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Uninstall SQL drivers

Susja 716 Reputation points
2020-08-22T04:30:41.507+00:00

Hello,
On my laptop in ODBC console I see 3 SQL drivers installed:
19701-drives.png

The only driver that I need is SQL Server Native Client 11.0.
I have to un-install 2 other drivers.
In 'Un-install' feature I see the following:
19622-un-install.png

My question: how could I know which apps in Un-install console correspond to 2 drivers that I want to remove.
Thanks

SQL Server
SQL Server
A family of Microsoft relational database management and analysis systems for e-commerce, line-of-business, and data warehousing solutions.
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  1. Erland Sommarskog 106.8K Reputation points
    2020-08-22T08:46:48.537+00:00

    I tend to agree with Shanky that you should leave things as they are. But if you don't want SQL Server Native Client 10, you can uninstall SQL Server 2008 R2 Native Client. I can't guarantee that something that use will not break if you do, though.

    You cannot uninstall the one only called "SQL Server", because that very old driver comes with the OS.

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  2. Susja 716 Reputation points
    2020-08-22T11:39:33.497+00:00

    Hi Folks,
    Thanks for replying
    I do have an issue with those 2 drivers. I have an app that connects to sql database. It stopped connecting recently. Connection settings are not accessible to me. Hence I installed the latest driver I.e. ...11.0 yesterday. Using two previous drivers I.e. SQL and ...10.0 I was not able to establish ODBC connection. But using ...11.0 I was able to connect to database.
    Hence I wanted to un-install SQL and ...10.0 and leave only one which is working.
    Assumption is that my app will have only one working driver and connect to database.
    Any other suggestions would be appreciated
    Thanks

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  3. Erland Sommarskog 106.8K Reputation points
    2020-08-22T13:10:30.64+00:00

    If you installed a new driver without changing the connection string, the application is using the same driver. If you uninstall the driver the the application is using, it will stop working.

    What error message did you get when it stopped connecting?

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  4. Susja 716 Reputation points
    2020-08-22T14:33:09.327+00:00

    Look .. as I said earlier I do have access to configuration file that defines database name and credentials but it does not have explicitly type of driver to use. Hence I assume that app uses either default driver or it's somehow coded is sources.
    Anyway .. since I was able to connect using SQL Server Native Client 11.0 it gave me a hope that I could fix the issue. Unfortunately app still fails to connect. My goal is to force the app to use only one existing driver.
    The error I've got when I start app is "Unable to connect to database". This error is defined in configuration file in case app failed to connect.
    In order to troubleshoot the issue I installed MS SQL Studio and tried to use the same connection string as defined in configuration file ( just to see the real error).
    I will attach the error.
    Thanks again ..19624-capture.png

  5. Susja 716 Reputation points
    2020-08-22T17:02:37.733+00:00
    • Dan Guzman
      It looks that you were right. Symptoms described in the article resemble the issue I have.
      I will ask admin to look into it.
      Thanks a lot