAP you are using, check the version number of the msolapxxx.dll file on your system. To do this, right-click msolapxxx.dll, and then check the version number in the Details tab in the Properties menu.
Note xxxrepresents the version number of MSOLAP. For example, the version number may be 100 (Msolap100.dll) for MSOLAP.4 and 110 (Msolap110.dll) for MSOLAP.5.
To connect to SQL Server relational databases, we recommend that you download the appropriate Microsoft SQL Native Client instead of using the old Microsoft/Windows Data Access Components (MDAC/WDAC) drivers for your operating system. To determine which version of SQL Server Native Client that you have installed on your system, follow the steps that are described earlier in this article to check the version of the sqlnclixx.dll file.
More Information
To obtain the latest feature packs for SQL Server, go to the Microsoft Download Center.
Note You can obtain the corresponding providers and drivers for SQL Server from these websites.
