Connecting to an encrypted MS Access database in Power BI Preview desktop

[charlesc]

Is there a particular syntax I need to use to open a password protected database? The interface is returning 'not a valid password' rather than a password prompt, so i tried amending the query string for the source in the advanced editor to:

let
    Source = Access.Database(File.Contents("R:\Databases\Membership.accdb","PWD=xxxxxxx"))
in
    Source

This was just a guess really on finding a similar syntax on an unrelated technet page. however it then returns 'expected 1 argument and found 2'. Attempting to add /PWD as a switch in the single argument is viewed as an additional file/directory.

[BeanBean]

Does anyone know if Password-protected Access database files are supported now? I also get "not a valid password"

[cw29]

Friend, I suffered... Use an OLE DB connection like this:

provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;data source=C:\PathToYourDatabase\DBAccessNameHere.accdb;jet oledb:database password=yourpasswordhere

It works! Believe me.

[pacholca01]

If you are using this in excel, you'll want to make sure the connection string is using the proper case for the parameters and that you include the ";" at the end of the connection string. You'll also want to include a SELECT statement. If your access db has table that use hypens, then you will need to change the access tables names to use underscores instead, otherwise an error will be thrown. See article for description of solution.

https://superuser.com/questions/1309052/how-to-import-password-protected-ms-access-tables-to-excel

[mllopis · Accepted solution]

Password-protected Access database files are currently not supported. Please add a vote for this in our Feature Suggestions forum if you find it's important: https://support.powerbi.com/forums/265200-power-bi

Regards,
M.