Installing Access 2010 and 97 on the same computer

[sah0620]

I know, stupid idea. But my job site had the great idea of not upgrading some people's old computers, hence they're stuck using old Access 97 licenses with Win XP. So we have a few select databases written for Access 97 that I need to be able to open & edit without updating them to Access 2010 format. Everything else I do on the same computer is with Access 2010. Computer is Windows 7 32-bit.

Now, I can install Access 97 via compatibility mode (Win XP SP2) and it works fine...until the next time I open Access 2010 where it re-installs some Access 2010 files over the top of Access 97 and the next time I try and open that Access 97 database, it gives me an error and I'm forced to re-install 97 again.

So yes, I can go back and forth installing each Access version every time, but that seems dumb. I assume Access 97 is writing over the top of some Access 2010 file....but the problem is the Access 97 install doesn't seem to let me select what location I want to install it. It just puts it into some generic c:/MicrosoftOffice/Access directory rather than Access97 or something like that. The button to change the installation folder is grayed out. Plus its probably installing some old dll file that Access 2010 uses a newer version of during its install.

So I guess I either need to know what file(s) its overwriting between each install or know how to tell Access 97 to install everything into its own directory.

Thanks for any help,
-Scott

[pkstormy]

Your best bet is to have a 2nd computer with 97 installed. Whenever you have 2 versions of MSAccess on the same computer (whether it be 97, 2000, 2003, 2007 or 2010), each time you open it, it has to go through some ridiculous 'reconfiguration' which can take a few minutes before you get to designing. I'm not sure what files are getting over-written for 97 but I personally would try to keep it on a separate computer since there are a few other caveats even if you get them both running. For example, having 2 versions of MSAccess on your computer and you decide to import a form from one mdb to another mdb (say both of them are 97 versions). After importing that form, if you don't immediately debug/compile (and instead start writing code), you'll undoubtly end up with a corrupt form which will need to be re-imported again. MSAccess just doesn't play nice with MSAccess on the same computer.

[sah0620]

Your best bet is to have a 2nd computer with 97 installed. Whenever you have 2 versions of MSAccess on the same computer (whether it be 97, 2000, 2003, 2007 or 2010), each time you open it, it has to go through some ridiculous 'reconfiguration' which can take a few minutes before you get to designing. I'm not sure what files are getting over-written for 97 but I personally would try to keep it on a separate computer since there are a few other caveats even if you get them both running. For example, having 2 versions of MSAccess on your computer and you decide to import a form from one mdb to another mdb (say both of them are 97 versions). After importing that form, if you don't immediately debug/compile (and instead start writing code), you'll undoubtly end up with a corrupt form which will need to be re-imported again. MSAccess just doesn't play nice with MSAccess on the same computer.

I was thinking that might be my only option. The odd thing is however, the reason this came about is the company gave me a new laptop with Access 2010. My old laptop on Win XP had Access 2002 and 97 and they worked on that same computer without any problems. I just had to remember which databases were 97 and which were 2002 and I'd do a right click "Open With" each time and select the Access version I wanted. It seems to be more an issue now with Win 7.

[kking78]

I have a similar problem and am in the process of updated all the databases from 97 to 2010, in the meantime you could set up a virtual pc on the computer in question and install the older version on the virtual machine.