Unable to open a database file

N

Nadine

Hi there,

I have a problem opening a database file which i have been working on for
the last few hours.

The error I get when I try to open or copy it is:

The microsoft jet database engine cannot open the file c:\database.mbd. it
is already opened exclusively by another user, or you need permission to view
its data.

I am not on a network, I was not trying to import data from an Excel
spreadsheet (this is what the MS knowledge suggests). The only thing I tried
to do after exiting the database was to rename it from Explorer. This didn't
workand I initially thought it was because I still had it opened. But that
was not the case. I rebooted, thinking something may have just got hung. but
that didn't help either.

If anyone has seen this problem before I would really appreciate your help.
i've looked through the whole of MS support pages and nothing seems to point
to a similar problem.

I would appreciate your help.
 
D

Douglas J. Steele

If you can't open it and you can't rename it, I would check what permissions
you have on the folder where the file exists.
 
V

Van T. Dinh

Try the following steps:

1. Close Access. Use the Windows Task Manager (Process tab) to check that
you don't have an instance of MSAccess.exe still in the memory.

2. Check in the directory that the database file (extension "MDB") and see
if you can find a file with the same name but with file extension "LDB".
This file is the locking file.

3. Delete the LDB file (NOT the MDB file) and then try to open your database
again.

If you still can't, you may have permission problems or the database may be
corrupted. Post back after you try ...
 
N

Nadine

Thank you very much for your suggestions. I followed all that you said to do,
however it was not an LDB file.

I ended up fixing it by going into safe mode and followed the instructions
from the MS knowledge base on "how to take ownership of a file". Although you
mentione (as does the error message) permissions problems, I didn't know how
to fix that. My userid has admin rights so I didn't know why I shouldn't have
sufficient access.

So now I'm happy to say it's fixed, and I can access my database again.
Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.

--
Thanks and regards,
Nadine


Van T. Dinh said:
Try the following steps:

1. Close Access. Use the Windows Task Manager (Process tab) to check that
you don't have an instance of MSAccess.exe still in the memory.

2. Check in the directory that the database file (extension "MDB") and see
if you can find a file with the same name but with file extension "LDB".
This file is the locking file.

3. Delete the LDB file (NOT the MDB file) and then try to open your database
again.

If you still can't, you may have permission problems or the database may be
corrupted. Post back after you try ...

--
HTH
Van T. Dinh
MVP (Access)
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