Share Problems with MS Access 2000 Database

[Darrkelf]

I've been having some problems with sharing an MS Access 2000 database across a network.

The database is setup to open in shared mode and has been tried both with and without record locking, with the same issue occurring.

The main users are:
User 1 (Administrator) - MS Access 2000 Full Version (WinXP Professional)
User 2 - Access 2000 Runtime + Access 97 (Win XP Professional)
User 3 - Access 2000 Runtime + Access 97 (Win XP Professional)

The problem is occurring when User 3 opens the database. For some reason it opens in exclusive mode and locks out Users 1 & 2. This issue only happens with User 3, and does not happen with User 2 who has the same software setup.

The database was previously an Access 97 database (no problems) and has been converted to Access 2000, this share issue has been happening ever since the conversion.

Any ideas as to how this shared issue could be resolved?

BTW - I am familiar with FE/BE setups. This database is accessed by all from a network drive and not setup as FE/BE. This was never an issue, as shared access worked fine when the database was in Access 97 - the problem has only been since converting to Access 2000. I do not have access to the PC of User 2, and User 2 does not have any PC knowledge to install a FE, which means I would need to create an install package (which I'd rather not do). Are there any ways to resolve the shared access issue without changing to FE/BE?

 

[boblarson]

Are there any ways to resolve the shared access issue without changing to FE/BE?

Not likely, But, if you are worried about the front end, you shouldn't need to "install" one, just copy it to a specific location. I have placed a tool I created for my work here on the forums that enables front-ends to be "auto-updated" when you make changes to the master. It makes it so that you just need to get it to their machine once and then after that it will automatically update itself so the user doesn't have to do anything.

Once you make a change to the front end, you then change the frontend and backend tables (changing the data from the front end) as to the version number. When they open their version, it tells them that it's out of date and needs to close and then it will delete the old file, copy the new one and reopen for them automatically. We have about 100 people using a front-end so it didn't make sense for us to try to touch their machines or to try to have them copy it to the right location, etc. So I created that tool.

I posted it here in the forums:
http://www.access-programmers.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=111132

 

[The_Doc_Man]

That symptom jumps out at me. Have you secured the database using workgroup security including making the Admin account brain-dead? If not, your problem is that user 3 hasn't joined the workgroup properly AND because of that is coming as Admin, who has Open Exclusive rights by default.