Lyle U from the Microsoft Dynamics GP Newsgroup had such a great tip last week that I have to include it as this week's Weekly Dynamic. He describes how to create two .reg files that you can then put on a shared drive or send to users to allow them to create their GP ODBC connection just by running the files. With this and Client Update, it's becoming MUCH easier to manage your Dynamics GP installs and updates. This is why you need visit the Newsgroup!
Here's how:
Rather than actually creating a DSN on every workstation. you can
easily create the DSN by importing registry entries. This method is
much quicker, and ensures the DSN is identical on all workstations.
1. Create the first DSN normally. (Video)
2. Go to Run and run "regedit" to open the registry editor.
3. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC\odbc.ini and locate the DSN you created. Click on the DSN name to highlight it.
4. On the Registry Editor menu, click Registry > Export. Path the file
to a shared folder on the server (I usually create a folder under the
Install Template called "ODBC"), and name the file a name you will
recognize. Be sure to leave the extension as "reg." (ODBC1.REG)
5. Still at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC\odbc.ini\ and click on ODBC Data Sources.
6. On the Registry Editor menu, click Registry > Export. Path the file
to the same shared folder on the server used in step 4, and name the
file a name you will recognize. (I usually call it "ODBC.reg.") Be sure
to leave the extension as "reg." (ODBC2.REG)
7. On each subsequent workstation install, simply double click each of the .REG files, and answer Yes to allow it to write to the registry.
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