You may receive a "The Visual Basic for Applications project in the database is corrupt" error message when you try to open an object that is in a compiled database or in a compiled project in Access 2002, in Access 2002 SP1, or in Access 2002 SP2 (897764)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Office Access 2003
Microsoft Access 2002
Microsoft Access 2002 Service Pack 1 (SP-1)
Microsoft Access 2002 Service Pack 2 (SP-2)

SYMPTOMS

When you try to open an object that is in a compiled database (.mde) or in a compiled project (.ade) in Microsoft Access 2002, in Microsoft Access 2002 Service Pack 1 (SP1), or in Microsoft Access 2002 Service Pack 2 (SP2), you may receive the following error message:

The Visual Basic for Applications project in the database is corrupt.

If you click OK, the error message reappears. Additionally, you cannot exit Access 2002 or close the compiled database or the compiled project without clicking End Task in Microsoft Windows Task Manager.

CAUSE

This issue occurs when a compiled database or a compiled project was compiled in Microsoft Office Access 2003. Access 2002 cannot open or modify a compiled database or a compiled project that was compiled in a later version of Access. Access 2002 SP1 and Access 2002 SP2 cannot modify an object that is in a compiled database or in a compiled project that was compiled in a later version of Access. However, Access 2002 SP1 and Access 2002 SP2 can incorrectly open a compiled database or a compiled project that was compiled in a later version of Access.

WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, update Access 2002 to Microsoft Access 2002 Service Pack 3 (SP3). Access 2002 SP3 cannot open a compiled database or a compiled project that was compiled in Access 2003. After you update Access 2002 to Access 2002 SP3, when you try to open a compiled database or a compiled project that was compiled in Access 2003, you receive the following error message:

The database is in an unrecognized format. The database may have been created with a later version of Microsoft Access than the one you are using. Upgrade your version of Microsoft Access to the current one, then open this database.

For more information about how to obtain Access 2002 Service Pack 3, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

832671 Description of Microsoft Office XP Service Pack 3

Modification Type:	Major	Last Reviewed:	5/13/2005
Keywords:	kbUpdate kbDatabase kbopenfile kberrmsg kbtshoot kbprb KB897764 kbAudEndUser kbAudDeveloper