ACC97: "Microsoft Access can't open the Zoom box" Error Message

ID: Q179695

The information in this article applies to:
Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.


SYMPTOMS

When you try to open the Zoom box, you may receive the following message:

Microsoft Access can't open the Zoom box.

The Microsoft Access Utility add-in is missing or was modified. Rerun Microsoft Access or Microsoft Office Setup to reinstall Microsoft Access and the Microsoft Access Utility add-in.


CAUSE

The Utility add-in, Utility.mda, is read-only. For example, this problem can occur when you create an administrative installation of Microsoft Office 97 Professional Edition or Microsoft Access 97, and you then perform a Run From Network installation on a workstation. If the server is running Microsoft Windows NT, and if you have set the NTFS permissions of the MSOffice folder to Read (RX), the Utility.mda file located in the Office subdirectory in the MSOffice folder inherits those permissions.


RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain Microsoft Office 97 Service Release 2 (SR-2).

For additional information about SR-2, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q151261 OFF97: How to Obtain and Install MS Office 97 SR-2

To temporarily work around this problem if you are running Microsoft Access or Microsoft Office from a network, use the following method.

After you perform an administrative installation on a server running Microsoft Windows NT, and you have set the NTFS directory permissions of the Office folder to Read (RX), you need to a) create a persistent locking file (.ldb) for the Utility.mda, and b) grant all users (RWX) permissions to both files.
  1. On the server computer, give the shared directory that contains your Office 97/Access 97 administrative installation sharing permissions of Change.


  2. Change the NTFS directory permissions of the Office folder of the administrative installation to Read/Write (RWX). Click to clear "Replace permission on Existing Files," and then click OK.


  3. Using one of the Run From Server installations of Microsoft Access, open a database, open a query, and then open the Zoom box by selecting a field in the QBE grid, and pressing SHIFT+F2.

    NOTE: This causes a file named Utility.ldb to be created in the Office directory on the server.


  4. Set the permissions for both the Utility.mdb and the Utility.ldb files to Special Access - Read, Write and Execute (RWX).

    NOTE: Depending on the account that created the Utility.ldb file, Ownership of this file may have to be taken before its permissions can be changed.


  5. Re-set the permissions of the Office directory to Read (RX) access, click to clear "Replace permission on Existing Files," and then click OK.


The Utility.ldb file is now persistently open, and the Zoom box will be available to all users.

NOTE: If you ever need to delete the Utility.ldb file, you will have to have permission to do so. This will require a user or group to have either Change or Full Control NTFS permissions on the directories and files that makeup the administrative install.


STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft 97. This problem was corrected in Microsoft Office 97 Service Release 2 (SR-2).


MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Problem


  1. Run an administrative installation of Microsoft Office 97 Professional Edition.


  2. Set the NTFS directory permissions of the MSOffice folder to Read (RX), and set the NTFS directory permissions of the Workdir folder to Special Access (RWXD).


  3. From a workstation, connect to the administrative installation point and run Setup.exe.


  4. When you are prompted to choose the type of installation that you want, click the Run From Network Server button.


  5. After the installation is complete, start Microsoft Access and create a new, blank database.


  6. In the Database window, click the Forms tab, and then click New. Create a new, blank form that is not based to any table or query.


  7. Add a text box to the form.


  8. Right-click the text box, and then click Properties.


  9. Click the ControlSource property box and press SHIFT+F2 to open the Zoom box.

    Note that you receive the error described in the "Symptoms" section.



REFERENCES

For more information about the Zoom box, search the Help Index for "zooming, Zoom box to enter data."

For more information about running a network installation of Microsoft Office 97, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q159772 OFF97: Contents of the Netwrk8.txt Readme File

Additional query words: zoom-in not available cannot zoombox 


Keywords          : kberrmsg StpNet 
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbbug

Last Reviewed: June 16, 1999