I have tried to solve your problem

I created a report as u have created and used the comands that you have used , and I also could not open the datafile from other application.

The problem is that I did not close the instanse of crystalreports after creating the report.

So close the instance of crystalreports and try.
Also try with the code that I have used
The code that I have use for this purpose is

Public report1 As Object ---------- in declaration section

Private Sub Command1_Click()
Set report1 = CreateObject("Crystal.CrystalReport")
report1.ReportFileName = "C:\TEMP\sree.rpt"
report1.RetrieveDataFiles
report1.Action = 1
Set report1 = Nothing
End Sub


If you stll could not get the solution you are welcome

Do send a message if u're problem is solved.