networked data file errors

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John T. Langton - 14 Feb 2005 21:57 GMT

Hi,

I recently purchased an app written entirely in Access 2003 which places its
data files in a shared directory on a server. All machines are XP Pro.

Intermittendly I experience a problem where I can not access this data file
through the app. When I manuall go to the mapped network drive and click
once just to see the files inside, magically the app begins to work again.

Can anyone point me to what this might be? I've experimented by setting the
timeout settings of the server service on the file server where the data
files are located but that seems to make no difference. Furthermore, this
error only happens once in a while and I've been unable to correlate and
sequence of actions which cause it.

My best guess at this point is that it is some networking compatibility
issue with Access 2003 and XP Pro (and its many updates).

Thanks very much!

Signature

John T. Langton
http://delphi.cs-i.brandeis.edu/~psyc

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Nikos Yannacopoulos - 15 Feb 2005 08:49 GMT

John,

Just guessing here, but I suspect it has to do with a WinXP glitch, due
to which it occasionally fails to load all the network drive mappings
correctly. MS has a solution for it:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;831998
but this is a half-measure (as far as your particular problem is
concerned, if you have the WinXP problem you should do it anyway). If
this is indeed your problem, then the solution is to use UNC addressing
(\\ServereName\Folder\1\Folder....\Filename.ext) instead of drive
mappings. This is generally the advised practice, in that it also makes
your Access project user-mapping-independent (remember, users will
always tweak the one thing you think they never would, and rely on).

HTH,
Nikos

> Hi,
>
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
> Thanks very much!

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