Can I run Access off a USB Flash Drive

[Dennis]

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is the right forum, but here is my question.

I need to track information from different computers. Not all computer have
Access installed on them. Can I install my Access DB and the 2007 Access
Runtime on a USB flash drive and run everything off the flash drive without
having to install the 2007 runtime on the actual computer?

Is so, how would I do it?

 

[Paul Shapiro]

No. There are two issues. First, the Access runtime has to be installed on
the computer, not just physically present on the flash drive. Second, Access
does too much file reading and writing to want to run it from a USB flash
drive. I haven't tried it, but I would expect poor performance and higher
likelihood of file corruption.

Ideally you have a server, or a workstation, that can host the Access data
file and make it available to all the computers. Then you would install the
Access runtime on each computer you want to use.

Finally, if you're sharing data, the Access file should be split into a
backend db, just containing tables, and a frontend db containing forms,
reports, code and links to the shared backend tables. This improves
performance and more importantly reliability. Data corruption is more likely
if users are sharing a single db containing the code and the tables.

 

[Dennis]

Paul,

Thank you for the information.

I work for a charity with multiple office and some people working out of
their house. I'm trying to keep track of the different Windows Startup
programs so I know which ones I can disable and which ones I should leave
alone. Currently, I'm doing it with notepad, but it does not work very well.

Do you know of a simple spread sheet data program that I can run off a USB?

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

Do you know of a simple spread sheet data program that I can run off a
USB?

This isn't the right place to discuss non Microsoft products, but there is
one spreadsheet that can run off a USB:

http://portableapps.com/apps/office/openoffice_portable

Id suggest using a server though and running Terminal Services. You can log
into the server from anywhere there is an Internet connection. With that you
can also keep your data secure, and backed up. Running from a USB drive is
not secure, and USB drives are easily lost, forgotten, and stolen.

 

[Dennis]

Arvin,

Thank you your assitance and I do appreciate your comment about non
Microsoft products. However, in my defense, my first choice was a Microsoft
product and I'm only looking for something else because Access nor Excel will
run off a USB.

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is the right forum, but here is my question.

I need to track information from different computers. Not all computer
have
Access installed on them. Can I install my Access DB and the 2007 Access
Runtime on a USB flash drive and run everything off the flash drive
without
having to install the 2007 runtime on the actual computer?

Is so, how would I do it?

There are some solutions, but none that are cheap.

What you are looking for is called an "application virtilizer"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_virtualization

There is one called Thinstall, and it would be ideal, but it expensive
($8000)??

http://www.vmware.com/products/thinapp/

The above was purchased by vmware.

Another app vitalizes from Microsoft is here, but they do NOT sell a stand
alone version:
http://www.microsoft.com/virtualization/en/us/products-application.aspx

I REALLY hoping that Microsoft will change their view, and come out with an
affordable version of their app vitalization that is stand alone...

 

[Paul Shapiro]

How many Windows startup programs are you typically seeing? For 10-20 items
and 5-10 pc's, a simple Word document with a table might be sufficient, or
spend some time seeing if you can improve the text file organization if Word
is not installed on all the PC's. If Excel is installed on all the PC's you
could keep a spreadsheet document on the flash drive and just open/updated
that document from each pc. Whatever approach you take, I would make sure
you include a procedure for ensuring the document/data is frequently and
regularly backed up. Maybe having each user pc email you the updates would
take care of that?

Having said all that, I wonder why keeping track of Windows startup programs
is necessary? Assuming you've removed any junk software that came with the
pc, adequate anti-malware software is running, and most important of all
that user accounts do NOT have administrative privileges, why do startup
programs need monitoring? They shouldn't be changing.

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

I work for a charity with multiple office

Have you looked at TechSoup. Very inexpensive licenses from major
software vendors to non profit groups. Note the conditions carefully
such as only being able to do one order per year and such.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Tony's Main MS Access pages - http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/
For a convenient utility to keep your users FEs and other files
updated see http://www.autofeupdater.com/
Granite Fleet Manager http://www.granitefleet.com/

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

No. There are two issues. First, the Access runtime has to be installed on
the computer, not just physically present on the flash drive. Second, Access
does too much file reading and writing to want to run it from a USB flash
drive. I haven't tried it, but I would expect poor performance and higher
likelihood of file corruption.

Performance actually might be quite good. After all MS uses flash
drives for ReadyBoost within Vista to speed up the performance of the
OS compared to a hard drive.

However we are seeing the occasional corruption postings in the
newsgroups or the occasional losing of the complete flash drive so I
share your concerns there.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Tony's Main MS Access pages - http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/
For a convenient utility to keep your users FEs and other files
updated see http://www.autofeupdater.com/
Granite Fleet Manager http://www.granitefleet.com/