Compatibility with Office 2000

In June 1999, the production version of Microsoft Office2000 become available for sale. This new version of Office includes a major upgrade of Access known as Access2000 (aka Access Version 8). Releases 1.18 and later of the DVD Register (formerly the Laser Disc Register) are compatible with Access2000. This page may be of interest is you are using Release 1.17 or earlier.

If you have installed a version of the Laser Disc Register 1.17 or earlier, then installing Access2000 will break the Laser Disc Register. However you can use the following work around. With the work around you will be able to continue to use the Laser Disc Register and also your retail version of Access2000.

Upgrading to Access 2000 after Installing the DVD Register

The Standard and Small Business Editions of Office2000 do not include Access2000. Installation of these versions does not affect the DVD Register. The following procedure is necessary for the Professional, Premium, and Developer Editions of Office2000 or future versions that include Access2000.

If you want to upgrade to Office2000 and retain compatibility with your currently installed version of the DVD Register, you must use the custom setup option of the setup procedure for Office 2000. The default setup procedure of Office2000 will remove all previous versions of the Office applications including Access. However the custom setup procedure will permit you to retain the older versions of the Office applications. Use the following procedure:

Using the "Add/Remove Programs" utility in the control panel to remove from your PC earlier version of the Office application such as WORD, EXCEL, or POWERPOINT that you do not want to retain. However do not remove Access. The custom setup procedure for Office2000 will permit you to retain the older versions but you must retain all or none of them. You cannot select to retain Access and remove other applications once the Office2000 setup application has started.
Start the Office2000 setup application and select the "Customize" option.
When prompted, you will need to change the target Office2000 folder from:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 2000
CRITICAL: You should put a check on the box: "Save the Applications"
Continue with the Office2000 setup procedure.

Reinstalling the Laser Disc Register if You Have Already Installed Access 2000

If you are reading this page, then you may have already installed Access2000 and broken the DVD Register. The following procedure can be used to restore the DVD Register to operation. You will need to temporarily change the name of the file msaccess.exe on your PC and then reinstall the DVD Register from the original CD or download. By renaming msaccess.exe, the DVD Register Setup will install the runtime version of Access 97 that you will need to use the DVD Register. Use the following procedure:

Make a copy of you database. This procedure will reinstall the factory database and will overwrite your personal catalog. Locate the application database file usually C:\Program Files\Laser Disc Register 1.xx\DVD Register.mde (alternatively Laser Disc Register.mde). Copy this file to a backup location in another folder. Change the name of the file to DVD Register Backup.mde
Open Windows Explorer and select the drive where you have installed Access 2000, This would normally be the C: drive. Now select the command Tools>Find>Files or Folders… Enter the file name: msaccess.exe into the Named: field. Click the “Find Now” command button to start the search.
When the search completes, select the file and the select the command File>Rename. The file will normally be located at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office Change the name of the file to msxxxxxx.exe Close the Find window.
Install the DVD Register from the CD-R or the install pack from a download.
Restore the name of the file that you changed in Step 2. Use can use the Find command or you can navigate directly to the folder where you found the file in Step 2. Change the name from msxxxxxx.exe to msaccess.exe
Copy the backup file you made in Step one and overwrite the factory installed file with the same name