SAS software requires you to use the Microsoft Access Connectivity Engine (ACE) for connectivity to files types such as Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access when using certain database management system (DBMS) engines. If the required driver is not found, the "Connect: Class not registered" error message is returned to the SAS log. The driver might not be found for a few reasons, such as being missing entirely or being installed at a different bit architecture. 64-bit applications cannot use 32-bit drivers and vice versa. This SAS KB article describes options that you have to work around this driver issue for these scenarios: Microsoft ACE is missing, 32-Bit SAS is installed with 64-Bit Microsoft Office, and 64-Bit SAS is installed with 32-Bit Microsoft Office.
If Microsoft ACE is missing, you have the following options:
If you have 32-Bit SAS installed with 64-Bit Microsoft Office, you have the following options:
If you have 64-Bit SAS installed with 32-Bit Microsoft Office, you have the following options:
If you are working with Microsoft Excel data, you can use one of the two SAS DBMS identifiers that have no dependency on the Microsoft ACE components. You can use the DBMS=XLSX identifier with the IMPORT or EXPORT procedures and a LIBNAME statement (depending on your SAS release). Or, you can use the DBMS=XLS identifier with PROC IMPORT and PROC EXPORT. For details about these two identifiers and syntax examples, see the "Import and Export Microsoft Excel Files Using the XLS and XLSX Identifiers" section in SAS/ACCESS® 9.4 Interface to PC Files: Reference, Fourth Edition.
You can install the Microsoft ACE components independently from Microsoft Office as part of the Microsoft Acess 2013 Runtime package. You can download the runtime package directly from Microsoft. If you can, you should match the bitness of the runtime package to the bitness of SAS. However, the bitness of the runtime package must match the bitness of the installed Office package. So, if your Office package is 32-bit, the 32-bit runtime package is required, which still causes an error if you have 64-bit SAS due to the architecture mismatch. In this situation, you must use the PC Files Server to bridge the architecture mismatch. For information about the installation, administration, and usage of SAS PC Files Server, see the "Quick Start for Installation" section in SAS® 9.4 PC Files Server: Installation and Configuration Guide, Second Edition.
The PC Files Server has been developed as a bridge between 64-bit SAS and 32-bit Microsoft ACE components. You can install the 32-bit version of the PC Files Server, which communicates with the 32-bit ACE components while also communicating with 64-bit SAS. This option requires you to have administrator rights on the machine where the PC Files Server is installed, and it also requires more configuration to work correctly. For information about the installation, administration, and usage of SAS 9.4 PC Files Server, see the "Quick Start for Installation" section SAS® 9.4 PC Files Server: Installation and Configuration Guide, Second Edition.
Note: This is the only option available for working with Microsoft Access that does not require you to re-install one of the applications.
Lastly, you can re-install one of the applications to match the bitness. You can either upgrade one application to 64-bit or downgrade one application to 32-bit to avoid the mismatch. If you have 32-bit SAS, this is your only option if you need to work with Microsoft Access.