Problems with file.copy, and no way to debug >.<

Question

Hello all. My first post (yeah). I'm not sure if i should be posting this here but...
I am more or less rushing through a project, and i also cannot really test this scenario (lack of resources). It involves an old system that uses an access 1997 database. I built another system that uses this same database. On first build, (naive me) after installing for the client it tells me that the db is being accessed right now, elimanate some users (i'm sure you know the rest). my sql is not particularly strong so i opt for a file copy, then use the backup copy for my app while leaving the original copy for the old system to dabble with. So when a timer beats, it makes a copy then i use it for my own app. This works fine on my system, but when i deployed it, it didnt >.<.
 I am copying over a network (i.e the original db is on another machine) . The original db is on a Vista machine and the machine to be copied to is an xp machine (fat32, i wonder why). I am thinking access right's are the problem, and i cant particulary debug cause i have not written any sort of logging into the app (i am in a rush). If anyone has had a similar problem could you please point me in the right direction? How can i make sure that my app has the rights to right to a folder?
 
it could also be a case of the file.copy just taking to long, does anyoone know if execution of file.copy halts the rest of the app, or do have to use thread.sleep to make sure it waits.
Sorry for long post, any help will appreciated