problem running access

[John]

Hi

When I try to run access 97 I get the message 'Microsoft Access couldn't
find file c:\windows\system32\system.mdw'. When I try to create the
system.mdw file using workgroup administrator, I get the message 'An error
has occurred at changing workgroup database.'.

What is the problem and how can I fix it?

Regards

 

[Joseph Meehan]

Hi

When I try to run access 97 I get the message 'Microsoft Access
couldn't find file c:\windows\system32\system.mdw'. When I try to
create the system.mdw file using workgroup administrator, I get the
message 'An error has occurred at changing workgroup database.'.

What is the problem and how can I fix it?

Regards

As I learned today Access will re-create the system.mdw file if you
delete the default one, just like Word will do if you delete Normal.dot.

Search for system.mdw (sometimes you end up with more than one) and
delete them, hopefully that will take care of it.

BTW if you have stored information (system security information for
Access user level security) don't delete this file unless you are ready to
re-create it and even then I would keep a copy of it just encase.

 

[John]

Nope did not work. Also made sure that temp & tmp variables are pointing to
valid folder still did not work.

Not sure what to do now. The system already has access 2003 which came
preinstalled with dell pc. The reason I am installing access 97 is that I
have an old application written in access 97 which we can not do without.

Regards

 

[Rick Brandt]

Nope did not work. Also made sure that temp & tmp variables are pointing to
valid folder still did not work.

Not sure what to do now. The system already has access 2003 which came
preinstalled with dell pc. The reason I am installing access 97 is that I have
an old application written in access 97 which we can not do without.

Actually I don't believe the "create a new System.mdw upon startup" feature
existed before Access 2000.

Are you running as a user with authority to create files in the System32 folder?

(speaking of Windows authorities here).

 

[John]

I am running as administrator.

Regards

Actually I don't believe the "create a new System.mdw upon startup"
feature existed before Access 2000.

Are you running as a user with authority to create files in the System32
folder?

(speaking of Windows authorities here).

 

[Rick Brandt]

I am running as administrator.

Have you tried copying the System.mdw file from another system?

 

[Joseph Meehan]

Nope did not work. Also made sure that temp & tmp variables are
pointing to valid folder still did not work.

Not sure what to do now. The system already has access 2003 which came
preinstalled with dell pc. The reason I am installing access 97 is
that I have an old application written in access 97 which we can not
do without.

Oh new information 2003 with 97. I seem to recall some known issues
with running both at the same machine. Sorry I don't recall the reference.

I believe you can convert the 97 file to 2003, but as I recall there are
some issues.

 

[Joseph Meehan]

Actually I don't believe the "create a new System.mdw upon startup"
feature existed before Access 2000.

Thanks for that information. I will try to remember it.

 

[John]

yes, it can join it but then access gives an out of memory error. others
seem to have faced the same problem.

regards

 

[Rick Brandt]

yes, it can join it but then access gives an out of memory error. others seem
to have faced the same problem.

Access 97 (or was it Jet 3.5?) had a bug where out of memory was reported on
systems with 1 GB of RAM or more. Does that apply to you? There was a patch
for that.

 

[Tim Marshall]

Access 97 (or was it Jet 3.5?) had a bug where out of memory was reported on
systems with 1 GB of RAM or more. Does that apply to you? There was a patch
for that.

Hi Rick, was that a separate patch above and beyond the service
releases, do you know? I believe this is what I ran into last fall when
I was unable to create a system.mdw in the windows/system32 directory.
My machine has 2 gigs of RAM.

 

[Rick Brandt]

Hi Rick, was that a separate patch above and beyond the service
releases, do you know? I believe this is what I ran into last fall
when I was unable to create a system.mdw in the windows/system32
directory. My machine has 2 gigs of RAM.

From MS site...
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem with the Microsoft Jet Database
Engine version 3.0 and 3.5. This problem no longer occurs in Microsoft Jet
Database Engine version 3.51, which is available from Microsoft Download
Center.

 

[David W. Fenton]

Not sure what to do now. The system already has access 2003 which
came preinstalled with dell pc. The reason I am installing access
97 is that I have an old application written in access 97 which we
can not do without.

Er, you can't use the same system.mdw for A97 and A2K3 unless that
system.mdw was created by A97.

I'm not entirely clear how this would impact your situation, but it
is definitely going to make a difference.

Actually, I thought that A2K and after created your system.mdw
somewhere *other* than System32, since from Win2K and onwards,
that's part of the protected OS filespace.

I see that my Office2K installation has a system.mdw in the Office
folder. Strangely, I don't see one in my OfficeXP folder.