[AccessD] VM for different versions of Access - Resolved for now

Hi Robert,

Thanks for the good thoughts.  I love your comment "first mistake was 
Win 98."  Yeah, I agree Win 98 is a mistake.  The situation, though, 
required me to be creative and find an immediately workable solution, 
using the tools I had to hand.  The client is using Office 97 in a mixed 
operating system network (gradually shifting to Win XP SP2).  I didn't 
feel comfortable retro-installing Access 97 and Word 97 alongside my 
Office 2003 - 'cuz I rely on this computer for my livelihood and can't 
afford to wreck it and I don't have a lot of spare modern computers 
lying around.  Also, I don't have extra Win XP SP2 licenses for the VM, 
but I do have a left-over set of licensed Win 98 and second edition 
CDs.  So, I cobbled together a less-than-optimal system to do the 
immediately needed repair for this client. 

Your points are excellent and well-taken.  I will probably invest in the 
VM Workstation.  I think both you and John Colby use it extensively. 

William Hindman told of the Microsoft free and pre-registered WinXPSP2 
install on a VHD - which looks to me to be the ultimate solution for 
multiple PCs.  I have downloaded, but not yet installed it.  He also 
suggested putting Access 2003 runtime on the client's system - which, if 
I were absolutely certain of how to do, I probably would.  Now that the 
immediate crisis is calmed I can learn how.

With the immediate problem resolved, I can focus on the future for this 
client.  It is a local Habitat for Humanity chapter.  There is a 
nationally available database system someone developed called 
Habitracks, but the folks at this chapter do not like it and prefer to 
have their own database to do things their way.  All the great 
suggestions I got from the AccessD list and the DBA tech list will help 
me modernize this database for them to continue doing exactly what they 
want it to do.

Thanks again to you and everybody who responded and guided me through 
this situation.  I have learned an astounding amount of new "stuff" in 
these last four weeks!

Gratefully yours,
Tina


Robert L. Stewart wrote:
> Tina,
>
> See comments below...
>
> At 01:00 PM 4/4/2008, you wrote:
>   
>> From: Tina Norris Fields <tinanfields at torchlake.com>
>> Subject: Re: [AccessD] VM for different versions of Access - Resolved
>>         for now
>> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
>>         <accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
>> Message-ID: <47F6474B.9020407 at torchlake.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> In order to just get my client's database functional - not perfected,
>> just functional - so they can record contributions and send out
>> acknowledgement letters, I did install a VM (using VMWare Server) and
>> load it with Win98 (with second edition update), then I installed as
>> much of Office 97 as I needed (Access and Word, essentially).  About the
>> only problems I really had with that are: 1) it is slow to work in,
>>     
>
> First mistake was Win 98. You should not be running anything under Win XP SP2.
> That is one of the major reasons for the speed you are experiencing.
>
>   
>> 2)
>> the screen resolution is awful, and
>>     
>
> Depending on your screen resolution on your base OS machine, you may 
> have to adjust
> to a poor resolution. Also, Win 98 drives for video inside of a vm is 
> probably the
> issue here.
>
>   
>> 3) it won't see my USB ports,
>>     
>
> A Win 98 issue, not a VM issue. Go to XP.
>
>   
>> so I
>> couldn't use my flash drive or my USB-connected printer (I installed it
>> and had the print feature print to a file, because I just needed to be
>> able to preview my reports, not really print them).  For the future, I
>> have to learn a lot more about this virtual machine business.
>>     
>
> I bought the VMWare Workstation. I think it was about $169. With it I can
> create any number of VMs. I can also control the amount of RAM and disk
> space when they are created. I can also allocate more or less RAM when I
> run them.  If you are going to do this on a regular basis. I would recommend
> getting that version.
>
> Also, remember that RAM is where the VM runs. The more you have the better
> it will run.  I have 4 gb on the notebook that I use most of the time.
> And, even though XP uses on 3 gb, I can easily run 2 or 3 VMs at a time by
> allocating 750 meg to 1 gb for each to run in.
>
> Robert 
>
>
>