Linked table on shared computer

[Guest]

I have a database that resides on a shared drive (e in computer A. That
computer has Access 2002 SP3 installed. In the database, there is a linked
table to a txt file located on the same drive, but a different directory in
Comp A. I use computer B, that has Access 2003 SP2. While using comp B, I
had added and updated the linked file to the database which is on the e:drive
of computer A, but the mapped drive X: of computer B. After the update
yesterday, computer A was no longer able to print a report that relied on
data from the linked table. During my attempt to get the print capability
back, I noted that the linked table was not visible on Comp A. I used the
link table manager, to locate the table. Comp A was then able to print
without issue. However, Comp B, now has difficulty with the linked table.
Info stored in Access prior to the linked table update on Comp A is still
visible at Comp B, but new info, is not visible on B. Everything works fine
on A, but not on B. Again, all data is stored on A in 2 different
directories, Database and Linked Tables. Why does it work ok on one machine,
but the updates are not visible on the second computer. Is the drive letter
of the shared drive on Comp B the culprit? Is the different version of
Access an issue? The database is opened/saved on both machine as Access
2000. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Hello All,
I have since disconnected my mapped drive and now re-mapped it as drive e:\
Everything is working again. Glad I only have this database on 2 computers.
I hope that this is not a problem for others. Any information as to what
caused the hiccup would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[John Nurick]

The standard way round this problem is to use UNC paths to refer to the
shared drives instead of using drive letters. E.g. instead of having

E:\Folder\Filename.txt on one machine
X:\Folder\Filename.txt on the other

use
\\COMPUTERNAME\Share\Folder\Filename
on both of them, where COMPUTERNAME is the name of the computer and
Share is the name of the shared folder that E: and X: point to.

With more than one user sharing an Access database across a network,
it's strongly advised to "split" the database. If you haven't done so,
see allenbrowne.com/ser-01.html