Data access pages are empty after you install Internet Explorer 6.0 Service Pack 1 or Windows XP Service Pack 1

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This article was previously published under Q327952

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

This article applies only to a Microsoft Access database (.mdb).

SYMPTOMS

After you install Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1), some data access pages do not display data when the page is opened in Page view in Microsoft Access. When you open a data access page in Design view, you receive the following error message:

Cannot find the database or some database objects that this page refers to. Update the connection information of the page, or fix the references to the missing database objects.

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CAUSE

This behavior occurs if the page contains a relative path to the database, and you have installed either Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 or Windows XP SP1. Because of security changes in Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 you can no longer use a relative path to the database.

Note The pages in the Northwind sample database each contain a relative path to the database, and therefore exhibit the behavior that is described in the "Symptoms" section of this article.

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RESOLUTION

Change the connection string to use an absolute or a universal naming convention (UNC) path to the database. For example, instead of using Northwind.mdb, use either of the following:

\\servername\sharename\Northwind.mdb

-or-

c:\program files\microsoft office\office10\samples\northwind.mdb

To modify the connection string for the page, follow these steps:

Open the page in Design view.
Click OK in response to the initial message.
Right-click the page and then click Page Properties.
Click the Data tab, right-click the ConnectionString property, and then click Build.
Click the Connection tab, modify the path to the database under the Connection tab, and then click OK.
Save the page.

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MORE INFORMATION

Steps to reproduce the behavior

Install Windows XP SP1.
Open the Northwind sample database.
Open the Analyze Sales data access page in Page view.

Notice that the page displays no data.
Open the page in Design View.

Notice that the error message that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section appears.

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