Access 97 "Unrecognized Database Format"

[Sandy M.]

After our Novell Server crashed last week, all of
the files had to be restored from backup.

Some of the Access 97 databases will not open now.

The error states "Unrecognized Database Format".

The files in question have an .Mde file extension.

Any suggestions?

Thank you,

Sandy M.

 

[Ron Hinds]

After our Novell Server crashed last week, all of
the files had to be restored from backup.

Some of the Access 97 databases will not open now.

The error states "Unrecognized Database Format".

The files in question have an .Mde file extension.

Any suggestions?

Thank you,

Sandy M.

This message usually means a corrupt database. It may not be the .MDE files,
though. They might be the "front-end" for the actual data file(s), which
would have a .MDB extension. In both cases, you need to open Access
directly, then open the file in question and from the Tools | Database
Utilities menu select Repair Database.

 

[Tony Toews]

After our Novell Server crashed last week, all of
the files had to be restored from backup.

Some of the Access 97 databases will not open now.

The error states "Unrecognized Database Format".

The files in question have an .Mde file extension.

MDEs? Presuming they don't have any tables in them, you should be
able to recreate the MDEs from the MDBs.

It is possible they are unrecognized database format because they were
backed up while the users were still in them.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
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