title: Connecting Office Word 7 to ODBC source in Win 7 Prof 64 bit
body: <blockquote>
    <p>Microsoft Data Link Error - Test connection failed because of an error initializing provider. Unspecified error.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I have created a User DSN ODBC source using the Win 7 ODBC Data Source Administrator with the 64 bit MySQL ODBC 5.1 driver installed and get a 'Connection Successful' response when I test that in the  MySql Connector/ODBC Data Source Configuration panel.</p>
  
  <p>Within Word I navigate to the Data Connection Wizard and choose ODBC DSN and click Next and then select the ODBC source created above, which then opens the Data Link Properties window with the 'Connection, tab active.</p>
  
  <p>On selecting the correct Data Source name, entering username, entering password and clicking 'TEST CONNECTION', I get the above error message.</p>
  
  <p>A similar procedure worked fine on a win XP Prof 32 bit laptop.</p>
  
  <p>On 26th Feb, Bob had similar problem and suggested that leaving the PROVIDER blank solved the problem. If, within the Data Link Properties window, I activate the PROVIDER tab and attempt to select the blank at the bottom, I am told that a PROVIDER must be selected.</p>
  
  <p>Advice on were I am going wrong or what else needs doing would be appreciated.</p>