Connections to a data source can be made via a connection string without referring to a data source name (DSN-less connections). This is done by specifying the "DRIVER=" keyword instead of the "DSN=" keyword in a connection string, as outlined in the ODBC specification. A file named odbcinst.ini must exist when the driver encounters DRIVER= in a connection string.

Setup installs a default version of this file in the product installation directory (see ODBCINST for details about relocating and renaming this file). This is a plain text file that contains default DSN-less connection information. You should not normally need to edit this file. The content of this file is divided into several sections.

At the beginning of the file is a section named [ODBC Drivers] that lists installed drivers, for example,

DataDirect Sybase Wire Protocol=Installed.

This section also includes additional information for each driver.

The final section of the file is named [ODBC]. The [ODBC] section in the odbcinst.ini file fulfills the same purpose in DSN-less connections as the [ODBC] section in the odbc.ini file does for data source connections. See Data Source Configuration Through the System Information (odbc.ini) File for a description of the other keywords this section.

Note: The odbcinst.ini file and the odbc.ini file include an [ODBC] section. If the information in these two sections is not the same, the values in the odbc.ini [ODBC] section override those of the odbcinst.ini [ODBC] section.