Knowledge Base

ACC: Invalid Path Error Message Using UNC with 10+ Characters

Article ID: 105514

Article Last Modified on 5/6/2003

Microsoft Access 1.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Access 1.1 Standard Edition
Microsoft Access 2.0 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q105514

Novice: Requires knowledge of the user interface on single-user computers.

SYMPTOMS

If you attempt to use a universal naming convention (UNC) path in Microsoft Access in which the server name is longer than 10 characters or contains spaces, you get the following error message

\\<servername>\<sharename> isn't a valid path

even though valid UNC server names can be up to 15 characters and can contain spaces.

For example, the path

   SystemDB=\\s234567890\ANYSHARE\SYSTEM.MDA

works correctly, but the following UNC paths cause the above error message to appear:

   SystemDB=\\s2345678901\ANYSHARE\SYSTEM.MDA
   SystemDB=\\s2345 7890\ANYSHARE\SYSTEM.MDA

CAUSE

This problem is not caused directly by Microsoft Access, but rather by an external host, such as Microsoft Windows for Workgroups, or by a network problem. Microsoft Access does not parse UNC paths; it hands them off to external processes.

RESOLUTION

One way to work around this problem is to connect the server to a logical drive before using Microsoft Access and then reference the logical drive instead of the server.

For example, you want to use a server named \\MY SERVER\MYSHARE, and you are using Microsoft LAN Manager. To reference this server, type:

   NET USE F: \\MY SERVER\MYSHARE

In your MSACCESS.INI file, reference it as follows:

   SystemDB=F:\SYSTEM.MDA

STATUS

This behavior no longer occurs in Microsoft Access version 7.0, which can handle UNC names larger than 10 characters.

Additional query words: attaching

Keywords: kbfix kbenv kbprb KB105514