Hi Nancy
>
>The problem may be in logic that sets up this command. I presume you are seeing error 3 and not error 108? What have you already discounted? For example, I'd start by breaking the program on the USE command, issue SET from the command line, and check all the open datasessions and aliases.

etc

I thought you might be onto something with the file being used exclusively in another datasession. Its been many moons since I did any work on the code and I couldn't remember whether that was a possibility. It was used in another session but not exclusively so I still don't understand its protest - particularly as it has been working up till recently and, as I say, the code hasn't changed in months. As you may read above, Nigel's (Share) suggestion did the trick, despite the fact that its a standalone app. Bizarre.

I suspect my real problem is a deep registry problem with XP. And the fact that I've recently install SQL Server and its tools and that seems to upset my system in all sorts of ways. I've been fighting it for the past few weeks but I guess I'm overdue for the annual rebuild!

Thanks for your efforts.