[German]Something is happening for troubled users of Microsoft Access, who have been suffering for weeks from an Access ACCDE/MDE bug introduced by an update. When using forms, Access reports that the requested class library or wizard is not a VBA project. Microsoft seems to have found the bug and is in the process of gradually rolling out a fix for the various Microsoft Office versions. However, at the time of writing this post, not all fixes had been released.
The Access bug, a review
I had covered the Access issues in Office 365, following reader comments, in the blog post Office updates destroys Access run time and apps. Users who had installed update 15330.20246 on click-to-run versions of Office 365 were getting the following error when calling a form in the Access package:
You entered the On Load expression as the Event Property setting. This expression caused an error: Requested class library or wizard is not a VBA project.
There is an extensive discussion from the readership on the German edition of the above blog post (linked within the articles header), where individuals affected also contribute workarounds. Then there was the July 2022 patchday, and it turns out that Office 2013 update KB5002121 and Office 2016 update KB5002112 also cause the problem.
Microsoft confirms the bug
The bug was reported by numerous users – but also by me – via various channels to Microsoft. Microsoft then wrote on Microsoft Answers forum that the problem had been received and was being investigated by the team. On July 15, 2022, the support article Error when trying to open an ACCDE/MDE file created in a different version of Access was published by Microsoft, in which the error is confirmed. When opening an ACCDE/MDE file, the user may receive an error message with the text "Requested type library or wizard is not a VBA project".
Microsoft writes that this issue was introduced with the July 12, 2022 Patch Tuesday update for all supported versions of Access – but that's not really true, as the issue was brought to my attention before the updates were released. The bug occurs as a function of the updates rolled out for Office in July. In the support post, Microsoft lists all affected Office versions for the first time:
| Office Product | Issue Introduced |
| Office 2013 | KB5002121 |
| Office 2016-MSI | KB5002112 |
| Office 2019 Volume Licensed | Version 1808, Build 10388.20027 |
| Office LTSC 2021 Volume Licensed | Version 2108, Build 14332.20345 |
| Office 2016 Retail | Version 2206, Build 15330.20246 |
| Office 2019 Retail | Version 2206, Build 15330.20246 |
| Office 2021 Retail | Version 2206, Build 15330.20246 |
| Microsoft 365 Apps Current Channel | Version 2206, Build 15330.20246 |
| Microsoft 365 Apps Monthly Enterprise Channel | Version 2205, Build 15225.20288 |
| Microsoft 365 Apps Monthly Enterprise Channel | Version 2204, Build 15128.20312 |
| Microsoft 365 Apps Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel (Preview) | Version 2202, Build 14931.20604 |
| Microsoft 365 Apps Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel | Version 2202, Build 14931.20604 |
| Microsoft 365 Apps Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel extended | Version 2108, Build 14326.21062 |
| Microsoft 365 Apps Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel extended | Version 2102, Build 13801.21528 |
| Microsoft 365 Apps under Windows 7 | Version 2002, Build 12527.22183 |
In the article, Microsoft stated as a workaround that you could recreate the original database used to create the ACCDE/MDE file using the same Office version. But this has the disadvantage that this solution does not work with other Office versions (has also been discussed in the comments here on the German blog post Zerschießt Office Version 2206 (Build 15330.20246) Access-Bibliotheken?).
Microsoft stated shipping fixes
Microsoft had already promised to work on a solution for this problem. There is no mention of this in the support post yet, but in the Microsoft Answers forum post KB5002121 breaks MS Access runtime applications from July 13, 2022, Shane Groff from Microsoft got in touch on July 18, 2022. Initial fixes are now available. It states:
A fix will be released. The timing will depend on what version and channel you are using. As I posted on this thread previously, this page will have the information about how to get a fix when it is available.
Shane Groff
Access Engineering
But the linked page is the above mentioned support page from Microsoft, where currently (19 July 2022, 14:51) no further information could be found. However, according to this German comment (thanks for pointing it out), Office version 2206 (build 15330.20264) from July 18, 2022 is available in the Current Channel and fixes the bug:
This update fixes an issue that could cause Access to fail to open ACCDE and MDE files.
However, I assume that the fixes will be gradually deployed to the affected Access versions over the course of this week. Looking at the links below, Microsoft has been "swimming" patching Access in the last few months. Thanks here to Thomas Migge and the anonymous user for the tips.
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