Best approach for temporary A2003 installation

[riktek]

I am contemplating a temporary installation of A2003 to convert some earlier format MDBs that A2007 et seq. cannot open, to A2003 MDB format, which the later versions can open.

It's easiest to do this on my production workstation, on which resides Office 2019, 64-bit. Published sources suggest the A2003 installation along side it is likely to be a safe bet but hint at risk. Rather than make casual assumptions about what might be fast and easy, I thought I'd solicit input about risks and recommendations. Thanks for any and all constructive input.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

The biggest risks are the co-existing files. I think it was Ac2007 that switched over to having \Officenn\ as part of the file path, and which is how multiple installations of Office now can coexist. But Ac2003 might still have things that are NOT in version-tagged paths. I'll have to admit, though, that it has been ages (22 years, of course) since I had to play with installing Ac2003. Does that version allow you to select a particular folder for all of the files? I remember we USED to have issues with multi-version Access installations. It HAS improved over the years.

If you could do the installation in a VM, nothing bad would happen because VMs can maintain separation of file resources. But if a VM isn't available, it gets a bit iffy. If you can't use a virtual machine, then consider that when you install the Ac2003, you do your conversions and then immediately remove Ac2003. After which you will take your current version kit and do a Repair of the installation that you wanted to keep.

 

[arnelgp]

install A2003 on "virtual machine" using VMWare or VirtualBox or Proxmox.
the later 2 are free.

 

[riktek]

Thanks. The VM approach is, of course, the most iron-clad solution. I'm currently running Windows on bare metal, so don't for the time being have the (relevant) hypervisor and VM catalog setup I've had before. It's familiar ground, though, just a bit more friction.

I'm pretty certain A2003 permitted designation of installation directory. I still try to do installs in D:\bin and I think I even got A2007 to go there. This still begs the question about common files.

 

[riktek]

install A2003 on "virtual machine" using VMWare or VirtualBox or Proxmox.
the later 2 are free.

That's the obvious safe route. I worked extensively with VMware on Linux for more than a decade, so that's familiar ground. VirtualBox is quite similar. I've known of Proxmox for years but haven't had hands on. It looks preliminarily as if VMware Player, the free version of Workstation, remains available, too.

 

[isladogs]

Personally I would do this using a VM such as Virtual Box if you only need to use A2003 to convert some old pre-2000 format MDBs.
However, if you need to use A2003 more extensively, then a dual installation may be useful.
As you already have 64-bit A2019 installed, it should be possible to add A2003 (32-bit) in a specified folder.
For many years I had both A2010 64-bit and A2003 as a dual installation.

See my article for similar examples and advice on the best approach

Installing Multiple Office Versions

This article explains how you can successfully install more than one version of Office on the same workstation including Access runtime and mixed bitness installations

isladogs.co.uk

 

[RonPaii]

Thanks. The VM approach is, of course, the most iron-clad solution. I'm currently running Windows on bare metal, so don't for the time being have the (relevant) hypervisor and VM catalog setup I've had before. It's familiar ground, though, just a bit more friction.

I'm pretty certain A2003 permitted designation of installation directory. I still try to do installs in D:\bin and I think I even got A2007 to go there. This still begs the question about common files.

If you are using a "Pro" version of Windows 10 or 11, Hyper-V is available and can be enable in "Program and Features" / "Turn Windows features on or off". You will find wizards to create Windows or Linux VM.