ACC: Problems Quitting Microsoft Access

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View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q164455

Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

SYMPTOMS

When you click Exit on the File menu in Microsoft Access, Access does not quit.

This article assumes that you are familiar with Visual Basic for Applications and with creating Microsoft Access applications using the programming tools provided with Microsoft Access. For more information about Visual Basic for Applications, please refer to your version of the "Building Applications with Microsoft Access" manual.

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CAUSE

There are two possible causes for this problem:

You are using Microsoft Access as an automation server, and you have not closed all references to Microsoft Access or Data Access Objects (DAO).
You have not explicitly closed all DAO recordsets or query definitions in your Microsoft Access database. If you are using Visual Basic for Applications code to manipulate recordsets, QueryDefs, or recordset clones (on forms), in some cases you must explicitly close the object; otherwise, Microsoft Access does not close.

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RESOLUTION

When you use Microsoft Access as an automation server, invoke the Quit method to explicitly close the Microsoft Access object when you are finished with it in your code, and then set its object variable equal to Nothing, for example:

   Sub CloseAccess()
      Dim objAccess As Object
      Set objAccess = CreateObject("Access.Application")
      objAccess.Visible = True
      Msgbox "Microsoft Access is open; this procedure will now close it."
      objAccess.Quit
      Set objAccess = Nothing
   End Sub

When you create Recordset or QueryDef objects in code, explicitly close the object when you are finished with it. Microsoft Access automatically closes those types of objects under most circumstances; however, if you explicitly close the object in your code, you can avoid occasional instances when the object remains open. The following sample code opens and closes a Recordset and a QueryDef object in the Northwind sample database:

   Sub CloseObjects()
      Dim db As Database
      Dim rs As Recordset
      Dim qd As QueryDef

      Set db = CurrentDb
      Set rs = db.OpenRecordset("Employees", dbOpenTable)
      Set qd = db.QueryDefs("Invoices")

      rs.MoveLast
      MsgBox "The Employees recordset is open." & vbcr & _
         "The last Employee ID is " & rs![EmployeeID] & "."

      Msgbox "The Invoices query definition is open." & vbcr & _
         "The first field in the query is " & qd.Fields(0).Name

      ' Explicitly close the Recordset and QueryDef objects.
      rs.Close
      qd.Close

   End Sub

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MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

The following example uses automation to open a second instance of Microsoft Access that will not close:

Start Microsoft Access and open the sample database Northwind.mdb.
Create a module and type the following line in the Declarations section:
Dim objAccess As Object

Type the following procedure:

      Sub LeaveOpen()
         Set objAccess = CreateObject("Access.Application")
         objAccess.Visible = True
      End Sub

To test this function, type the following line in the Debug window, and then press ENTER:
LeaveOpen
When another instance of Microsoft Access starts, switch to that instance.
On the File menu, click Exit. Note that the new instance of Microsoft Access minimizes, but does not quit. You must switch back to the first instance of Microsoft Access and close the database. Then the second instance quits automatically because its object variable ceases to exist.

For additional information about another reason that you may not be able to quit Access 97, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

190074 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190074/EN-US/ ) ACC97: Unable to Quit Microsoft Access

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REFERENCES

For more information about using Microsoft Access as an automation server, search the Help Index for "Automation," and please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

147816 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/147816/EN-US/ ) ACC: Using Microsoft Access as an Automation Server

145707 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/145707/EN-US/ ) ACC: Using Automation to Print Microsoft Access Reports

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APPLIES TO

Microsoft Access 95 Standard Edition
Microsoft Access 97 Standard Edition

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kbprb kbprogramming kbusage KB164455

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Retired KB Content Disclaimer

This article was written about products for which Microsoft no longer offers support. Therefore, this article is offered "as is" and will no longer be updated.

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