How to Fix Temporary folder issues

When your computer does not have sufficient disk space for temporary files, you may notice unpredictable behavior in Access 2003. You must remove the old temporary files on your system periodically. After you remove the old temporary files, make sure that there is at least 8 megabytes (MB) to 10 MB of free space on your disk. Make sure that the free space is available to your temporary (Temp) folder.

You must determine the location of your Temp folder. You must verify the validity of your TMP environment variables and your TEMP environment variables. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. In Control Panel, double-click System.
3. On the Advanced tab, click Environment Variables.

Check whether the User Variables for <username> list contains valid settings for the TMP environment variable and for the TEMP environment variable.

The following example shows valid settings:
TEMP = C:\TEMP
TMP = C:\TEMP

3. If the TMP environment variable and the TEMP environment variable are not defined, you must create valid environment variables. To do this, follow these steps:
1. In the Environment Variables dialog box, click New under the User variables for <User Name> section.
2. In the New User Variable dialog box, type TEMP in the Variable Name box.
3. In the Variable Value box, type C:\Temp (or any other valid path and valid folder name).
4. Click OK to add these values to the User Variables for <username> list.
5. Repeat step a through step c to create the TMP environment variable.
4. Click OK.
5. Click OK.
6. Exit Control Panel.
7. Start Microsoft Windows Explorer.
8. Locate the folder that is specified in the TMP environment variable and in the TEMP environment variable.

Note A TEMP environment variable setting that is not valid may have serious effects on Access 2003. Therefore, if you notice that the folder that is specified in the environment variable setting does not exist, you must either open Windows Explorer and then create a new temp folder in the specified location, or you must repeat step 1 through step 3 to update the environment variables to a valid location.
9. Verify that the drive that contains the TEMP folder has sufficient free disk space.

Note Make sure that the free disk space that is available on the drive where the TEMP folder is located is at least two times the size of the largest database that you may potentially open on your computer.

For example, if your largest Access database file is 7 MB, make sure that the drive where the TEMP folder resides has at least 14 MB of free disk space.
10. Verify that the TEMP folder is empty.

If files exist in the TEMP folder, you can delete the .tmp files that are currently not in use. The .tmp files typically have a modified date that is earlier than the current session of Windows.

Note Microsoft recommends that you exit all Windows programs before you delete the .tmp files.