Access 2000 .mdb - New Access 2003 User

[Cathy]

I just found out about this problem, and I was wondering
if anyone had any ideas on how to solve it:

I built an Access 2000 database that has been in
production for quite a while now. One of our manager's
computer system's crashed yesterday, so he received a
brand new laptop today with Office 2003 pre-installed.
So, the Access 2000 database will not run on his laptop.
(Note: there are about 20 users that require access to
the database, and all of the rest have Access 2000.)

Can he have Access 2000 & Access 2003 on one laptop? Are
there any issues/problems with loading them both? What
other options do we have?

Thank you!
Cathy

 

[John Nurick]

Hi Cathy,

It's possible to install multiple versions of Access (see e.g.
http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/multipleversions.htm), but typically the
best approach in your situation is:

1) Split the database (if this hasn't already been done) so the tables
are in one "back end" file shared on the network, and the rest - forms,
reports, queries, code etc. - in a "front end" file, with a copy of this
on each workstation.

This is an absolutely standard approach for multi-user Access databases,
and greatly reduces the risk of corruption of the data
(http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/splitapp/index.htm)

2) On the Office 2003 machine, open the front end and let Access 2003
convert it. The updated front end will work fine with the Access 2000
back end.

For conversion problems, one place to start looking for information is
http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/conversionproblems.htm

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

access 2003 actually reads and uses the a2000 file format by default.

If that a2000 database is not a mde, then a2003 should be able to open and
use the a2000 format with no problems.

on the other hand, if you are talking multi-user, then you need to split the
database anyway....

 

[Sirocco]

His new computer should be able to use the Access 2000 database AS IS
without a problem. In fact, Access 2003 can open either Access 97 or 2000
versions *without* converting. For this reason there's absolutely no
reason to have other versions installed besides Access 2003! Incidentally,
Access 2003 can even backwards convert a database into a 97 or 2000 version!

 

[Sirocco]

Check the library references in the new laptop! By default they don't
include "Microsoft DAO 3.6 Object Library". Any database made with version
2000 will have this reference, but it may be missing on the computer running
2003.

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

Actually, you've got that backwards.

By default, Access 2000 databases don't include a reference to DAO, but
Access 2003 database do (although it's lower in the list than the ADO
reference)

However, since references are stored in the database itself, that shouldn't
make any difference: the DAO reference will already be there.

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

The reason for having Access 97 is that while you can run an Access 97
application with Access 2003, you can't make design changes.

 

[Renee Kraft]

In addition to all the other suggestions:
I assume you are using VBA code. Can you access the database window / code
modules in Access 2003 (open the database with the shift key to bypass all
startup options)? Check the references and the order(!) of the referenced
libraries and try to compile.

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Renee Kraft
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)
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