Acess 97 & 2000 cohabitation

[Rich Wingerter]

I'm looking for an answer to this, too. My theory is that
the setup program does not know how to look for other
versions and handle them. I also think that Microsoft
named the runtime executable the same as the interactive
executable. My research indicates that they are both
called "MSACCESS.EXE".

When setup installs one (or the other), it probably causes
the association in the Registry to point to the new
MSACCESS.EXE. This means that when the user opens a .MDB
file, Windows will run the last MSACCESS.EXE installed.

I had Access 97 installed and installed what I thought was
Access Runtime 2002. After that, clicking on 97 version
..MDB files would open with a message asking me if I wanted
to convert the database (to the 2002 format).

I don't yet know how to avoid this problem, but it is
possible that renaming the runtime MSACCESS.EXE would help.
I'm trying to find the original runtime files so that I
can try this, but I'm willing to bet that when I do it
doesn't work because Access is somehow dependent on the
name of the executable to work correctly!

As a temporary expedient, you may be able to set up
shortcuts for each .MDB that point to the correct
corresponding .EXE.

If you get an answer to this question, would you copy me on
it? Thanks.

Rich

 

[Rich Wingerter]

Further research indicates that the interactive and runtime
versions of the executable are exactly the same. So, there
is no way to distinguish them by renaming one. Apparently,
all of the difference is in the Registry entries. I don't
know where to look for information on that.

If anyone knows how to properly deply the MS Access
Runtime, I'd sure like to hear from them.

Rich