Sorry, I forgot to say that if I type 01/01/2025 with the / included, there is no error and the data/date is as expected.

I'm guessing there are a couple things going on.

1) Your date format settings in windows likely are set to something like ISO dates and/or the database is set for ISO dates
In any case if you have a field set up as a date field in Access, then, unless you have an input mask assigned, then you'll need to type the /'s.

If your windows system settings are set to ISO, even with an input mask you would need to type your dates as yyyymmdd. (20250101).

ISO Date Format
ISO Date Addendum 1
Convert ISO Date Time
Convert ISO Date Time 2
Date Problems
Access DateTime Seminar

Checked all the settings for system, access, and excel. There are formatting examples (instead of specifically ISO format).  Looks like I have a bunch of videos to watch to try to figure this out.

With that being the case, I would look at the field you're typing in to verify input masks/lack of as well as format properties. Then do the same for the actual table(s) and query(s) fields.

If you're field is set with a date/time data type, then you'll either have to enter the date with dashes or slashes or add an input mask that displays them and access will handle appropriately. However, that alone won't explain why you're getting dates that look like they are ISO date format when you're system is not.

Another thing to look at when looking at your table fields and Access settings, is if the fields are  listed in the "Date/Time Extended" or "DateTime2" format. I've seen that mess with inputs and formats and sometimes they don't play well with system settings.

The Access table is one I downloaded from Richard for the courses, and here are the settings - see screenshot.

You can get it to let you just enter #'s by adding an input mask either on the table or the forms: 00-00-0000 would require 2 digit month, 2 digit day and 4 digit year but you could type 10102025 and it should give you the right date with your system settings... You could also set the format to "Short Date" to reinforce that. If you click the arrow to the right of the format property to open the list of options, it will show you how it will format.

You could also shorten your input mask to 09-09-0099 which would allow a 1 or 2 digit month, a 1 or 2 digit day and a 2 or 4 digit year, but where you have single digits, you'd need to enter a space or a "-"

If it still puts it in ISO date format, that will require a bigger dive into your settings. I know window's 11s date parser is more strict than windows 7's so that might be a reason you may have been able to just enter digits before without an input mask.

I use ISO Dates on my machine so my input mask is 0099-09-09 and if I enter 20251102 or 25-11-2, it will present 2025-11-02

I get all of that as a way to make it work and I appreciate the info, but the point Richard was making by having me post it (I believe), is that Access (nor Excel) should work that way.  I've been using Excel for decades, and I always enter dates by the month and day and hit tab (so 1012 for 10-12-25).  I use Windows 10 at work and the 1012 "method" works on Excel there.  

I have searched online and perhaps I'm using the wrong search terms. I was hoping to find at least an acknowledgment of the situation, and either what settings to change to fix it or the definitive answer that it cannot be fixed (without input masks or workarounds).

Donald Color me surprised (and a bit embarrassed as well).  The first thing I did at the office today was open Excel and play with dates. So, apparently all the spreadsheets I use on a regular basis are ones I created years ago.  I have the dates doing automatic things (adding dates, subtracting dates) so that I don't have to actually enter a date.  Today I entered a date by hand, and got the same "error" that I described as happening on my laptop. So one part of the mystery solved.

The remaining mystery is why Richard can enter 0112 and get 01/12/2025 in Access, and I cannot, but I can live with that, with input masks.

Type in 01/12 and you will get 01/12/2025.