# Windows
If you want to use a Windows client computer to access Amazon Athena, the Amazon Athena ODBC driver is required.
## Windows system requirements
Install the Amazon Athena ODBC driver on client computers that will access Amazon Athena databases directly instead of using a web browser.
The Windows system you use must meet the following requirements:
+ You have administrator rights
+ One of the following operating systems:
+ Windows 11, 10, or 8.1
+ Windows Server 2019, 2016, or 2012
+ Supported processor architecture : x86\$164 (64-bit)
+ At least 100 MB of available disk space
+ [Microsoft Visual C\$1\$1 Redistributable for Visual Studio](https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/#microsoft-visual-c-redistributable-for-visual-studio-2022) for 64-bit Windows is installed.
## Installing the Amazon Athena ODBC driver
**To download and install the Amazon Athena ODBC driver for Windows**
1. [Download](odbc-v2-driver.md#odbc-v2-driver-download) the `AmazonAthenaODBC-2.x.x.x.msi` installation file.
1. Launch the installation file, and then choose **Next**.
1. To accept the terms of the license agreement, select the check box, and then choose **Next**.
1. To change the installation location, choose **Browse**, browse to the desired folder, and then choose **OK**.
1. To accept the installation location, choose **Next**.
1. Choose **Install**.
1. When the installation completes, choose **Finish**.
## Ways to set driver configuration options
To control the behavior of the Amazon Athena ODBC driver in Windows, you can set driver configuration options in the following ways:
+ In the **ODBC Data Source Administrator** program when you configure a data source name (DSN).
+ By adding or changing Windows registry keys in the following location:
```
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBC.INI\YOUR_DSN_NAME
```
+ By setting driver options in the connection string when you connect programmatically.
## Configuring a data source name on Windows
After you download and install the ODBC driver, you must add a data source name (DSN) entry to the client computer or Amazon EC2 instance. SQL client tools use this data source to connect to and query Amazon Athena.
**To create a system DSN entry**
1. From the Windows **Start** menu, right-click **ODBC Data Sources (64 bit)**, and then choose **More**, **Run as administrator**.
1. In the **ODBC Data Source Administrator**, choose the **Drivers** tab.
1. In the **Name** column, verify that **Amazon Athena ODBC (x64)** is present.
1. Do one of the following:
+ To configure the driver for all users on the computer, choose the **System DSN** tab. Because applications that use a different account to load data might not be able to detect user DSNs from another account, we recommend the system DSN configuration option.
**Note**
Using the **System DSN** option requires administrative privileges.
+ To configure the driver for your user account only, choose the **User DSN** tab.
1. Choose **Add**. The **Create New Data Source** dialog box opens.
1. Choose **Amazon Athena ODBC (x64)**, and then choose **Finish**.
1. In the **Amazon Athena ODBC Configuration** dialog box, enter the following information. For detailed information about these options, see [Main ODBC 2.x connection parameters](odbc-v2-driver-main-connection-parameters.md).
+ For **Data Source Name**, enter a name that you want to use to identify the data source.
+ For **Description**, enter a description to help you identify the data source.
+ For **Region**, enter the name of the AWS Region that you will use Athena in (for example, ** us-west-1**).
+ For **Catalog**, enter the name of the Amazon Athena catalog. The default is **AwsDataCatalog**, which is used by AWS Glue.
+ For **Database**, enter the name of the Amazon Athena database. The default is **default**.
+ For **Workgroup**, enter the name of the Amazon Athena workgroup. The default is **primary**.
+ For **S3 Output Location**, enter the location in Amazon S3 where the query results will be stored (for example, **s3://amzn-s3-demo-bucket/**).
+ (Optional) For **Encryption Options**, choose an encryption option. The default is `NOT_SET`.
+ (Optional) For **KMS Key**, choose an encryption KMS key if required.
1. To specify configuration options for IAM authentication, choose **Authentication Options.**
1. Enter the following information:
+ For **Authentication Type**, choose **IAM Credentials**. This is the default. For more information about available authentication types, see [Authentication options](odbc-v2-driver-authentication-options.md).
+ For **Username**, enter a user name.
+ For **Password**, enter a password.
+ For **Session Token**, enter a session token if you want to use temporary AWS credentials. For information about temporary credentials, see [Using temporary credentials with AWS resources](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_credentials_temp_use-resources.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
1. Choose **OK**.
1. At the bottom of the **Amazon Athena ODBC Configuration** dialog box, choose **Test**. If the client computer connects successfully to Amazon Athena, the **Connection test** box reports **Connection successful**. If not, the box reports **Connection failed** with corresponding error information.
1. Choose **OK** to close the connection test. The data source that you created now appears in the list of data source names.
## Using a DSN-less connection on Windows
You can use a DSN-less connection to connect to a database without a Data Source Name (DSN). The following example shows a connection string for the Amazon Athena ODBC (x64) ODBC driver that connects to Amazon Athena.
```
DRIVER={Amazon Athena ODBC (x64)};Catalog=AwsDataCatalog;AwsRegion=us-west-1;Schema=test_schema;S3OutputLocation=
s3://amzn-s3-demo-bucket/;AuthenticationType=IAM Credentials;UID=YOUR_UID;PWD=YOUR_PWD;
```