Upon connecting to sqlserver from Databricks getting error: Can't open lib 'ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server'

Question

Upon connecting to sqlserver from Databricks getting error: Can't open lib 'ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server'

Immaneni, Nanda 20

In our Databricks notebook:

We have done:

%python

Install the ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server

%pip install pyodbc

%pip install --upgrade 'databricks-connect>=7.3'

Then trying to connect to SQL Server using:

conn = pyodbc.connect(
        f"DRIVER={{ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server}};SERVER={myHostname};DATABASE={SQL_target_psa_copy_db};UID={myUsername};PWD={myPassword}"
    )

This is throwing Error:
Error: ('01000', "[01000] [unixODBC][Driver Manager]Can't open lib 'ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server' : file not found (0) (SQLDriverConnect)")

Smaran Thoomu 22,840 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-14T14:21:55.85+00:00
Hi @Immaneni, Nanda

The error you’re encountering typically means that while pyodbc is installed, the actual ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server is not yet available in your Databricks environment.%pip install pyodbc only installs the Python library, but the underlying native driver (ODBC Driver 17) also needs to be present on the cluster.

Solution:

For Databricks, you will need to install the ODBC driver at the cluster level using an init script, because Databricks clusters run on Linux-based environments (like Ubuntu), and the driver is a system-level dependency.

Here’s what you can do:

Create an init script to install the Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server.

Example script (install-odbc-driver.sh):

#!/bin/bash sudo apt-get update sudo ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get install -y msodbcsql17 unixodbc-dev

Upload the script to DBFS:

dbfs cp install-odbc-driver.sh dbfs:/databricks/init/install-odbc-driver.sh

Attach the init script to your cluster:

Go to your cluster configuration

Under "Advanced Options" > "Init Scripts", add the path: dbfs:/databricks/init/install-odbc-driver.sh

Restart the cluster.

Verify the driver is installed: After the cluster restarts, you can run:

!ls /opt/microsoft/msodbcsql17/lib64/bash

You should see libmsodbcsql-17.*.so listed.

Once the driver is installed, your pyodbc.connect() command should work as expected.

Alternatively, if you want to avoid installing the system-level driver manually, you can consider using SQLAlchemy with JDBC or Databricks’ native spark.read.jdbc() method, which doesn’t require installing the ODBC driver.

To help further, could you please confirm:

Are you using a shared or single-user cluster?

Is your Databricks runtime version 13.x or above?

This will help tailor the next steps!
Smaran Thoomu 22,840 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-15T11:04:08.11+00:00

@Immaneni, Nanda We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet. In case if you have any resolution please do share that same with the community as it can be helpful to others. Otherwise, will respond with more details and we will try to help.
Dileep Raj Narayan Thumula 5 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-16T09:28:54.5933333+00:00

Hello @Immaneni, Nanda,
We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet. In case if you have any resolution please do share that same with the community as it can be helpful to others. Otherwise, will respond with more details and we will try to help.

1 answer

Your answer

Smaran Thoomu 22,840 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-14T14:21:55.85+00:00

Hi @Immaneni, Nanda

The error you’re encountering typically means that while pyodbc is installed, the actual ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server is not yet available in your Databricks environment.%pip install pyodbc only installs the Python library, but the underlying native driver (ODBC Driver 17) also needs to be present on the cluster.

Solution:

For Databricks, you will need to install the ODBC driver at the cluster level using an init script, because Databricks clusters run on Linux-based environments (like Ubuntu), and the driver is a system-level dependency.

Here’s what you can do:

Create an init script to install the Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server.

Example script (install-odbc-driver.sh):

#!/bin/bash sudo apt-get update sudo ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get install -y msodbcsql17 unixodbc-dev

Upload the script to DBFS:

dbfs cp install-odbc-driver.sh dbfs:/databricks/init/install-odbc-driver.sh

Attach the init script to your cluster:

Go to your cluster configuration

Under "Advanced Options" > "Init Scripts", add the path: dbfs:/databricks/init/install-odbc-driver.sh

Restart the cluster.

Verify the driver is installed: After the cluster restarts, you can run:

!ls /opt/microsoft/msodbcsql17/lib64/bash

You should see libmsodbcsql-17.*.so listed.

Once the driver is installed, your pyodbc.connect() command should work as expected.

Alternatively, if you want to avoid installing the system-level driver manually, you can consider using SQLAlchemy with JDBC or Databricks’ native spark.read.jdbc() method, which doesn’t require installing the ODBC driver.

To help further, could you please confirm:

Are you using a shared or single-user cluster?

Is your Databricks runtime version 13.x or above?

This will help tailor the next steps!
Smaran Thoomu 22,840 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-15T11:04:08.11+00:00

@Immaneni, Nanda We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet. In case if you have any resolution please do share that same with the community as it can be helpful to others. Otherwise, will respond with more details and we will try to help.
Dileep Raj Narayan Thumula 5 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-16T09:28:54.5933333+00:00

Hello @Immaneni, Nanda,
We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet. In case if you have any resolution please do share that same with the community as it can be helpful to others. Otherwise, will respond with more details and we will try to help.

Answer 1

[unixODBC][Driver Manager]Can't open lib 'ODBC Driver 17 for SQLServer' : file not found

Happens because the ODBC driver for SQL Server is not installed by default on Databricks clusters

To install the ODBC driver on a Databricks All-Purpose Cluster, you can run the following script directly in a notebook cell using the %sh magic command:

%sh

if ! [[ "16.04 18.04 20.04 22.04" == *"$(lsb_release -rs)"* ]];

then

    echo "Ubuntu $(lsb_release -rs) is not currently supported.";

    exit;

fi

curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/microsoft.asc

curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/$(lsb_release -rs)/prod.list | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mssql-release.list

sudo apt-get update

sudo ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get install -y msodbcsql17

sudo ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get install -y mssql-tools

echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/opt/mssql-tools/bin"' >> ~/.bashrc

source ~/.bashrc

sudo apt-get install -y unixodbc-dev

Results:

enter image description here

Once the script has been executed, you can confirm that the ODBC driver was installed successfully by running the following Python code in your notebook:

%sh

odbcinst -q -d -n "ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server"

sqlcmd -?

dpkg -l | grep msodbcsql17

Results:


[ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server] Description=Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server Driver=/opt/microsoft/msodbcsql17/lib64/libmsodbcsql-17.10.so.6.1 UsageCount=1 bash: line 5: sqlcmd: command not found ii msodbcsql17 17.10.6.1-1 amd64 ODBC Driver for Microsoft(R) SQL Server(R)

Running the above Python code will display all ODBC drivers currently installed on the Databricks cluster.

Singireddi JagadishKumar 0 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-18T05:22:37.2733333+00:00

Hello @Immaneni, Nanda
Can you please check the solution provided is it helpful? or if at all facing any issue, please let us know for further assistance.
Dileep Raj Narayan Thumula 5 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-21T10:59:04.84+00:00

Hello @Immaneni, Nanda
We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet. In case if you have any resolution please do share that same with the community as it can be helpful to others. Otherwise, will respond with more details and we will try to help.
Dileep Raj Narayan Thumula 5 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-22T11:23:52.6833333+00:00

Hello @ Immaneni, Nanda,
We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet. In case if you have any resolution please do share that same with the community as it can be helpful to others. Otherwise, will respond with more details and we will try to help.

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Upon connecting to sqlserver from Databricks getting error: Can't open lib 'ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server'

Install the ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server

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