When trying to use the web reports on IIS running on a 64-bit (x64) edition of Windows 2003 or 2008, I get the following error: "Provider is not specified and there is no designated default provider". How can I fix this?

Windows 2003

In order to host the web reports on a 64bit machine you will need to use a connection string to access the database and switch IIS to run in 32-bit mode.

Before you switch IIS to 32-bit mode make sure that no other applications currently running on IIS require 64-bit functionality. If there are none, execute the following two commands to switch IIS to 32-bit mode:

cscript %SYSTEMDRIVE%\inetpub\adminscripts\adsutil.vbs SET W3SVC/AppPools/Enable32bitAppOnWin64 1

%SYSTEMROOT%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe -i

This change is effective immediately, and you can switch IIS back to 64-bit mode anytime by executing the following (one line):

cscript %SYSTEMDRIVE%\inetpub\adminscripts\adsutil.vbs SET W3SVC/AppPools/Enable32bitAppOnWin64 0

%SYSTEMROOT%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe -i

It is not necessary to restart IIS.

Windows 2008

You can run IIS 7 in 64-bit mode, for as long as the database drivers you are using support 64-bit and any DSN you configured was configured using the 64-bit edition of the ODBC Administrator (%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\odbcad32.exe). For example, you need to download and install the 64-bit MySQL ODBC database driver.

Additionally, IIS 7 supports configuring separate application pools to run in 32-bit mode, while not affecting others that can remain in 64-bit mode.

In order to configure an application pool to run in 32-bit mode, follow these steps:

1. Create a new application pool, e.g. by the name of EventSentry
2. Right click on the newly created Application Pool and select Advanced Settings or select the same from the Actions pane after selecting the Application pool.
3. Change the Enable 32-bit Applications to True
4. Click OK