Cannot open database with 2013-How to upgrade mdw (1 Viewer)

I have a security-enabled .mdb file. It services multiple branch offices, and each branch is set up as a "user". The branch managers are set up with a desktop shortcut with /user and /pwd switches. The user is simply the branch number, so when they open the db, code and filters are used so they can see and enter only data for their branch. There is also an "admin" user set up so I can do system support and maintenance.

My pc is now on Office 2013, and I can no longer open the database, either as a branch user or as admin. I get "Cannot open a database created with a previous version of your application". I got on a 2010 pc, opened the database, saved it as a .accdb, and updated everyone's shortcuts to open the new version. They work fine, but I still can't open it from my pc. I read online that the .mdw also needs to be upgraded (it was created in 2001, so probably a 97 version). It said to just open it using Access and save it as a new version, but I don't know how to do that since it's encoded and won't allow itself to be updated in that way.

For reference here's an example of one of the branch shortcut properties:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\MSACCESS.EXE" "f:\groups\common\teller\TellerOff.accdb" /User "15" /Pwd "tom15q" /wrkgrp f:\groups\common\teller\telinfo.mdw

We'll eventually upgrade all pcs to 2013, so a solution is required. Help would be appreciated!

Hunt down an older version of office and make sure your database container is at least Access 2002-2003 version. (Not sure if Off2013 has the convert ability - but Office 2003 for sure does...)

I had the same problem here when we were testing for the Off2013 rollout.

All of my legacy mdb's were using mdw's that were from Office 95 or 2000.

Once I converted (database tools) the parts to Office 2002-2003 the mdw's/mdb were able to be used/opened with 2013's access.

Good luck!

More: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2755119/

...also, I chose not to update the mdb's to accdb since that doesn't support workgroup security. After converting the mdb's and mdw's to access2002-3 version I was all set for Off2013.

Hi nschroeder, I was wondering if you found a way around your issue?

It was your mention of 'encoding' which brought me here, I am struggling with .mdw files which are still in Access 95 and 97 format. I can open the .mdw files in Access 2007, but when I try and convert them to 2003 format, it is not possible because the files are encoded. The 'Decode' option under database tools is greyed-out.:banghead:

The frontend and backend databases associated with these .mdw's have over the years been updated to at least MS Access 2000/2003 format, but somehow that process did not update the .mdw files at the same time.

We are currently upgrading from 2007 to 2016, and this is suddenly a major issue. Even if I attempt to strip out .mdw security by converting the frontend and backend databases to .accdb files, I STILL get a message in Access 2016 to say that the databases cannot be opened because it was created in a previous version of MS Access.

That last anomaly is not what I am primarily interested in, because updating the .mdw files is by far the most efficient path for us at the moment. There are too many databases which would require re-engineering to convert them all to .accdb, because the security features were applied to multiple roles within the databases, i.e. there is code which queries a users role, and if there is no security, the code is not activated.

So to recap; is there a way to update encoded .mdw files from MS Access 95 and 97 to Access 2003 format?

All help gratefully received though, Many thanks, Kevin