Knowledge Base

ACC97: Blank DB Icon Missing in Access 95 After Installing 97

Article ID: 163628

Article Last Modified on 1/19/2007

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Access 97 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q163628

Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, you should first make a backup copy of the registry files (System.dat and User.dat). Both are hidden files in the Windows folder.

SYMPTOMS

After you install Microsoft Office 97 Professional Edition or Microsoft Access 97, if you still have Microsoft Access 7.0 on your computer the Blank Database icon in Microsoft Access 7.0 is missing.

CAUSE

The Windows registry entries associated with the Blank Database icon were deleted during Microsoft Office 97 Professional Edition or Microsoft Access 97 Setup.

RESOLUTION

The following steps create a simple text document that you can use to restore the keys and values in the registry needed to bring back the Blank Database icon in Microsoft Access 7.0.

WARNING: Incorrectly editing the registry can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall Windows 95 or Windows NT. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect editing of the registry can be solved. Edit the registry at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the Changing Keys And Values online Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe). Note that you should make a backup copy of the registry files (System.dat and User.dat) before you edit the registry.

Start Notepad or another text editor.
Type the following text, observing these important guidelines:
- REGEDIT4 must be in all capital letters.
- The underscore (_) at the end of the line containing the name of the registry key is a continuation character. Remove the underscore and type the entire key on one line.
- Replace the path specified in the Command key with the path to your Microsoft Access 7.0 Msaccess.exe file. The default path is shown in the example.
- Be sure you use double backslashes (\\) in the Command key path.
```
       REGEDIT4

       [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft _
       Office\95\FileNew\NFT\General\Blank Database]
       "Name"="Blank Database"
       "Position"=dword:00000000
       "Returncode"=dword:00000001
       "Type"=".mdn"
       "Command"="C:\\MSOffice\\Access\\Msaccess.exe /NEWDB 1"
                                
```
Save the file as Blankico.reg.
Using Windows Explorer or File Manager, locate and double-click the Blankico.reg file. It will automatically register itself in the Windows registry.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Access 97.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Problem

Run Setup to install Microsoft Access 7.0.
Run Setup to install Microsoft Access 97. Click No when prompted if you want to remove the earlier version.
Start Microsoft Access 7.0, and click Cancel in the opening dialog box.
On the File menu, click New Database. Note that the Blank Database icon is missing from the New dialog box.

Keywords: kbbug KB163628

Microsoft KB Archive/163628

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