exclusive access

J

jake

I'm running Access2003 with XP Professional. I'm trying to make some changes
to a form and keep getting the following message when I open it in Design
View.

"You do not have exclusive access to the database at this time. If
you proceed to make changes, you may not be able to save them later."

The database was authored by an old IT manager who's no longer with us and
who had seemingly protected the Database so that only he could edit the
design (i have to press <shift> when opening to make it editable). I have
copied the .mdbtoa local folder on my terminal and renamed it so I can
experiment with the design without disrupting it's usefulness, so i know full
well that no-one else has access to it. I have followed the advice of the
offline help (change the settings in Tools>Options>Advanced) but to no avail,
the message just comes back again and again (and it's infuriatingly right, i
really can't save any of my changes).

Does anyone have any suggestions for what to try next (bearing in mind that
I'm no computer scientist, although I can follow logical processes so don't
assume i know what you're talking about, in fact please patronise me!)

any help greatly appreciated

jake
 
G

George Nicholson

One way to convince Access that you are the exclusive user:

Open Access by itself (i.e., no database selected)
File>Open
Select your mdb file
click the arrow next to "Open"
Select "Open Exclusive"
now, open the mdb (holding down shift, etc.)

HTH,
 
J

jake

Thanks George, unfortunately that doesn't seem to make any difference, 'open
exclusive' was already checked when i pulled down the menu, and the error
message pops up as before. I have noticed some other similar threads in this
forum talking about .ldb files which have something to do with locking
exclusive access, but i don't know what they are or where to find them. any
thoughts?
 
G

George Nicholson

Before you open the file, look in the directory where the mdb lives. If
there is an .ldb file causing you problems, it will be in the same directory
as the mdb file with the same name as the mdb, ut a different extension.

If a ldb file exists before you open the file, delete it. ldb files should
only exist when someone has the mdb file open.

The ldb is created when the mdb file is opened by the first user and deletes
itself when the last user exits It sometimes fumbles the deletion step and
a "leftover" ldb file can cause Access to think that more than one person is
in the file the next time a solo user opens the mdb.
 
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