The “Server is not configured for DATA ACCESS” error in SQL Server is a common error when trying to run a distributed query against a server that has its data access setting disabled.
The error will have the name of the server that you’re trying to access. For example, if your server name is SQL01, the error will read something like this:
Msg 7411, Level 16, State 1, Line 1 Server 'SQL01' is not configured for DATA ACCESS.
“Data access” is a setting that enables and disables a linked server for distributed query access.
A common cause of this error is when you try to run OPENQUERY()
against the local server. If you really want to run OPENQUERY()
against the server, you’ll need to ensure data access is enabled for that server – even if it’s your local server.