Did you check to see if Access 97 is compatible with Vista? The fact that it
shows an error related to \system files could be a hint that it may be time
to update your application to something slightly more current. Access 97,
obviously, is several iterations below Access 2007, in software years - that
is ancient.

Have you tried the "compatibility setting". I think you did, but had to
bring it up. Under compatibility I think there is setting which makes
suggestions on how to apply "shims" which you can use to fool the OS into
allowing the app to run?

If that didn't work - you may be able to do a a step migration. Install an
intermediate version of access, see if you can convert the program to run
under something like access 2000 or 2003 - then import it into access 2007.
Waiting is not always the best thing to do when it comes to custom
applications minus code. Not ragging on you you, just restating the obvious.

"Chris Barnes" <chris-barnes@tamu.edu> wrote in message
news:%23gi5%233ZHJHA.1940@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>A google search of this topic showed some discussions of this exact
>problem, but nothing about how to actually solve the problem.
>
> I have a user who needs to run Access97 on their brand new Vista computer
> (Enterprise - but I don't think that matters). At the end of the
> installation (setup.exe run as Administrator), I get an error that says
> "an error occurred at changing the workgroup database
> SETUP couldn't create a system.mdw file. Reboot your computer and
> run Workgroup Administrator before you run the application"
>
> So I did that (as Administrator).
>
> Nada.
>
> Copied a System.mdw file from another machine and put it in a directory
> called "C:\Apps\Office97Extras\" and pointed to it using Workgroup Admin.
>
> Still nada.
>
>
>
> I am officially out of ideas. Anyone else? Anyone? Bueller?
>
>
> (I looked for an Access newsgroup to post this to, but none of them seemed
> appropriate for this question)
>
> --
>
> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
> Chris Barnes AOL IM: CNBarnes
> chris-barnes@tamu.edu Yahoo IM: chrisnbarnes