maximum # of Access users in Windows XP

K

Karat

I'm running MS Access 2003 in a per-to-per network using Windows XP. Only 5
users can successfully access the database at one time. Is there any way of
adding additional users?
Your suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
 
J

John Vinson

I'm running MS Access 2003 in a per-to-per network using Windows XP. Only 5
users can successfully access the database at one time. Is there any way of
adding additional users?
Your suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

I've had upwards of 30 users simultaneously using Access, and have
heard of applications with over 100. The Access limit on concurrent
users is 255. What error are you getting with the sixth user?

Do note that for multiuser applications, it's very important to use a
"split" database: a "backend" on a shared folder, containing only the
tables; and a separate copy of the "frontend" - a database with the
forms, reports, queries etc. with links to the backend tables - on
each user's machine. If you're trying to share a monolithic database
you may or may not get error messages, but you will certainly get
database bloating and risk corruption.

John W. Vinson[MVP]
Join the online Access Chats
Tuesday 11am EDT - Thursday 3:30pm EDT
http://community.compuserve.com/msdevapps
 
N

Norman Yuan

Additional information to John's reply:

If the database file (*.mdb) file is on a WinXP/Win2K Professional (since
you said peer-to-peer), you can only have 10 users connected to that
computer at most. It is the built-in limitation of WinXP/2K Professional.
 
L

Larry Linson

Karat said:
I'm running MS Access 2003 in a
per-to-per network using Windows
XP. Only 5 users can successfully
access the database at one time. Is
there any way of adding additional
users? Your suggestions will be
greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

You are running into the limitations on number of connections allowed in a
peer-to-peer network. You will not necessarily have to change your Access
multiuser setup, but changing your network to client-server and putting the
shared data backend on the server will allow many more users, as John
described.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP
 
J

John Vinson

If the database file (*.mdb) file is on a WinXP/Win2K Professional (since
you said peer-to-peer), you can only have 10 users connected to that
computer at most. It is the built-in limitation of WinXP/2K Professional.
Click to expand...

I was NOT aware of that...!!! Thanks Norman.

The 30-plus user app had the database on a Windows Server 2000
machine, IIRC.

John W. Vinson[MVP]
Join the online Access Chats
Tuesday 11am EDT - Thursday 3:30pm EDT
http://community.compuserve.com/msdevapps
 
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