User access to Linked Server

[BettyN]

We have a user who is trying to access data from a linked Server (SQL Server 2012) via a Crystal Reports Viewer and/or Excel. The user cannot access this data unless we make her a member of the Domain Administrators. There is obviously a permission issue but I can't determine exactly where it is.

Thanks for your help.
Betty

[Wendell]

You probably need to set explicit permissions in SQL Server for that user to be able to connect to the database - unless you already have a group defined that includes that userID. Presumably the Domain Administrators have explict permission to connect the database - but are also likely to be able to edit, delete and also administer the database. SQL Server security is a substantial subject and too large to dive into here, but the DBA who is responsible for the database should be able to set the appropriate permissions for the user - hopefully you are using Integrated Security so that all that needs to be done is to give the userID for the network the ability to read (but not to write or administer) the necessary tables.

If this turns out to be a SQL Server Express 2012 installation where you don't have a DBA available, you will want to start learning about SQL Server Management Studio. We can answer specific questions and hopefully lead you through the process.

[BettyN]

Thanks, Wendell. The user does have explicit permissions to the database. The error she receives is "Failed to retrieve data from the database. Database vendor code 7303 and 7412."

[Wendell]

That seems to suggest that you may have a network connection issue of some sort. There are various reports on both of those error codes that are relate to network connectivity and driver compatibility problems. Do you have a User DSN defined on that workstation so that you could test another product connecting to the same data? If the issue were just with Crystal Reports I would be looking at it's connection properties, but if Excel cannot connect then that's a bit of a mystery. Assuming that ODBC is involved in some fashion, you might try creating a simple Access database and try to create a linked table to the data in question. (I'm making an assumption that you are dealing with either a table or a view.)

You might also look at the SQL Server driver - for 2012 we've had the best results using Native Client 11.0 - though it seems unlikely that would affected by the groups the member has.