Running two versions of Access on the same PC

[fgwiii]

Good morning,

My company is running XP Pro with Office 2002 and typically Access 97.
However, on my PC I had them remove Access 97 and upgrade to Access 2000. Now
that I am in a new position, I am finding it necessary to have Access 97 back
on my PC.

My question is two fold. Is it possible to run two versions of Access on the
same PC? Or, is it possible to remove Access 2000 and re-install Access 97?
Is there any issues in following either one of these scenerios?

Thank you,

Fred

 

[Rick Brandt]

Good morning,

My company is running XP Pro with Office 2002 and typically Access 97.
However, on my PC I had them remove Access 97 and upgrade to Access 2000. Now
that I am in a new position, I am finding it necessary to have Access 97 back
on my PC.

My question is two fold. Is it possible to run two versions of Access on the
same PC? Or, is it possible to remove Access 2000 and re-install Access 97?
Is there any issues in following either one of these scenerios?

I have five versions on my PC. There are two main issues.

1) Whichever version was last opened becomes the default version for opening
files that are double-clicked. Just abandon that habit and open the desired
version of Access first and then open the desired file from the menu bar.

2) Some of the newer versions will show a "Configuring Microsoft Office" dialog
if they are opened after running an older version. This is not an issue at all
with Access 2000, and is only a minor irritation with 2002 and 2003 because the
time that the dialog is shown is fairly brief. In Access 2007 it is a LONG wait
so we are all hoping that some sort of patch is forthcoming that will eliminate
or reduce that wait.

If you install 97 on a PC already having a newer one you might experience the
"No license on this machine" error when you try to use it, but there is a fix
for that on Microsoft's web site.

 

[millardgroups]

Is there any way to disable the "repair" feature, especially for
Runtime versions of Access?

How do people deploy Access Runtime versions without disrupting a
user's existing version of Access?

Thanks!

 

[Rick Brandt]

Is there any way to disable the "repair" feature, especially for
Runtime versions of Access?

How do people deploy Access Runtime versions without disrupting a
user's existing version of Access?

If possible, you don't install the runtime on a PC that already has Access.
You configure your installer to install a file in a version that will work
with the Access version they already have.

When that is not possible then you can use the Sagekey scripts (not cheap)
to do the install. They reportedly make the runtime install much more like
installing most other programs in that it doesn't interfere with other
programs already installed.

 

[millardgroups]

If possible, you don't install the runtime on a PC that already has Access.
You configure your installer to install a file in a version that will work
with the Access version they already have.

When that is not possible then you can use the Sagekey scripts (not cheap)
to do the install. They reportedly make the runtime install much more like
installing most other programs in that it doesn't interfere with other
programs already installed.

Rick,

Thanks! I'm looking into the Sagekey stuff... it might offer more
flexibility, but it is pricey.

FYI... during my testing today, I've found what may be an alternative.
I'll post it here, since folks may run into this kind of situation
when trying to use the Access 2007 runtime.

I've found that changing the following registry settings allow an old
version of Access to stay as primary. These settings allow installing
a runtime version for upgraded databases, while still keeping the old
version of Access as primary for databases that aren't tested against
the new version.

FYI.. what want is to be able to test databases on the new Access
Runtime, then create a shortcut that opens the tested/fixed version
using the new runtime. Existing databases need to stay on the old
version until they have been tested. For this reason, we need to
disable the "convert database" question and keep the old version of
Access as default for the Access file extensions.

With that background, here's the info on the registry settings....
--The first key turns off the message that asks if the user wants to
convert to the new database format. This is a dangerous message that
can leave your existing databases messed up.
--The second key resets Windows to use the old version of Access as
default for .mdb files. You would need something similar for each
extension you want to cover (i.e.: .mdw, .mdp... etc) NOTE that the
key below is set to default to Access 97. You would want to change it
to whatever version of Access you want to leave as default.

[For anyone reading this later, the following would be copied into
Notepad, then saved as a file with a .reg extension. When you click on
that saved .reg file, the registry editor will import the keys. All
the usual warnings about backing up your registry apply. ]

----Copy elements below this line----
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Access\Settings]
"NoConvertDialog"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
\FileExts\.mdb]
"Progid"="Access.Application.8"
----Copy elements above this line----

I've tested this on Windows XP Pro with:

--Access 97 & Access 2002 runtime
--Access 97 runtime & Access 2002 runtime.

If anyone sees anything I'm missing, feel free to respond.

Thanks,

Scott