>Yes, the problem did not occur on my my machine (XP) while it did occur an an NT.
>
>Not sure about your suggestion to alter the file before USEing it. How can I alter columns if the file isn't open?

Try it. Alter table works on the file on disk. In fact I've never before even thought of using a table first. As you noted elsewhere, it doesn't work with an alias and you are passing the entire path.