Background

Total Visual CodeTools supports all VBA/VB6 hosts, including Visual Basic 6.0 (VB6) and Microsoft Office (including Microsoft Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, etc.). Loaded directly into the Integrated Development Environment (IDE), Total Visual CodeTools gives you a rich set of coding tools to increase your productivity and make your entire development team more effective.

Question

Why Can't I Install Microsoft Access Add-ins and Databases in the Program Files Folder? 

Answer

Installation Folder Background

Years ago, our setup programs defaulted to install itself in the C:\Program Files folder since that was Microsoft's recommended location for installing software. However, our recent setup programs intentionally prevent installation in that folder. This is because since Windows Vista, Microsoft made directories in the Program Files folder READONLY. To prevent viruses that attacked and modified program files like EXE files, Windows prevents files in that folder from changing. It doesn't matter if you have administrator permissions.

Problem for Microsoft Access Add-ins and Databases

This poses a problem for our Microsoft Access add-in products or any Access databases you install. Unlike an EXE file, Access add-ins are Access databases. Though we ship our add-ins as ACCDE or MDE files so its code can't change, the databases still change to store new data and link to tables in other databases. When installed in the Program Files folder, these modifications are not allowed and unexpected errors may arise.

For example, this error may be triggered in Total Visual CodeTools if the program is installed in a READONLY folder: Error 91: Object variable or With block variable not set

Our products avoid this problem by not allowing installation in the Program Files folder and installs, by default, in on one of two places:

• If installing for yourself (user installation), it defaults to your private Users folder
• For Machine installation, it defaults to a folder on your C: drive, which you need to ensure you have READ/WRITE rights

If you are installing one of our older versions, be sure to override the default Program Files folder and select a folder where you have WRITE permissions after installation.

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