MS Access running on Windows 7

[Hap007]

Hi,

I have a rather large MS Access application that is written in Access XP /2003 version
Access seems to install in the Program Files Folder
The original author whom wrote the Access application installed the Application in \Program Files\AppDirectory

Now, on a Windows 7 system
Everything seems to get loaded to \Program Files (x86)folder

The application also gets loaded to \Program Files (x86)\AppDirectory

Problem, the app when loaded into the (x86) folder does not work.
If I install the MS access mdb into folder \Program Files\AppDirectory, it appears to work, but I then can no longer change the code in the Access MDB file.

Can anyone shed a little light on the older version of MS Access and how to run these programs in Windows 7

FYI: Not being sure where to ask this question, I also asked the same question in the MS Access forum

Thanks,
Hap...



Access Developer

http://www.fcs-software.com/fcsaccessdev.html

Access based Accounting Solutions - with free source code
Access Consultants forum

http://www.tek-tips.com/threadminder.cfm?pid=1121

 

[dilettante]

Application" is sort of a grandiose term for this. You are probably taking about a Jet MDB that MS Access has embedded a bunch of its macros, Form definitions, QueryDefs, etc. into.

Setting that aside... MDBs (ACCDBs, etc.) should never be installed into Program Files folders. This is true whether you are using Windows XP or Windows 8, the MS Access scripting runtime or a real compiled application. These folders are meant to be locked down to help prevent inadvertant destruction of installed applications and discourage malware piggybacking techniques that replace legit PE files by infected ones.

Three things have changed:
[ul]
[li]64-bit Windows has a Program Files (x86) folder and 32-bit process redirection for backward compatibility.[/li]
[li]Starting with version 6.0 Windows now works to enforce protection of folders that need restriction even if you haven't put normal protection policies in place.[/li]
[li]Due to user demand and marketing decisions Office now comes in 64-bit editions even though for most users there is no gain and much pain.[/li]
[/ul]

The simple solution is to put these Access "applications" where they belong: in the Documents folder. Alternatively you could place them into the per-computer and per-user program data folders [CommonAppData] and [AppDataLocal] (these are symbolic names, actual locations vary by OS version and machine configuration). Or you can toss them into someplace like the new Public folder, or into any randomly created folder on a non-system drive (e.g. D:\MyStuff).

It can get ugly if an Access scripter has dumped a bunch of DLLs and OCXs into the picture. These usually need to go onto the system drive, preferably under one of the acceptable program locations (which vary based on whether the library is a shared library or private customized library). Since many of these libraries are 32-bit and you may have 64-bit Office installed... well you can't get there from here. Go get 32-bit Office.

These aren't really new issues, since Program Files was normally locked down on Win2K and XP in managed networks and 64-bit Windows has been around for a long time now. What has changed recently is Win 6.x's "locked down by default" since 2006 or so (Vista and later) and vendors' pushing of 64-bit hardware and Windows editions (to keep prices high).