"Operation must use an updateable query" error in MS Access - ms-access

Question

I am getting an error message: "Operation must use an updateable query" when I try to run my SQL. From my understanding, this happens when joins are used in update/delete queries in MS Access. However, I'm a little confused because I have another query almost identical in my database which works fine.
This is my troublesome query:
UPDATE [GS] INNER JOIN [Views] ON
([Views].Hostname = [GS].Hostname)
AND ([GS].APPID = [Views].APPID)
SET
[GS].APPID = [Views].APPID,
[GS].[Name] = [Views].[Name],
[GS].Hostname = [Views].Hostname,
[GS].[Date] = [Views].[Date],
[GS].[Unit] = [Views].[Unit],
[GS].[Owner] = [Views].[Owner];
As I said before, I am confused because I have another query similar to this, which runs perfectly. This is that query:
UPDATE [Views] INNER JOIN [GS] ON
[Views].APPID = [GS].APPID
SET
[GS].APPID = [Views].APPID,
[GS].[Name] = [Views].[Name],
[GS].[Criticial?] = [Views].[Criticial?],
[GS].[Unit] = [Views].[Unit],
[GS].[Owner] = [Views].[Owner];
What is wrong with my first query? Why does the second query work when the first doesn't?

Answer 1

There is no error in the code, but the error is thrown due to the following:
- Please check whether you have given Read-write permission to MS-Access database file.
- The Database file where it is stored (say in Folder1) is read-only..?
suppose you are stored the database (MS-Access file) in read only folder, while running your application the connection is not force-fully opened. Hence change the file permission / its containing folder permission like in C:\Program files all most all c drive files been set read-only so changing this permission solves this Problem.

Answer 2

Whether this answer is universally true or not, I don't know, but I solved this by altering my query slightly.
Rather than joining a select query to a table and processing it, I changed the select query to create a temporary table. I then used that temporary table to the real table and it all worked perfectly.

Answer 3

I had the same error when was trying to update linked table.
The issue was that linked table had no PRIMARY KEY.
After adding primary key constraint on database side and re linking this table to access problem was solved.
Hope it will help somebody.

Answer 4

I had the same problem exactly, and I can't remember how I fond this solution but simply adding DISTINCTROW solved the problem.
In your code it will look like this:
UPDATE DISTINCTROW [GS] INNER JOIN [Views] ON <- the only change is here
([Views].Hostname = [GS].Hostname)
AND ([GS].APPID = [Views].APPID)
...
I'm not sure why this works, but for me, it did exactly what I needed.

Answer 5

To update records, you need to write changes to .mdb file on disk. If your web/shared application can't write to disk, you can't update existing or add new records. So, enable read/write access in database folder or move database to other folder where your application has write permission....for more detail please check:
http://www.beansoftware.com/ASP.NET-FAQ/Operation-Must-Use-An-Updateable-Query.aspx

Answer 6

set permission on application directory solve this issue with me
To set this permission, right click on the App_Data folder (or whichever other folder you have put the file in) and select Properties. Look for the Security tab. If you can't see it, you need to go to My Computer, then click Tools and choose Folder Options.... then click the View tab. Scroll to the bottom and uncheck "Use simple file sharing (recommended)". Back to the Security tab, you need to add the relevant account to the Group or User Names box. Click Add.... then click Advanced, then Find Now. The appropriate account should be listed. Double click it to add it to the Group or User Names box, then check the Modify option in the permissions. That's it. You are done.

Answer 7

I used a temp table and finally got this to work. Here is the logic that is used once you create the temp table:
UPDATE your_table, temp
SET your_table.value = temp.value
WHERE your_table.id = temp.id

Answer 8

I got this same error and using a primary key did not make a difference. The issue was that the table is a linked Excel table. I know there are settings to change this but my IT department has locked this so we cant change it. Instead, I created a make table from the linked table and used that instead in my Update Query and it worked. Note, any queries in your query that are also linked to the same Excel linked table will cause the same error so you will need to change these as well so they are not directly linked to the Excel linked table. HTH

Answer 9

This is a shot in the dark but try putting the two operands for the AND in parentheses
On ((A = B) And (C = D))

Answer 10

I was accessing the database using UNC path and occasionally this exception was thrown. When I replaced the computer name with IP address, the problem was suddenly resolved.

Answer 11

You have to remove the IMEX=1 if you want to update. ;)
"IMEX=1; tells the driver to always read "intermixed" (numbers, dates, strings etc) data columns as text. Note that this option might affect excel sheet write access negative."
https://www.connectionstrings.com/excel/

Answer 12

UPDATE [GS] INNER JOIN [Views] ON
([Views].Hostname = [GS].Hostname)
AND ([GS].APPID = [Views].APPID) <------------ This is the difference
SET
[GS].APPID = [Views].APPID,
[GS].[Name] = [Views].[Name],
[GS].Hostname = [Views].Hostname,
[GS].[Date] = [Views].[Date],
[GS].[Unit] = [Views].[Unit],
[GS].[Owner] = [Views].[Owner];