Access 2003 Developer Extension STILL not working

[Joe]

The 'Package Wizard' and 'Custon Startup Wizard' don't work. I get a blank
screen with help, next, and cancel buttons at the bottom. The next button
does nothing, the cancel button exits so I am unable to make packages.

None of the solutions suggested (i.e. reboot, create folder "Access" under
"Application Data") worked for me. I have tried uninstalling Office and
ADE, and deleting related folders and registry entries. I have tried
installing on a fresh install of Windows XP Pro (with SP1 and updates).

Can anybody suggest anything else?

 

[Mike Wachal]

The 'Package Wizard' and 'Custon Startup Wizard' don't work. I get a blank
screen with help, next, and cancel buttons at the bottom. The next button
does nothing, the cancel button exits so I am unable to make packages.

None of the solutions suggested (i.e. reboot, create folder "Access" under
"Application Data") worked for me. I have tried uninstalling Office and
ADE, and deleting related folders and registry entries. I have tried
installing on a fresh install of Windows XP Pro (with SP1 and updates).

Can anybody suggest anything else?

Hi Joe,

This is odd, the resolution of creating the Access folder has worked 100%
of the time for me. This is the only cause I know of for the blank screen
issue. What is the exact path where you are creating the Access folder? You
need to create the folder as follows:

C:\Documents and Settings\<your profile>\Application Data\Microsoft\Access

where <your profile> is your user name on the computer. The settings stored
by the ADE in this directory are user specific so it is important that you
create this in your specific profile and that the 'Access' folder be under
the 'Microsoft' folder in 'Application Data'.

Let me know if this doesn't clear up the problem and we can do some
additional troubleshooting.

--
Regards,
Mike Wachal
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Gary Shell]

I worked with some folks on a private MCSP forum to resolve an issue much
like this. The problem turned out to be that the Developer extensions,
relies on the newer version of the Windows Scripting Engine. Try updating
that and then rerunning the extension. No need to reinstall them.

Worked great for me.

Gary

Hi Joe,

This is odd, the resolution of creating the Access folder has worked 100%
of the time for me. This is the only cause I know of for the blank screen
issue. What is the exact path where you are creating the Access folder? You
need to create the folder as follows:

C:\Documents and Settings\<your profile>\Application Data\Microsoft\Access

where <your profile> is your user name on the computer. The settings stored
by the ADE in this directory are user specific so it is important that you
create this in your specific profile and that the 'Access' folder be under
the 'Microsoft' folder in 'Application Data'.

Let me know if this doesn't clear up the problem and we can do some
additional troubleshooting.

--
Regards,
Mike Wachal
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no

rights.

 

[Mike Wachal]

Thanks for the insight Gary.

You say your issues was "much like this." Could you describe your exact
issue for me? This will help me ensure that all the folks in our support
division can easily identify the problems caused by using an older version
of the scripting host and quickly resolve the problem for customers.

Joe - let us know if this resolves the issue you are seeing.

--
Regards,
Mike Wachal
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Martin]

Mike/Gary

Thanks for your replies, but unfortunately none of them worked.

I have ensured that WinXp & Office 2003 is patched and have re-installed
Office and ADE several times.

Can you think of anything else?

PS. Mike, I had posted this question twice using different methods (Google
and OE). For some reason OE had my name as 'Joe' instead of Martin. But
thanks for the response on both occasions.

Martin

 

[Mike Wachal]

Hi Martin,

We'll keep working to try and figure this out. Thanks for your continuted
help in troubleshooting this problem. Could you answer these questions?

1. Copy the path to the Access directory that you created into your
response so I can see it.
2. Is there an ADE11 folder in the Access folder you created?
3. If there is an ADE11 folder, what folders and files are contained in it?
4. (Just for good measure.) What version of the Windows Scripting Host do
you have installed on your computer?

If there is no ADE11 folder, try creating one and see if that has any
effect.

--
Regards,
Mike Wachal
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Martin]

Mike

Requested info below:

1. Copy the path to the Access directory that you created into your
response so I can see it.

C:\Documents and Settings\mmaitken\Application Data\Microsoft\Access

2. Is there an ADE11 folder in the Access folder you created? No.

3. If there is an ADE11 folder, what folders and files are contained in it?
N/A.

4. (Just for good measure.) What version of the Windows Scripting Host do
you have installed on your computer?

The file WSCRIPT.EXE is version 5.6.0.8515.

If there is no ADE11 folder, try creating one and see if that has any
effect.

It makes no difference.

Thanks again,
Martin

 

[Mike Wachal]

Mike

Requested info below:

C:\Documents and Settings\mmaitken\Application Data\Microsoft\Access

The file WSCRIPT.EXE is version 5.6.0.8515.

It makes no difference.

Thanks again,
Martin

Hi Martin,

I'm going to do some more investigation on this one. I expect the ADE
wizards to create the ADE11 folder when it is not there as long as the
Access folder is present, this is what happens on my computer.

While I'm looking into some other ideas, could you let me know the names of
all the user profile folders that exist on your computer? What I mean is
open up windows explorer and navigate to C:\Documents and Settings and give
me the list of all the folders showing. Also a few more questions:

1. Is this WinXP Home or Pro?
2. Is this computer hooked into a Domain or a Workgroup?
3. If your part of a Workgroup, are you actually networked?
4. Are you an administrator on the computer?

This is just some general background that might help me find some new
places to look.

--
Regards,
Mike Wachal
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Martin]

Mike

The user profiles are as follows:
administrator
All Users
Default Users
frbullen
mmaitken
user1
user2
and if its any help, I was logged on as 'mmaitken' - which has admin
rights - when I installed Office 2003 & ADE.

1. Is this WinXP Home or Pro?

XP Pro

2. Is this computer hooked into a Domain or a Workgroup?

The PC is on a NetWare 5.0 network and also in a Workgroup.

3. If your part of a Workgroup, are you actually networked?

Yes, I can access the NetWare server and other 2000/XP workstations.

4. Are you an administrator on the computer?

Yes.

regards
Martin

 

[Gary Shell]

Yes but did you specifically update the Windows Script Engine? It is NOT
something that shows up in either a WinXp or Office 2003 update. My issue
was after repeatedly installing the Developer Tools and jumping through all
sorts of hoops, I'd get a message that the Developer tools were not
completely installed (or words of a similar nature). We finally debugged it
by opening one of the Developer Tools files and checking some references.
It was obvious that the object model for the Windows Scripting Engine that
the tools were expecting did not align with the actual object model I had
installed. Updating the scripting engine resolved that and the tools worked
just fine. (Without another reinstall or any other measures.)

Gary

 

[Mike Wachal]

Hi Martin,

Getting this sorted out is going to require some more advanced debuging
than we can likely handle via a newsgroup discussion. I'd be happy to work
directly with you to sort this out. If you would be willing to respond to
me via e-mail with the best way and time to contact you, I'd be happy to
give you a call.

Just remove the word "online" from my e-mail address and it will get to me.

--
Regards,
Mike Wachal
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Mike Wachal]

Hi Gary,

I've found that the ADE does have a dependency on the WSH 5.6, but that is
installed by Windows XP, so I'm surprised that you had a problem related to
this on that OS.

While it's true that Win2000 does not have WSH 5.6 installed by default,
you also get this update when you install IE 6.0, so many people already
have it.

The error you experiences that the developer tools were not installed
correctly is actually caused by one of two things, either the
InstallLocation registry key is not set correctly or the localization file
can not be loaded correctly. I'll have to do a bit more checking to figure
this out completely.

What version of WSH were you running prior to updating your computer?

--
Regards,
Mike Wachal
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Martin]

Mike

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you, I'm in the middle of setting up
a Windows 2003 server at the moment as well as other things.

Anyway, I have managed to get ADE to work for me - by accident. In the
process of setting up the new server, I created a few test users in order to
check that login scripts worked and that user profiles copied to/from the
server.
As these were new users on a new server, they did not load the
pre-configured profile that we currently use for users on our existing
server. When I ran a few programs and changed settings, etc to see if the
changes were saved to the server, I also ran ADE on my PC and to my surprise
IT WORKED!.

I promptly deleted my own profile and copied over the un-tained Default User
profile, and ADE worked for me.

I can only asume that some setting in the pre-configured was preventing ADE
from running or installing properly. At a best guess, the profile was
configured using a PC with Office 2000 installed, so it may be something to
do with that.

However, the problem is solved now and I thank you (and Gary) for your help
and input.

regards
Martin

 

[Martin]

Mike

Just when I thought everything was okay...

I have now created my install package and have found that I can't install
the runtime on Windows 98 PCs. Now, I am aware that Office 2003 will not
run on anything less than Windows 2000, but I was lead to believe that the
Access 2003 runtime would run on Windows 98SE, ME, 2000 & XP.

Can you confirm this?
If not, do you know if I will be able to exchange my Office 2003 & ADE11
licences for a Windows XP Developers Edition licence? (BTW the option to buy
XP Dev. Edition was not available when I was purchasing)

What other options do I now have?

thanks again
Martin

 

[Mike Wachal]

Hi Martin,

I'm glad to hear that the problem with the ADE wizard has worked itself
out. It seems your previous user profile was somehow limiting your ability
to create files in the appropriate directories. Lucky break that you were
setting up a new server and happened to test the ADE under a new profile.

Regarding the platform requirments for the Access 2003 runtime components,
they are the same as Access 2003, which are Windows 2000 SP3 and Windows
XP. We do not run on any flavor of Windows 9x, Me or NT. I'm sorry to hear
that you were informed otherwise.

As far as exchanging your 2003 licenses for XP licenses, that really
depends on what type of license you have. If you have just purchased your
copy of Office 2003 and VSTO at a retail store, then you would need to
purchase the Office XP Developer product similarly, at a retail store.
Microsoft typically doesn't produce legacy products, so as time goes by, it
gets more difficult to find older products in the stores. I've heard that
some online retailers are still offering MOD XP for sale, and you can
frequently find it available used from other sources.

If you purchased your products through volume licensing, there is a
downgrade program that may be available. You can find more information
about this at
http://www.microsoft.com/PERMISSION/copyrgt/cop-soft.htm#Downgrades. Please
note that not all products are available for downgrade licensing and MS
does not maintain a stock of all downgraded products.

A quick search on Google still finds a few retailers with stock on hand if
that is the route you need to go.

--
Regards,
Mike Wachal
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.