Problem with read only mdb files

[Angela]

I am currently having a Access 2000 mdb file on a shared fileserver on the
network. I have created a Windows group where all users in that group will
have read (R),execute (X) and write (W) permissions.
All other users not belonging to the group have read+execute permissions.

I encounter this problem:
-A user with RX permission accesses the database and gets a message that the
database is read-only. OK fine with me
-A user who belongs to the assigned group that should have full access gets
read-only message too when the first user is loged-on.

How should configuration be done as to avoid blocking the database for full
access users ? Or is there other design for that ? My current needs is
-Majority of users just need to see some contents of the database
-About a handful of users will need to update some records in the database
-Just about 2 perons will have to administer the database, change designs of
tables, forms etc

/Angela

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

Sounds as though everyone's sharing the same database. It should be split
into a front-end (containing the queries, forms, reports, macros and
modules) and a back-end (containing the tables and relationships). Only the
back-end should be on the server: each user should have his/her own copy of
the front-end, preferably on their hard drive.

 

[John Mishefske]

I am currently having a Access 2000 mdb file on a shared fileserver on the
network. I have created a Windows group where all users in that group will
have read (R),execute (X) and write (W) permissions.
All other users not belonging to the group have read+execute permissions.

I encounter this problem:
-A user with RX permission accesses the database and gets a message that the
database is read-only. OK fine with me
-A user who belongs to the assigned group that should have full access gets
read-only message too when the first user is loged-on.

How should configuration be done as to avoid blocking the database for full
access users ? Or is there other design for that ? My current needs is
-Majority of users just need to see some contents of the database
-About a handful of users will need to update some records in the database
-Just about 2 perons will have to administer the database, change designs of
tables, forms etc

Hi Angela. This may be related to the way an Access 2000 database is compacted. Are you
using "Compact on Close"?

A2K compacts to the user's TEMP directory and then copies the compacted database back to
the original folder. This changes the permissions on the .mdb file. You can verify if this
is the problem by checking the permissions on the .mdb file, opening the file and
compacting and then again checking the permissions.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;295234

The fix that seems to work is to open up the permissions on the TEMP directory.

http://www.ureader.com/message/156609.aspx

 

[John Spencer]

For an Access database to be multi-user, each user must be able to create the
lockfile (NameofDatabase.ldb) in the directory where the data exists.

If the user cannot create the file, then the file is not created (obviously).
Subsequent users cannot create the file either until the database is closed and
no longer accessed by anyone.

Your options:
--implement Access Security (read up on it first) and make a backup BEFORE
trying to implement it.
--change to MS SQL server as the data engine (not trivial and you still have to
implement security in MS SQL server)
--implement home-grown security using your current frontend database. This just
gets the user's id and controls what the user can do via forms and vba code.
This security is not all that secure, but it can implement some degree of
control for users that are not technically oriented or at least not attempting
to vandalize the database.

 

[Angela]

Hi Douglas,

Front-end seems like a nice idea except for the bit on extra administration.
I have about 10 user who are not aware of how to design forms in access
database and neither are they aware of how the tables are linked to each
other.

If i were to distribute front-end databases (with forms, reports etc) to
these users and then in future change either the table design (reduce,
increase tables) then I have to adjust forms that are existing in these
front-end databases. What is the best way of administrating that ?

/Angela

"Douglas J. Steele" skrev:

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

Take a look at the free Auto FE Update Tony Toews has at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/autofe.htm