Linked Server connection with EXCEL file only works when running SSMS as Administrator

Question

I am creating a LINKED SERVER in SSMS (2018) to import an EXCEL file into my SQL instance (2019). For testing purposes I have placed the Excel file in the same directory as my DB. I am accessing SSMS with an account that has full control over the DB Directory. When I attempt the creation I get a "Cannot initialize the data source" error -- see below. An interesting twist to this is if I attempt the creation running SSMS as Administrator it is successful. Once created I am limited to SSMS run as Administrator to access it.

My goal is to access the LINKED SERVER from a stored procedure that is called from PowerShell. To do this I expect I will need a non-privileged access method.

1. Is the use of Administrator access required to create a LINKED SERVER?
2. Can a LINKED SERVER be accessed without Administrator access?

Thanks

Answer 1

After doing some additional testing I was able to resolve my issues and now have a workable powershell solution.

The major adjustment was to log into Invoke-sqlcmd using a windows account with appropriate privileges.

The Authentication issue shared in my initial request was likely due to a missing Data Source at that particular point in time.