Recently whenever I open Access the installation dialog box appears with the message:

"An error occurred and this feature is no longer functioning properly. Would you like to repair this feature?".

I click yes with Office CD in the CD drive. It seem to be searching the drive and gives this message:

Microsoft Access could'nt find the file 'system.mdw'. This file is required for startup."

This file is definitely in C:\ProgramFiles\CommonFiles\SYSTEM so I know it is there.

I also put a copy in the root of the C drive which does not solve the problem. I un-installed and reinstalled Office several times and this does not work

How can I fix this problem?

Thanks

Can you import data from your access file into another access file?



Sal

Is your app secured?

check this site:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...EN-US%3B162961




Sal

I cannot do that beacuse I get the same problem when I try to open a blank database.

But you had security set-up in Access, Right?



Sal

I do not remember doing any security setup

Access may not be pointing to the system.mdw file.
do a search on the web for system.mdw. You will find a lot of samples.

Look up in help on how to point your DB to the file.



Sal

I recently had the same problem and discovered that my "system.mdw" file had been changed to "system.mdw_". I do not know how or why the file extension was changed to *.mdw_. If you change the file to Read only and delete the _ from the end of the file extension, this takes care of it. Thanks.