I am trying to access xls file from the disk from sql server stored proc, it is working perfectly in dev. enviornment (win xp (x86) / SQL server 2008) but it provides me error as
Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0' provider is not registered on the local machine
There is no 64-bit Jet OLE DB Provider. From Microsoft Connect:
The behavior you described is expected. If your application runs in 64-bit mode, all of the components it uses must also be 64-bit. There is no 64-bit Jet OLE DB Provider, so you get the message described. You would receive a similar error when trying to connect to a database using OLE DB or ODBC if there is no 64-bit version of the specified OLE DB provider or ODBC driver.
You can install a 32-bit version of Sql Server on a 64-bit Windows operating system. The 32-bit version would be able to use the JET OLE DB provider.
To my surprise, I have been unable to find an alternative OLE DB driver that allows you to read Excel files in 64 bit mode. Hopefully I'm missing something, this would be a failure nearing 1.0 on the Vista scale.