Solutions to fix ‘Unrecognized Database Format’ errors

Method 1: Use the auto-repair option

Additionally, you may also want to check out our guide on how to fix Microsoft Access file corruption issues. Hopefully, some of the fixes listed in that guide will work for you.

Method 2: Edit columns with names greater than 32 characters

Another quick way to fix this error is to open the problematic files in Microsoft Access and then edit all the columns with names that have over 32 characters. Sometimes, if you use too many characters, Access may fail to load the respective files correctly. Of course, this method is suitable for small files. Doing these changes manually on large files takes too much time.

Method 3: Convert database to .accdb file format

The third fix consists in converting your database to the accdb format. However, in order to use this fix, you need Microsoft Access 2010. Simply open the problematic files and MS Access 2010 will automatically convert the respective files to the .accdb extension.

Method 4: Uninstall recent updates

If this problem appeared shortly after you installed the latest Windows updates, uninstall the respective patches and check if the issue persists. Sometimes, new Windows 10 updates may trigger various technical issues. For example, Windows 7 KB4480970 is known to trigger this error. The simplest solution to fix this error is to uninstall the problematic update(s). If you came across other solutions to fix unrecognized database errors, let us know in the comments below. RELATED GUIDES YOU NEED TO CHECK OUT:

How to recover a deleted database in Windows 5 best alumni software to better manage your alumni databases Fix: ‘Potential Windows Update Database Error Detected’

Name * Email * Commenting as . Not you? Save information for future comments
Comment

Δ