Question A Question of Trust (1 Viewer)

KACJR

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Greetings to the well of knowledge...

All of my Access DBs are front-ends that talk to our central SQL Server. I manage the development and release new versions on a fairly frequent basis. I install the "gold" copy of the Access DB on a network share and instruct my users to take a copy of the DB and paste it to their desktops. They are instructed to NOT run the copy on the network share.

All of my end users run Access 2016 runtime.

Now under Windows 7, users would get a warning about the DB not being a trusted document. I just instruct them to enable content and go on their way.

Under Windows 10, users do not get this warning so are not able to enable content and continue. Instead, the DB just closes with no errors.

So it sounds as though I need do something trust-related.

My question, then, is: if I establish a trust with the copy of the DB that resides in the network share and an end user takes a copy of the DB to their desktop, does the trust follow to the copy?

I hope I explained that well enough.

Thanks,
Ken
 

theDBguy

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Hi Ken. Unless it has changed, I thought network locations can't be set as trusted location (or maybe there's a workaround for it). However, if you deploy compiled versions of your database, all the user has to do is confirm that they want to open/run the application when they get the warning. In other words, instead of giving them ACCDBs, save your database as ACCDE and then put that compiled version on the network share for them to copy to their Desktop.
 

KACJR

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That makes sense but when running under Win10 and using Access 2016 runtime, the warning doesn't come up. Access Runtime just starts then closes with no warnings or errors.


Interestingly, on Win7 PCs running Access 2016 runtime, the warning DOES appear.
 

pbaldy

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Unless it has changed, I thought network locations can't be set as trusted location

There's a checkbox to allow network locations, not checked by default. As far as I know it's always been there.

Win 10 users should still get the warning, at least mine do (they only have the runtime).
 

KACJR

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There's a checkbox to allow network locations, not checked by default. As far as I know it's always been there.

Win 10 users should still get the warning, at least mine do (they only have the runtime).


As I noted, I don't allow users to run the copy on the network shared. I require them to take a copy to their desktops.
 

theDBguy

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Thanks, Paul. Also, I agree, the warning should still come up for ACCDEs and ACCDRs..
 

pbaldy

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As I noted, I don't allow users to run the copy on the network shared. I require them to take a copy to their desktops.

Yes I know, my comment was in response to DBG's thought that network locations weren't allowed to be trusted. I wrote a version control utility that copies the master file to the user's computer to a specific folder. My users all get a warning when they open the db that they can click on to trust the app. If I put my hands on their computer I can add a registry entry that adds the local folder to their trusted locations, which I don't think can be done from within the runtime version.
 

KACJR

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So I changed the trust center settings to accept VBA and Active X. This now makes the DB start properly. Is this applied at the DB level so that anyone who copies the DB will get the same settings?
 

pbaldy

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Unless I'm misunderstanding where you're doing this, I believe Trust Center settings are computer/user specific, not app specific. They would have to duplicate the settings on their computers.

I still don't understand them not getting the warning message though.
 

theDBguy

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So I changed the trust center settings to accept VBA and Active X. This now makes the DB start properly. Is this applied at the DB level so that anyone who copies the DB will get the same settings?
Hi. As you can see from this article, the trusted location settings is even "user specific." Maybe you could try downloading the little utility offered there to see if it helps.
 

KACJR

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Unless I'm misunderstanding where you're doing this, I believe Trust Center settings are computer/user specific, not app specific. They would have to duplicate the settings on their computers.

I still don't understand them not getting the warning message though.


Most of my databases do a lot of initialization during Form_Load. I wonder if this is where the trust error is happening.
 

theDBguy

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Most of my databases do a lot of initialization during Form_Load. I wonder if this is where the trust error is happening.
Well, before Form_Load can happen, the database content must be enabled first.
 

pbaldy

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I've seen a macro test that lets you know whether or not the app is trusted. You can throw up a message box if it's not, to tell the user to trust the app. They do an If/Then test on

[CurrentProject].[IsTrusted]
 

isladogs

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When an app is trusted, it adds an entry to the registry. Its possible to do this using a script but you can't do this from your Access app as no code will run until its trusted! Chicken and egg situation.

I get round that as follows.
When I distribute apps, I use a professional installer and run the registry script to set a trusted location as part of the installation. This means the app location is already trusted when the app is first run.
Is that a possibility for your situation?
 
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theDBguy

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I've seen a macro test that lets you know whether or not the app is trusted. You can throw up a message box if it's not, to tell the user to trust the app. They do an If/Then test on

[CurrentProject].[IsTrusted]
Hi Paul. Good idea. But if the user is on Runtime, they won't be able to trust the document because the database will just quit after the user confirms the MsgBox. So, maybe add some macro code to "auto-trust" the db? Just a thought...
 
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Cronk

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Trusted locations is a MS Office security thing, not Access per se. Same thing happens with macros in Excel files.


Any folder (and optionally sub folder) can be designated as a Trusted Location. In Access, go to File | Options | Trust Center | Trust Center Settings | Trusted Locations. A user could set any folder on C drive as Trusted.


However, I don't know whether this option is available in Runtime Access.


I do work at a number sites where the network admins have locked down the network to the extent where the C drive (and any other local drive) is not visible and the user cannot open any Access file on the network, except for folders administators allow. The jargon used is everything is black listed except for designated white listed areas. The MyDocuments folder on users' personal H(ome) network folder is white listed and is used for the FE with shared data in a white listed folder.


For me, it's a pain in the proverbial but it's an enterprise network security policy endorsed by the CIO in these organizations.
 

pbaldy

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I still don't understand the app just quitting. My users get a warning with the option to run the app if it isn't trusted. I suppose if the user clicked on Cancel there the app would quit.
 

theDBguy

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However, I don't know whether this option is available in Runtime Access.
Hi Cronk. Unfortunately, there is no user interface available with Runtime other than what you provide through your front end application. So...
 

theDBguy

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I still don't understand the app just quitting. My users get a warning with the option to run the app if it isn't trusted. I suppose if the user clicked on Cancel there the app would quit.
Hi Paul. I'm with you. In fact, I think the macro to test if the app is Trusted doesn't even run until after the warning is displayed and acknowledged.
 

isladogs

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I still don't understand the app just quitting. My users get a warning with the option to run the app if it isn't trusted. I suppose if the user clicked on Cancel there the app would quit.

I agree but in my experience, certain users will just ignore the security bar message and complain the app doesn't work. That's why I use the approach I mentioned in post #14
 

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