ODE97: Replication Manager Leaves Replica Set Info in Registry

• Microsoft Office 97 Developer Edition Tools

SYMPTOMS

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

When you remove Microsoft Replication Manager 3.5 from your computer, and then reinstall it, you may receive the following message when you start Replication Manager:

   The managed replica '<Path and Filename>' doesn't exist or isn't
   accessible.

CAUSE

When you remove Microsoft Replication Manager 3.5 from your computer, the Windows Registry keys that store information about managed replicas remain.

RESOLUTION

When you see the message described in the "Symptoms" section, you are also prompted with the question "Would you like to remove it from the list of managed replicas?" If the managed replica no longer exists, click Yes to remove it from the managed replica list. If the replica is temporarily inaccessible, and you still want to manage it with Replication Manager, click No.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Office 97 Developer Edition Tools. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

The message is the same one that you see any time you start Microsoft Replication Manager and it cannot find a managed replica. However, when you remove Replication Manager from your computer, you might expect information about which replica databases it managed to be removed also.

If you install Microsoft Replication Manager 3.5 as part of ODE Tools Setup, remove it, and then reinstall it again later, the replicas that it previously managed may still exist. If those replicas are accessible when you start Replication Manager, you won't even see the message; the replicas will automatically appear in Replication Manager's managed replica list.

If you have Replication Manager on your computer as part of a run-time application, and you remove that application, the information about the managed replicas remains in the Windows Registry. If you later install another run-time application that includes Replication Manager, the original managed replica displayed in the message no longer exists on your computer.

Steps to Reproduce Problem

1. Set up and configure Replication Manager on your computer.

2. Add at least one managed replica to Replication Manager.

3. Remove Replication Manager from your computer.

4. Move, rename, or delete the managed replica.

5. Reinstall Replication Manager, and then start it. Note that you receive the message as Replication Manager looks for the replicas it managed in its previous installation.

REFERENCES

For more information about using Replication Manager, search the Microsoft ODE Tools Help Index for "Replication Manager," or refer to the Replication Manager white paper included with Microsoft ODE Tools.