Visio Professional 2019 Currently selected visio driver is not compatible with data source.

Question

I am using brand new copy of Visio Professional 2019, and SQL Server version 15.0.2080.9, both installed on a stand-alone Windows 10 machine. I am using the Reverse Engineering wizard. No matter what ODBC driver I select, or what level DSN it is defined, I get the error "Visio Driver is not compatible with data source". I have updated the SQL Server ODBC driver to version 2017.177.02.01 dated 3/4/2021. I have an existing Microsoft 365 subscription. My second test was to sign up for Plan 2, and download that version of Visio, and get exactly the same error in the exact same place of the process. All the google hits and previous questions/answers are for Visio and/or SQL Server editions that are earlier versions.

Answer 1

I hope that this helps someone who is out here stumbling around trying to figure this out. After a day and a half of this, I thought I would share this solution or workaround, rather.

OK, so I couldn't wait on a solution to fall out of the sky, haha, so I kept looking at what I found and finally worked it out after re-reading the documentation page here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/reverse-engineer-an-existing-database-into-a-database-model-fb034862-acfc-45bc-88b2-f33d1e1f8614

I decided on a whim to try to connect using the ODBC Generic Driver instead of the one for SQL Server. I had already set up the data source using a SQL Server ODBC Driver (native 11) - after a lot of rigamarole. I used the Generic ODBC Driver in the connection action in Reverse Engineer and despite it flagging a warning, it worked.

Not sure why this is not a smoother operation, but then anything involving ODBC never has been! It might depend on what version of SQL you are running as to which ODBC driver you use to set up the data source. Once the source connection is tested, it's fair to say that it works. It really isn't intuitive that you need to use a different ODBC Driver (the Generic one) in the Reverse Engineering operation.

Indeed this takes me back to the old days about 20 years ago of messing around with ODBC drivers. Finicky as they are, once you get them to work, take notes on what you did for the next time so you'll know what to do.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Hi @jchatton1 ,
Did you install other version of Visio before?
I suggest you try to check if you have other version of Visio license in PC:

1. Open Command Prompt as an Administrator
2. Type cscript "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office16\"ospp.vbs /dstatus or cscript "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Office\Office16\"ospp.vbs /dstatus

Note: The opss.vbs script is located in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16 folder. If you installed the 32-bit version of Office on a 64-bit operating system, go to the C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16 folder. For Office 2016, Office 365 and Office 2019, the name of folder is Office16. Press Enter.

As the article said: The Database Model Diagram template lets you create a database model from an existing database. This template is available in the Visio app for those with Visio Plan 2 or a Visio 2019 license. If you're not sure what version of Visio you're using, click File > Account > About Visio.

You can provide the result here and I'm glad to help you check it.

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Answer 3

I was getting the same error as above on Visio, trying to connect to MS SQL Server 2019. Above solution from @IntegraShare (Thank You!) worked.

Visio tech team should look into this.