Replace of Office CD

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gene Hora
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Gene Hora

Have a Microsoft (not OEM) Office 97 Professional with Access 97 installed.
Our PC went south and we had to start over, but the CD has been scratched
and hangs on reading some DLL files early in the install. Microsoft says
this CD isn't any longer replaceable -- only 2002 and XP versions. My
question: If we acquire one of those versions will our Access db convert OK?
Or are we going to have problems?
 
Gene Hora said:
Have a Microsoft (not OEM) Office 97 Professional with Access 97 installed.
Our PC went south and we had to start over, but the CD has been scratched
and hangs on reading some DLL files early in the install. Microsoft says
this CD isn't any longer replaceable -- only 2002 and XP versions. My
question: If we acquire one of those versions will our Access db convert OK?
Or are we going to have problems?
Click to expand...

I have both Access 97 and 2002 databases and open both with 2002 with no
problems. However, if you open an 97 database with 2002, you can't change
the structure of the database (you can change the data). And if you convert
it to 2002, then applications that use it might not be able to anymore. I
think you can convert it to 2002 and if you don't like it, convert it back
to 97. (Or just use the backup copy that you would make before doing any
conversions!)

-karen
 
Have a Microsoft (not OEM) Office 97 Professional with Access 97 installed.
Our PC went south and we had to start over, but the CD has been scratched
and hangs on reading some DLL files early in the install. Microsoft says
this CD isn't any longer replaceable -- only 2002 and XP versions. My
question: If we acquire one of those versions will our Access db convert OK?
Or are we going to have problems?
Click to expand...

I converted several Access 97 databases to Access 2000 when I upgraded
and all went just fine, no problems whatever.
 
Gene Hora said:
Have a Microsoft (not OEM) Office 97 Professional with Access 97 installed.
Our PC went south and we had to start over, but the CD has been scratched
and hangs on reading some DLL files early in the install. Microsoft says
this CD isn't any longer replaceable -- only 2002 and XP versions. My
question: If we acquire one of those versions will our Access db convert OK?
Or are we going to have problems?
Click to expand...

You can purchase some polishing paste at computer stores which does,
in my experience, a remarkable job in clearing up the large scratches.
CD readers can read through small scratches quite well. The key is
that the surface with the scratches is the clear plastic part. The
data is actually on the top site right under the lacquer/paint.

If this is successful then I'd suggest making a copy of the CD and
using the copy in the future. All my original CDs are in my safety
deposit box and I only ever use the copies.

Another option would be to locate another copy of the CD. And use the
certificate number which came on your CD.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
 
Tony Toews said:
You can purchase some polishing paste at computer stores which does,
in my experience, a remarkable job in clearing up the large scratches.
CD readers can read through small scratches quite well. The key is
that the surface with the scratches is the clear plastic part. The
data is actually on the top site right under the lacquer/paint.

If this is successful then I'd suggest making a copy of the CD and
using the copy in the future. All my original CDs are in my safety
deposit box and I only ever use the copies.

Another option would be to locate another copy of the CD. And use the
certificate number which came on your CD.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Click to expand...


Will using a copy of another Office 97 Pro AND the damaged CD key work? I
thought the CD key might be linked to the particular CD with which it came.
That's a possibility since I own an Office 97 Pro CD which I use at home to
work on the church's database. Unfortunately, the church office never made
an archival copy of the CD before and only had the original to work with.
Never a practice of mine!
 
Will using a copy of another Office 97 Pro AND the damaged CD key work? I
thought the CD key might be linked to the particular CD with which it came.
That's a possibility since I own an Office 97 Pro CD which I use at home to
work on the church's database. Unfortunately, the church office never made
an archival copy of the CD before and only had the original to work with.
Never a practice of mine!
Click to expand...

Yes, another CD with your key will work. That was a good suggestion.
(I should have thought of that, since I've done that myself.)
 
Tony:

Your last paragraph gave me an idea. I own my personal copy of the same
program but with SR2 included. The damaged CD belongs to our church office.
I installed the program from my CD and as an experiment tried the CD key of
the damaged CD. It installed without a whimper! As someone suggested to me
by other means, this probably only works because it is an older program;
with the new versions this probably wouldn't work.

The result: We maintain the original CD as proof of ownership and a copy as
archival/install purposes.
Thanks for the idea.
 
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