possibly - if the mde is in a folder you do not have write access to - I certainly know of companies who disable users from being able to put files in the c:\ root - it is not a particularly good place to use.
with regards the message, that is not one I've seen before and wonder if it is being generated by error handling code
not clear to me why you have vba code as a backdrop to your error and message (and the debug button looks active) but you are talking about a mde
HA! I thought I was being clever by sandwiching the VBA UPDATE statement between the two Access messages in taking the screenshot, one when the error was raised and the other when the error Help was requested.
I agree with you regarding the placement of the file directly in the root and I don't remember if I've ever done that in the past......... I had a special reason for doing so but will dream up an alternative. Like you, I've never seen the error before and while it was easy to test removal of the error with a simple copy elsewhere and re-link I was curious as to whether anyone else had seen the error.
At this point, I don't think it's worth the time and effort to pursue Win 10 permission policies to see if the file can remain in the root without errors, but clearly that was the problem.
Thanks,
Bill