Access 97 - Access denied! 1

[Hammertime]

Hi there,

Unfortunately one of our contrators has installed Access 2002 over Access 97 and now the user cannot open her database. I uninstalled Access 2002 and put back Access 97, however, everytime I open the database it will open but just says access denied. I have found the system.mdw file on the C: drive (in system32) and opened WRKGADM to point to this security file although this makes no difference. The database is stored on a network share, searched there but could not find a .mdw file.

Is there anyway I can open this database either in Access 97 or 2002?



Cheers,

Hammertime

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[lupins46]

Well to start with there should be no problem in opening an A97 database in A2002 unless you have some version specific add-ins (and subject to security issues below)

How was the user starting the app? If from a desktop shortcut you might get some good info from that on the files and paths needed.

What is the exact error message you are getting? And at what point does this message occur?

Was Access security implemented on this application? If so you will have to find the precise mdw file that was being used, or recreate the mdw exactly as the original.

 

[Hammertime]

Access security was implemented (hence why I have been trying to find the .mdw file). There are two files locally on the users PC's however neither of them allow me to open the database.

Basically, when I open the database it opens with the GUI interface and then the error message 'Access denied' appears and Access closes.

I think recreating the .mdw is the solution, however, all I know is the users login. She is the only person who uses this database so only she will need access.

I can create a new .mdw file from Workgroup Administrator. Do I then need to go into User and Group Accounts and add the user in there and if so how?

Cheers,

Hammertime

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[lupins46]

Well you can create the user in any mdw file from any database (while you are joined to that mdw) but the problem is that you will be asked for 2 bits of info, a username and a PID code. The permissions in the database are based on both of these values. The PID is not the password. Initially a new user will have no password and you don't need to know what it was for this exercise. When you create users you get a message telling you to record the values used to create the entries in case you ever need to re-create them. It is too late for this comment now, but it is never a good idea to use system.mdw as the security file because it so easily gets overwritten.
Is there no backup which might have the correct mdw?

 

[Hammertime]

Where would the .mdw be stored? I can't find any on her network share. I can only find them on her local drive and when I choose either of them (system.mdw or systemx1.mdw) neither of them work.

I don't understand how this worked last week until the contractor installed Office XP?

Cheers,

Hammertime

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[lupins46]

The only reason I can think of at the moment why the app would stop working would be that system.mdw was being used as the workgroup file. The installation of XP might then have overwritten it with its default system.mdw file.
I think you have a really tough problem here without the correct mdw file.
It might be worth trying to guess what the person who originally set the user might have used for the PID (username again, their own name?) assuming they are not around to tell you.

 

[Hammertime]

I had a few attempts at guessing, however, I still cannot get the database to open.

I found a useful tool on

http://www.software-gold.com

(Access Password Recovery Master) that can access .mdw files to see the username and passwords contained. The two .mdw files on the users PC are blank.

The user is happy to start a new database in Access 2002 which suits me as we are trying to get everyone off Access 97 due to licensing!

Thank you for your help.

Cheers,

Hammertime

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