FP2002: Cannot Add System Data Source or Enter System DSN Manually

You are unable to add a system data source on a Web server as a database connection to your web by clicking Web Settings on the Tools menu.

If you attempt to browse to locate a data source, you receive the following error message: In addition, if you attempt to enter a connection string as a custom definition, the text box is not available.

This problem can occur when listing of system data source names (DSNs) has been made unavailable by assigning the value 0 to the following registry key:

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.


NOTE: The following procedure allows all client users to view all DSNs. You may not want all client users to be able view all DSNs.

1.	Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2.	Locate the ListSystemDSNs value under the following key in the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\All Ports\ListSystemDSNs NOTE: The above registry key is one path; it has been wrapped for readability.
3.	On the Edit menu, click String, type 1, and then click OK.
4.	Quit Registry Editor.

To work around this problem, follow these steps:

1.	On the client computer, start FrontPage 2002. In the Task Pane, click Web Site Templates.
2.	Select One Page Web and click OK.
3.	In the Folder list, double-click Default.htm.
4.	On the Tools menu, click Web Settings, and then click the Database tab.
5.	Click Add, select Custom definition, and then click Advanced.
6.	In the Connection string box, type the Data Source Name (DSN) that you want to use, for example, DSN=Northwind;DRIVER=(Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)), and then click OK.
7.	In the New Database Connection dialog box, click OK, and then click Verify in the Web Settings dialog box.
8.	Click Apply, and then click OK to close the Web Settings dialog box.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

When you create a database connection in FrontPage, you can normally browse to select a system data source want to use. However, in circumstances where many webs use the same server and many system DSNs exist, you may not want to allow everyone working on a web page to view all the system data sources on the server. In that situation, the server may have the following registry key set to 0, which prevents users from browsing DSNs in FrontPage: This registry setting also prevents users from typing a DSN connection string that is known to them in the Custom definition box of the New Database Connection dialog box. Despite this, you can still type a connection string yourself by using the Advanced Connection Properties as described in the "Workaround" section of this article.

Additional information on this topic is available at the following URL: