Access may cause an error when you open or delete or compact linked tables

When you compact or when you try to open or to delete a linked table from an Access database window, one of the following behaviors may occur:

• When you double-click to open the linked table, nothing happens.
• When you try to delete the linked table, nothing happens.
• You compact the database and the database appears to close. When you try to reopen the database from Microsoft Windows Explorer, you receive the following error message:
  Could not use <path>\<filename.mdb>; file already in use.
• You receive an Invalid Page Fault in Ntdll.dll.
• Access quits unexpectedly and then tries to send an error report.

The path or the Connect property of the linked table exceeds 128 characters in length.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest Microsoft Jet 4.0 Service Pack. The service pack contains an updated version of the Microsoft Jet 4.0 database engine.

For additional information about how to obtain the latest version of the Jet 4.0 database engine, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Change the location of the linked database to shorten the path. Then run the Linked Table Manager to update the linked table connection.

When the total length of the Connect property for the linked table is less than 128 characters (including the path of the linked database and the table name), the error does not occur.

If the linked backend database is not on the local computer, share the folder where the backend database resides by using a UNC connection (\\<computername>\<sharename>\<filename>) instead of a mapped drive.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem has been resolved in Microsoft Jet 4.0 Service Pack 7 (SP7).

1. To change the path of linked tables, open the database that contains linked tables.
2. On the Tools menu, point to Database Utilities, and then click Linked Table Manager.
3. Select the Always prompt for new location check box.
4. Select the check box for the tables that have links that you want to change and then click OK.
5. In the Select New Location of <table name> dialog box, specify the new location, click Open, and then click OK.