Solution: Can’t Open Reports in a Microsoft Access Database

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I recently ran into a problem where I couldn’t open reports in a Microsoft Access database file. I have worked with Access databases for many years, but have never seen this issue before.

There are times where I use more than one computer at a time. To do this I simply use the remote desktop tool that is included with Microsoft Windows. What I didn’t know at the time, was using remote desktop tool caused the issue with my Access database

Default Printer is Non-Existent

The actual problem was I would open my Microsoft Access database. From there I would select the Reports option and then double-click a report to try and open it. Nothing would happen, not even an error message. The screen wouldn’t freeze, but Access wouldn’t indicate there was a problem – with the exception of the report not opening.

After doing a bit of research, I found out that setting up a default printer that doesn’t really exist can cause the issue.

I never installed, or setup any printers recently, so I didn’t think much about this being the issue. I decided to check which printers were installed on the computer to rule out this possibility.

When I check the printers I noticed that there were twice as many printers listed. Half of them had the name of the computer that I used to connect to the computer that had the database.

When I connected into the computer, which has the database, using remote desktop, I had the enabled the option of also allow the printers to be used through the remote session. It installed the printers into the remote computer, but they weren’t removed once I ended the remote session.

To top it off, one of the remote printers, which were no longer valid, was set as a default printer.

I selected each of the printers that weren’t supposed to be installed and pressed the Delete key to remove them. I then set the default printer to a valid printer.

When I double-clicked the same report in Microsoft Access it was displayed without any issues.

If you have trouble with displaying reports in Microsoft Access, check to ensure that the default printer on your computer is a valid printer.