I'm trying to pass a query from sql server 2000 to Oracle using linked
servers. I don't want to use DTS. While it's easy enough to use OPENQUERY
to pass thru a query that returns a dataset, I can't seem to pass thru a
query that doesn't return a dataset eg a create table query or a drop table
query. If I try, I get an error saying that the query returns no columns.

Is it possible to pass thru a query that returns no columns using a linked
server?

For example, the following query:

select *
from OPENQUERY(ORA8I,'CREATE TABLE MYTABLE AS SELECT * FROM EMP')

returns the error:

Server: Msg 7357, Level 16, State 2, Line 1
Could not process object 'CREATE TABLE MYTABLE AS SELECT * FROM EMP'. The
OLE DB provider 'MSDAORA' indicates that the object has no columns.
OLE DB error trace [Non-interface error: OLE DB provider unable to process
object, since the object has no columnsProviderName='MSDAORA', Query=CREATE
TABLE MYTABLE AS SELECT * FROM EMP'].