Hi,
I have used lately the developer extensions of access and they don't actually create you a stand alone wersion of your mde or mdb but:
It will create you an installation file with the ability of including access run-time version. Access run-time will install a copy of access with out the IDE, that is the minimum for access to run.
When running the exe (the installation file) your access database will be deployed on the computer with the run-time and the access path will be sent to the run-time through the shortcut (as a parameter).
If you are using alot of libraries and external controls or in case of failure you will face alot of problems as you will not be able to debug as the access run-time will not alow debugging.
A developer license is more expensive than basic.
Generally after using the access run-time over 8 pcs I have decided to go back and install the full version of access mainly for debugging purposes.
And till the moment I never found a tool that transfers an access file to an exe directly, actually I read about some applications that converts access forms to VB forms but havn't had the chance to test any. But any way I hope it is true