Hi diamondsc
I had that exact same problem with runtime versions not being able to search only select from the combo list. I stumbeled upon your thread whilst searching for an answer.
We have Windows 2000 running and the development computers are running Access XP and all others are running XP runtime.
What I found out was that the runtime versions do not like the "limit to list" property set in the combo boxes. I just set that to no and the user of the runtime version was able to enter values in the combo box.
From here I wrote some code that searches the users entry and displays a error box if it is not in the list.
A bit late on the reply but I only found this thread yesterday.
Here is my code for the searching.
Public Function JobSearchReportsComboFix(JobNo As Integer, ComboID As Integer)
Dim iJobNo As Integer
Dim iCombo As Integer
Dim IsInQuery As Boolean
Dim Ans As Boolean
iJobNo = JobNo
iCombo = ComboID
'Is the job no valid. If not display error message and clear combo box
IsInQuery = IsNull(DLookup("[Job No]", "sqProjectRegisterAll", _
"[Job No] = " & iJobNo & ""

)
If (IsInQuery = True) Then
Ans = MsgBox("The Job No entered is not listed", vbOKOnly, "Error"

If (iCombo = 1) Then
Forms![fmReports]![sfReports]![JobNoPulldown1] = Null
ElseIf (iCombo = 2) Then
Forms![fmReports]![sfReports]![JobNoPulldown2] = Null
ElseIf (iCombo = 3) Then
Forms![fmReports]![sfReports]![JobNoPulldown3] = Null
End If
End If
End Function
Regards
Anthony Foster