ACC97: "Microsoft Access can't open the Zoom box" Error Message

• Microsoft Access 97

SYMPTOMS

Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

When you try to open the Zoom box, you receive the following message:

   Microsoft Access can't open the Zoom box.

   The Microsoft Access Utility add-in is missing or was modified. Rerun
   Microsoft Access or Microsoft Office Setup to reinstall Microsoft
   Access and the Microsoft Access Utility add-in.

CAUSE

The Utility add-in Utility.mda is read-only. For example, this problem can occur when you create an administrative installation of Microsoft Office 97 Professional Edition or Microsoft Access 97, and you then perform a Run from Network installation on a workstation. If the server is running Microsoft Windows NT, and if you have set the NTFS permissions of the MSOffice folder to Read (RX), the Utility.mda file located in the Office subdirectory in the MSOffice folder inherits those permissions.

WORKAROUND

There are two workarounds for this problem. Use Method 1 if you are running Microsoft Access or Microsoft Office from a network.

Method 1

If you have performed an administrative installation on a server running Microsoft Windows NT, and you have set the NTFS directory permissions of the MSOffice folder to Read (RX), use Special File Access to set the NTFS permissions of the Utility.mda file to Special Access with Read, Write and Execute (RWX).

NOTE: If you have performed an administrative installation on a server running Novell Netware version 3.x or 4.x, and you have set the directory permissions of the MSOffice folder to Read and File Scan, you need to add Write permissions to the Utility.mda file.

Method 2

If you installed Microsoft Access or Microsoft Office locally, be sure that the file attribute of Utility.mda is set to Archive.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

1. Run an administrative installation of Microsoft Office 97 Professional Edition.

2. Set the NTFS directory permissions of the MSOffice folder to Read (RX), and set the NTFS directory permissions of the Workdir folder to Special Access (RWXD).

3. From a workstation, connect to the administrative installation point and run Setup.exe.

4. When you are prompted to choose the type of installation that you want, click the Run From Network Server button.

5. After the installation is complete, start Microsoft Access and create a new, blank database.

6. In the Database window, click the Forms tab, and then click New. Create a new, blank form that is not based to any table or query.

7. Add a text box to the form.

8. Right-click the text box, and then click Properties.

9. Click the ControlSource property box and press SHIFT+F2 to open the Zoom box.

   Note that you receive the error described in the "Symptoms" section.

REFERENCES

For more information about the Zoom box, search the Help Index for "zooming, Zoom box to enter data."

For more information about running a network installation of Microsoft Office 97, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q159772
   TITLE     : OFF97: Contents of the Netwrk8.txt Readme File