How to open mdb without Access program

[Nova]

Is it possible to open file access in a computer which has no Access program
(no install MS Access)

 

[Stefan Hoffmann]

hi Nova,

Is it possible to open file access in a computer which has no Access program
(no install MS Access)

Yes. You may use Notepad.

But I have to assume this is not what you had in mind when asking this
question...

The problem is: What do you mean with "open"?

As you find on all Windows versions the MDAC/Jet components, yes you can
for example open it in VB Script and query data.

Can a normal user open it and work with the forms within? No, he can't.

But this user may download the runtime version:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...D9-9DC6-4B38-9FA6-2C745A175AED&displaylang=en

Keep in mind that the runtime version does not support all kind of
operations as the full version of Access does. An older KB article may
give you some clues:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/208730


mfG
--> stefan <--

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

Is it possible to open file access in a computer which has no Access
program
(no install MS Access)

If you just want to look at the data, you can open it in Excel. If you need
to see the entire database, download the free runtime from Microsoft. There
are also other third party programs capable of reading the data.

 

[Nova]

Thanks all
I mean, It is possible to convert file from mdb to other fomat that can run

 

[Rick Brandt]

Thanks all
I mean, It is possible to convert file from mdb to other fomat that can
run on computer which has no MSAccess.

No.

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

Only if the other computer has a program that can read Access data.

 

[David W. Fenton]

No.

How so? The OP hasn't actually said whether it's just a data file,
or if it's an Access app, so I don't really think a flat "No" is a
very good answer.

 

[Larry Linson]

Thanks all
I mean, It is possible to convert file from mdb to other fomat that can
run
on computer which has no MSAccess.

No, you can't convert. The only program that can _run_ an Access database is
the Access runtime (which has already been suggested to you), so full retail
Access or the Access runtime (which is free) must be installed on the
computer on which you use an Access database application. But, you can NOT
convert it to an .exe or other "executable".

Larry Linson
Microsoft Office Access MVP

 

[Rick Brandt]

How so? The OP hasn't actually said whether it's just a data file, or if
it's an Access app, so I don't really think a flat "No" is a very good
answer.

When we see the phrase "run on a computer which has no MSAccess" we all
know what that means 99.9% of the time. I'll take my chances with the
remaining 0.1%.

 

[David W. Fenton]

When we see the phrase "run on a computer which has no MSAccess"
we all know what that means 99.9% of the time. I'll take my
chances with the remaining 0.1%.

But he didn't say "can I run my Access database on a computer that
has no Access" but "can I convert from MDB to a format that can run
on a computer which has no Access." The answer to the latter (i.e.,
the actual question asked in the post to which you were responding)
is clearly YES *if* you're talking about an MDB used as a data store
and not an Access app. To me, the nature of this question indicates
quite plainly to me that it's not an Access app at all, but simply
an MDB used as a data store.

Your answer doesn't even attempt to distinguish the two, and thus
contributes to the confusion that is so widespread, that Access is
an application development tool and Jet/ACE is a database engine,
and most important, that they can be used completely independent of
each other.

 

[David W. Fenton]

It is possible to convert file from mdb to other fomat that can
run on computer which has no MSAccess.

If you're talking about an MDB that is used as nothing but a data
store (i.e., tables only and no forms/reports/etc.), then yes, of
course.

But if you're talking about an Access application, then absolutely
not.

You're posting in an Access newsgroup, where most people use ACCESS,
which is the application development tool. Questions about the
database engine that is the default in Access (i.e., Jet/ACE) are
not going to come here that often, as the subject of the newsgroup
is the development platform not the database engine.

It could be that you aren't even aware of the distinction because so
many people seem not to have noticed (partly because Microsoft has
obfuscated the distinction by using the name "Access" in their
connect strings for certain of the data access methods). And the
fact that you aren't making the distinction is leading to you
getting no useful answers.

If your MDB is an application, there is no conversion.

If your MDB is nothing but a collection of tables, then it can be
converted.