Can’t get Access database to open (Access 2000)

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I have a database that I copied to take home and work on, but I can’t seem to open it. I get the message:

“You do not have the necessary permissions to use the ‘C:Documents and SettingsAdminDesktopSQL_BOSQL_BO.mdb’ object. Have your system administrator or the person who created this object establish the
appropriate permissions for you.”

The data for this database is on an SQL server. Could this be the problem? Do I have to have the data also in order to open the program? I’m not too familiar with SQL.

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Jennifer,
If the database was locked using the security wizard, I think you’ll have to copy the workgroup file that allows you to open it (though I’m not sure if that’s possible). Another option you should be able to do is to create a new database, and then import everything from your secured one. You may want to check out the threads starting here: post 523,770 and here: post 440,255

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Unfortunately, you cannot simply copy a SQL Server database like you do with an Access database, even though a SQL Server database is a single file. In order to move a SQL Server database you need to disconnect it, then move it, and then reconnect it to a new instance of SQL Server. You could import all of the data into an Access database and then take that database and do things with it, but Access doesn’t really behave like SQL Server so you may find that something you can do in Access won’t work in SQL Server.

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But the database is in Access–the data itself is on the SQL Server. Something has gone wrong in the database. The invoice entry box is not showing up on the customer screen, so I wanted to take it home to see if I can fix it. Is that not possible???

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Do you know if user-level security has been applied to the Access database? If so, see Jeremy (NYIntensity)’s reply.

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It may well be an issue with Access User Security as well, as Jeremy and Hans have suggested. But even if you solve that problem, troubleshooting something that doesn’t work usually requires that you be able to work with at least sample data – and with SQL Server you can’t simply take the SQL Server database back-end home. A specific question:
What is the file SQL_BO.mdb refer to? In other words is it the Access database you are trying to fix, or is it the back-end database? The reason I ask is that SQL Server files normally have a .MDF extension, while your file extension is the common .MDB used by Access databases.

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Yes, it is the Access database that I’m trying to fix (I think). A student at a school did up this database to keep track of payments. The student has now since left. The school then had its SQL Server crash, and since then the Access database hasn’t worked right. Everything seems to work right on the SQL Server. Whenever they create a new customer, the invoice/payment entry box doesn’t show up. It shows up on the customers that have already had payments. I’m just trying to figure out where the problem lies–in the Access database or SQL Server. The student has secured this so tight that we are having nothing but problems trying to figure out what the problem is. We have the student’s login, but with his login it just gives access to the Access database design–not the data itself which is on the SQL Server. The secretary at the school has access to the database and the data, but cannot get to the Access database design. And it seems that the security has been done through the SQL Server because we can’t find a .mdw file anywhere.

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If you have the student’s login, you should be able to get at the design of forms and the like. But SQL Server security is an entirely different beast, and I doubt it is the root of your troubles. For one thing, it wouldn’t block your access to the design of forms – it only controls table access. And if you have access to the invoice table and can read data from it, then it seems unlikely that is causing the problem. My suspicion would be that somehow the VBA project has been corrupted and isn’t working the way it should, either because of user activity, or because of workstation crashes. Without seeing more of the design, it is pretty much impossible to give you detailed advice, but I would focus on the process that makes the invoice/payment entry box show up.

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Well, yes I can get into the database….if I’m at the school using the secretary’s computer. But the problem is when I copy the database file to take home I can’t open that copy. It just says that I don’t have permission to use that file. That is where the biggest problem lies right now. I can’t open a copy of the database to work on fixing the problem at home.

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To find the workgroup file, either look at the shortcut you are starting it with, or open up the MS Access Workgroup Administrator – you should be able to find the shortcut for the latter in the MS Office/Office folder if Access was installed in the default manner. Another approach is to search the secretary’s computer for a file with *.mdw and see what you find. There are probably two – the default one called SYSTEM.MDW, and another with a different name. That is probably the security file being used.

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Well, we finally located the .mdw file and I can get into the database now. Thanks so much guys! But now I’m having a problem opening one of the forms. I’m creating a new post for that right now.

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Since this is an Access database, it is merely co-incidental that it happened to be sitting on the same server running SQL Server. That has nothing to do with whether or not you can open it. It is tied to Access security, so you’ll need to copy the workgroup file associated with it as well.

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