The operation could not be performed because the OLE DB provider 'SQLOLEDB' was unable to begin distributed transaction

One morning I get a call from a developer about this issue. It turns out that the MSDTC service had stop on a Linked server. So, to resolve this issue, you must first start the MSDTC service on both servers involved. Windows 2008 example here: From "administrative tools" -> "component services" -> "computers" -> "my computer" , "local dtc" right click "properties" goto MSDTC tab and select "security configuration", enable checkbox for "network dtc access" and "allow outbound". Check No Authentication Required.