Access 2003 and 2010 on same computer

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I have a computer running Access 2003. I want to install Access 2010, but I also want to keep Access 2003 on that machine. Can it be done? If so, how? (In the past I have installed a new Office application and found, too late, that it destroyed my older one. I can’t afford to have that happen this time.)

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A problem could exist if Access/Office 2010 is the 64-bit version, first version available as either 32-bit or 64-bit. I couldn’t install Office FrontPage 2003 because of it.

Otherwise use the Custom install for 2010 to change the install Folder and it shouldn’t affect 2003 but there seems to be a lot of intermingling with Windows and/or Internet Explorer.

The 32-bit version of Windows installs programs in C:Program Files and the 64-bit version of Windows used C:Program Files for 64-bit programs and C:Program Files (x86) for 32-bit programs.

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"

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Yikes! I was afraid of something like that. Computer A runs Access, Word, Excel, and Publisher 2003 and I’m reluctant to replace them all. Computer B runs the same programs in 2010. I’m looking for a way to run my Access application from either computer. (The data will reside on one computer, while the “front end” could hopefully reside on both.)

Since Access 2003 and 2010 use different file formats, I imagine that it’s not possible to run “front ends” in two different versions accessing the same “back end” data. I may be wrong on that, though.

Word and Excel are both OK with accessing .DOC and .XLS documents from Office 2010.

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Actually, Access 2010 will happily run a .mdb database, and so will 2013. But 2003 will not be able to connect to a .accdb format database. As long as you keep using the .mdb format things will work just fine.

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There is a Compatibility Pack [file converter] for Office 2003, Office XP/2002 and Office 2000 to be able to use the later versions of files but it covers only Excel, PowerPoint and Word.
https://support.microsoft.com/kb/923505?wa=wsignin1.0

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"

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Wendell: Thanks! I’ll give it a try.

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No problem running 2003 and 2010. I had 2003, 2007, and 2010 running on same computer.

When installing, in addition to renaming the directory (as someone else pointed out), I think you may encounter an option to remove prior versions. Of course don’t click that!

Be advised that switching between Access2003 and 2010 will take awhile each time you do it. It’s not like switching between Access 2000 and 2003.

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I have a computer running Access 2003. I want to install Access 2010, but I also want to keep Access 2003 on that machine. Can it be done? If so, how? (In the past I have installed a new Office application and found, too late, that it destroyed my older one. I can’t afford to have that happen this time.)

I no longer install more than one version of Office on a computer. Although some say it can be done successfully, it’s dicey IMO. Before I started using virtual machines, I would see little incompatibilities when I co-installed versions of Office. Such things as Help not working or certain DLLs being incompatible (DLL hell).

I use virtual machines for the past 4+ years now. The setup I’ve decided upon is to have the most current version of Office+Windows on my base hardware. Then for each version of Access/Office I have to support among my clients, I set up a virtual machine running Office and the version of Windows I want running with that Office. Currently my three virtual machines are Office 2003/Win 7 Pro, Office 2007/Win 7 Pro, and Office 2010/Win 7 Pro. My base machine is Office 2013/Win 8.1 Pro.

The separation of the various Office suites is great! If two versions of Access need to get at the same file, I keep it in a shared folder on the base computer, with each virtual machine pointing at that folder too.

I use VMware Workstation 10, but I think Hyper-V in Windows 8.1 Pro may work as well, and I think it’s free; I have not explored it.

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Thanks!

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Thanks to everyone for their input. In the end, WendellB’s reply was the most useful: I don’t need the two versions of Access, since they both can handle .MDB files.

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