XP and Office 2000

[AyJayEL]

When I try to run Access 2000 in XP I get the message (similar to this) system.mdw missing. Anyone got any ideas. I can't find anything on Microsoft's knowledgebase. Obviously I know it is the main file for Access but does anyone know how to get it onto my pc and where it should go (in XP).

Also when I open any of the programs in Office it seems to be installing the program each time looking for the installation disk. I have tried uninstalling and re-installing to no avail.

Help....X-) Learn something new every day *:->*

 

[dilettante]

All I can tell you is I'm using Office 2000 on WinXP without a problem, including Access. So perhaps it helps to at least be sure it is possible ;-)

I think the repeated "install" sequences are because you have some things you use quite often installed as "install on demand." I'm not sure the defaults were chosen really well on this. I recall going through and forcing installation of all the stuff I know I'm likely to use. You can use Add/Remove Programs to adjust your Office installation, and probably to repair it too.

 

[moonlite]

Do you have Admin rights to install the app all the way? Are you a member of a domain or is your setup stand alone?

 

[dilettante]

This is a workgroup situation, not part of a domain.

Yes, I used full admin rights to install.

 

[AyJayEL]

OK everyone. I have admin rights (this is only one pc, not a network, with several people accessing it). I forced a 'run from my computer' installation when I first installed. It's not prompting me to install a new feature, it's when I first start the program, be it Word, Excel or whatever.

I did a search of my hard drive for system.mdw and found too instances of it. One in my user profile and one in Office. I tried copying it to all sorts of places to see if that would fix it.

It's driving me potty. I have a database I need to use. Eeek help. %-( Learn something new every day *:->*

 

[Rhino21n]

I have been running Office 2000 with XP and have not had difficulties. Have you run all the updates to Office? If not, you can get them from the Microsoft download page. I'm not certain that will help, but getting things as far up to date as you can usually has beneficial effects.

 

[DomainMaster]

if you double-click on the "system.mdw" does it start ms access for you ?

I have used office 2k under XP with no problems....

try uninstall and re-install....

Jon. Jon.
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[debonairOne]

I am sure that someone has already thought of this, but have you checked to make sure the registry key is intact... mine looks like this "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Access\Jet\4.0\Engines" this is the name of the key and the contents are "C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\Office\SYSTEM.MDW"... now you can remove the tildes (~) and replace them with the correct information, for some reason mine doesn't like long file names... but it works...

Debonair...

 

[AyJayEL]

System.mdw does start access but then it says it needs repairing. Go through the motions and then reports that it can't find system.mdw!

So I uninstalled and re-installed. Same thing happens.

I can't get on to the internet at home or if I can it will only stay linked for 5 mins at most so I can't download any updates etc.

It's going out the window next.....

Anyway thank you to everyone who is trying to help. Any ideas greatly appreciated.

Andrea Learn something new every day *:->*

 

[AyJayEL]

Hey, just found this article on the Knowledge base

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q266769

Quote 'When you start Microsoft Access 2000 or a run-time application with a custom profile, you receive the following error message: An error occurred and this feature is no longer functioning properly. Would you like to repair this feature now? After you click Yes or No , you receive the following error message: Microsoft Access couldn't find file 'system.mdw'. This file is required for startup. '

Just the messages I get. I shall go home tonight and try the solution. Wish me luck! I'll let you know.

Andrea
Learn something new every day *:->*

 

[AyJayEL]

Hi everyone. Success. It worked. Basically all you do is look for the msaccess.exe file and make a shortcut to it on your desk then at the end of the shortcut add \Workgrp and the line to your system.mdw (not making myself clear am I?)

Like this ""C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\MSACCESS.EXE\Wrkgrp C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\system.mdw"

Always use the shortcut to start Access.

If that doesn't work for anyone who has this problem and finds this thread, there is more in the article but this was the first thing you could try. Learn something new every day *:->*