SSIS errors: Bulk Load failed. Cannot obtain the required interface (“IID_IColumnsInfo”) from OLE DB provider “BULK” for linked server “(null)

When working with the Bulk Insert Task in SSIS 2008 you may get the following error:

 The complete error message is:

[Bulk Insert Task] Error: An error occurred with the following error message: “Cannot obtain the required interface (“IID_IColumnsInfo”) from OLE DB provider “BULK” for linked server “(null)”.The bulk load failed. The column is too long in the data file for row 1, column 1. Verify that the field terminator and row terminator are specified correctly.”

This error description can make you jump through hoops trying to figure out why is it detecting an error with the OLE DB provider or why does SSIS thinks you are trying to execute this operation on a linked server?

The real issue here has nothing to do with the first  sentence in the error description. Sentence 4 gives you the actual error:

Verify that the field terminator and row terminator are specified correctly.

You may be experiencing this error due to one or more of the following 3 reasons:

1) You may be specifying a wrong CommonDelimiter for your source file.
For example, You may be trying to do a Bulk Insert operation from a Comma Separated Value (CSV) file but did not change the CommonDelimiter property to Comma {,}. When you drag in the Bulk Insert Task the CommonDelimiter property default value is Tab.

2) You may be specifying a wrong RowDelimiter for your source file.
For example, you may be trying to do a Bulk Insert operation from a Comma Separated Value (CSV) file whose row delimiter character is different than the RowDelimiter property default value of {CR}{LF}. In some cases, you may receive a file with a very long stream of text with no Carriage Return (\r)  & Line Feed (\n) characters, commonly denoted as {CR}{LF} in between rows. These hidden {CR}{LF} row delimiter characters are placed on a text file each time you hit the ENTER key on your keyboard denoting the end of a row and beginning of the next row. You may read a little more about the Carriage Return and Line Feed characters in Pinal Dave’s blog: http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/07/01/sql-server-difference-between-line-feed-n-and-carriage-return-r-t-sql-new-line-char/

As seen on the image below, there are two properties,  CommonDelimiter and RowDelimiter, that you need to make sure  you specify the correct values for depending on your input or source file format:

.
3) You may be using a format file with an incorrect or invalid format defined.
Format files can be non-xml, commonly with an *.fmt extension or for SQL Server 2005 and later only you can also use xml format files. For more information about format files read MSDN Books on Line http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms191516.aspx

If you are using a format file make sure you are pointing to the right format file or that the format defined in your format file is correct. (Notice that the Format property value changes from Specify to Use File):

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