Access Startup Problem

[Nigel Barraclough]

I have just installed SP2 and various other updates. It may or may not be a
coincidence that when I start Access XP I now get to error boxes. The first
reads "The command line you used to start Microsoft Access contains an
option that Microsoft Access doesn't recognise". The second reads
"Microsoft Access can't find the database file 'Files\Microsoft.mdb'."
Despite these error boxes Access does open and works OK.



Does anyone know how to cure this please?



I also get errors opening Excel, Internet Explorer and various non-Microsoft
programs.

 

[Mike Labosh]

I have just installed SP2 and various other updates. It may or may not be

a coincidence that when I start Access XP I now get to error boxes.

If you are referring to Windows XP Service Pack 2, you are correct. SP2
installs lots of ultra-paranoid security features. Check out the new
Security Center in your control panel.

The first reads "The command line you used to start Microsoft Access
contains an option that Microsoft Access doesn't recognise". The second
reads "Microsoft Access can't find the database file
'Files\Microsoft.mdb'."

This sounds like your shortcut may have gotten narfed up. Right-click your
Microsoft Access shortcut, goto properties, and check the command line. If
it doesn't let you edit the command line, you can delete it and make a new
shortcut whose command line is "msaccess.exe" (without the quotes) Access
registers its path with Windows, so it whould launch just fine.

I also get errors opening Excel, Internet Explorer and various
non-Microsoft programs.

This might have to do with SP2 security features. When your computer
reboots after installing it, the Windows Firewall is activated by default at
boot time. This can cause strange behavior of many internet related
applications, like AIM, msn Messenger, IE, and peer-file-swapping apps.
Look in the Control Panel -> Security Center for things to customize.

 

[Nigel Barraclough]

Thanks for your prompt reply. The shortcut was OK but I deleted it and set
up a new one anyway. This made no difference. With regard to the security
settings I have disabled them as I have my own firewall and anti-virus. My
guess is that something has corrupted whatever code is used to start Access
(and Excel and IE) and is making it look in incorrect directories.
Alternatively something has actually deleted some files it uses in the
startup process like the recently used file list.

 

[Nigel Barraclough]

I discovered a virus in my registry which was causing this.