Tag Archives: MDE

Cannot make an MDE file in Access, even with a low form / table count.

I was working on an Access Database today, and when I tried to make a new MDE I got the “Microsoft Access was unable to create an MDE database” error.  Specifically, it said I may have too many tables or forms, since the limit was 2048.  Having a total of about 4 forms and 3 tables, I doubted that was the problem.

Turns out if you have a VBScript error the MDE creation will fail as well.   In my case I had deleted a form control but was still referencing it in code.  Fixing that solved the problem.  To do so, open the code editor in access, then go to Tools -> Compile.  If there are any errors it will alert you right away.  Fortunately for me it was just one 🙂

Just another reference for myself.  Thanks for reading!