Co-Existence 2002 / 97

[itsmarkdavies]

Could anyone tell me if there are any known problems installing Access 2002 and Access 97 on the same machine ?. I want to run both on my Windows 98 Laptop if this is possible. Thanks for your help.

 

[commandolomo]

My work pc has both versions 2K & 97, running Windows 2000, and I experience no problems. The only slight nuance is that v97 was installed first, and so the registry keys all point to v97 whenever you try to open a database - regardless of what version the db was created in.

All you need to do is that if you have a 2k or 2002 Access db, you just open th db from within the correct version of Access - e.g. File>Open from the menu bar, or "Open an existing file" from the startup screen.

Incidentally, a later version of Access will open a 97 db, and give you the option to convert it, or to open it as read only (you cannot make any changes to the db structure in read only mode.)

If you try to open a 2k / 2002 db in v97, you will get an "unrecognised file format" error message.

This is based on my experience, and other 'dual version users' may experience other difficulties or issues I have not encountered - as some American board members may say, this is just my 2 cents worth!!

 

[itsmarkdavies]

Thanks

Thanks for the info. "commandolomo". I`ll give it a try.

 

[commandolomo]

All the best Mark, but my comments come with no liability or warranty

 

[ColinEssex]

All the best Mark, but my comments come with no liability or warranty

I use the same setup as you commandolomo and as yet haven't had a problem. (touch wood)

As you say you just need to know if poss what version it was written in originally.

Col

 

[Pat Hartman]

For future reference. I was running A2K and tried to install A2003. What a clusterf__k! Outlook goes into a tight loop. Neither version will run at all. Access has bugs also. For example the linked tables manager won't recognize any linked tables. I never got to the other office applications before I restored and did a clean upgrade. The most annoying problem was that the MOS (Microsoft Office Specialist) testing software I purchased from MeasureUp! refused to work. It kept trying to reference the A2003 Office apps and saying that they were not the correct versions. It could no longer find the A2K Office apps. At least the MeasureUp! people were nice about the problem and refunded my money. But now I'm using an inferior product to help study for the exams.

WHY, WHY, WHY can't Microsoft get its act together on this issue? It may be true that users don't usually need multiple versions of the Office apps installed, but most developers do.