Will arcpy.MakeFeatureLayer_management work with a personal geodatabase?

Question

I'm working in 10.2.2 and running this stand alone in Idle.

The script is very simple:

import arcpy

arcpy.MakeFeatureLayer_management('D:/SWB/SWB_grid_builder_eq_area2.mdb/precip_sites_yr', 'test')

The feature class is just fine and works in ArcMap. I even created a new mdb and new FC to make sure that it is the right version.

It works ok with gdb feature classes, but when I point it at an mdb as above it gives me:

ERROR 000732: Input Features: Dataset D: /SWB/SWB_grid_builder_eq_area2.mdb/precip_sites_yr does not exist or is not supportedFailed to execute (MakeFeatureLayer).

Anybody know what is going on?

DerekRyter · Answer

Solved it!! personal geodatabases are Access, which only works with 32-bit aps, you have to specify which python.exe you run. For making feature layers with feature classes in MDBs, you have to run the python script using

C:\Python27\ArcGIS10.2\python.exe

not

C:\Python27\ArcGISx6410.2\python.exe

Problem fixed.

JakeSkinner · Answer

Can you test this on another machine to see if the issue still occurs?  Also, what version of ArcGIS Desktop are you using?

DerekRyter · Answer

I've now tried it on five different MDBs and GDBs, and even a shape file. It worked on the GDBs and shape file but not on the MDBs. Is there something that needs to be done to the MDB or a different syntax?