ACC2000: Installing Access 2000 Overwrites Existing Access Shortcut

Although you chose to keep an earlier version of Microsoft Access on your computer when you installed Microsoft Access 2000, Microsoft Access overwrote your existing Microsoft Access shortcut, instead of creating a new Microsoft Access 2000 shortcut.

You can create a new shortcut that points to the earlier version of Access. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the Windows desktop, point to New, and then click Shortcut.
2. In the Create Shortcut dialog box, click Browse, and browse to the folder where the earlier version of Msaccess.exe is installed.
3. Select Msaccess.exe and click Open. Click Next, and in the Select a name for the shortcut dialog box, enter a shortcut name, for example:
   Microsoft Access 97
4. Click Finish. A new shortcut that points to the earlier version of Access appears on the desktop.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

If you choose not to upgrade your existing version of Access when you install Access 2000, but instead choose to keep the earlier version on the same computer with Access 2000, the shortcut on the Start menu that you used to start the earlier version, now starts Access 2000.

When you open Access 2000, the Open an existing file box will display both earlier version databases and Access 2000 databases. However, if you choose to open one of the earlier version databases, you will be prompted to either open or convert the database. (This is expected behavior.)

Steps to Reproduce Problem

1. Install an earlier version of Microsoft Access, such as Access 97, on a clean computer.
   
   NOTE: Make sure that the shortcut starts the version of Access that you just installed.
2. Install Access 2000 on the same computer and choose to keep the earlier version of Access during the installation.
   
   NOTE: After the installation is complete, you may have to restart the computer before proceeding.
   
   Note that the shortcut that you used to start the earlier version is now replaced with an Access 2000 shortcut. The shortcut will have an Access 2000 icon associated with it, instead of the earlier version icon, and it will start Access 2000 when you click it.