A bad day with Access, is it only me?

[The_Doc_Man]

When I used to get that kind of message, it was usually because my target address's security cert had expired or did not have a trusted root issuer. But then, I was working for the U.S. Navy at the time, and some form of paranoia was commonplace. Probably something they dumped into the coffee mess in the break room. (But I'm not paranoid about it...)

When the problem is a security cert, it has to be in a specific place and have a valid root issuer. Further, it has to have been properly registered into the appropriate registry hive. The cert cannot appear in the Certificate Revocation List (CRL) and cannot have expired. That's just common security pickiness, not augmented by the Navy. I doubt even M$ can screw up creating a cert because everybody uses the same script, more or less, only adjusted for the platform O/S. But it is trivially easy to screw up installation and registration thereof.

 

[twgonder]

When I used to get that kind of message, it was usually because my target address's security cert had expired or did not have a trusted root issuer. But then, I was working for the U.S. Navy at the time, and some form of paranoia was commonplace. Probably something they dumped into the coffee mess in the break room. (But I'm not paranoid about it...)

Still, the big question, why is Access trying to get ahold of something in Outlook without my "consent" or prompting?

 

[Minty]

I doubt it is, I think it's pure coincidence.

A security warning from Access (trusted Location or similar?) may have hung something that Outlook relies on, but it doesn't do anything with Outlook unless you tell it to.

You can install Access stand-alone without Outlook even being on the machine, there is no direct or even indirect connection that I'm aware of, unless you were trying to use SendObject, when it might have tried to see what your default email client was, and then use it?

 

[cheekybuddha]

Access does communicate with Outlook, you can see that in the External Data>Saved Exports command button at the bottom of the window.

What button? What window? What do you see in the window?

Remember, we can't see your screen!

 

[NauticalGent]

What button? What window? What do you see in the window?

♪♫ Whose wine, what wine, where the hell did I dine? ♫♪

 

[twgonder]

What button? What window? What do you see in the window?

Remember, we can't see your screen!

Nor does Windows allow me to make a snip of it for you. But the drill down starts with what I showed in post #16

 

[twgonder]

I doubt it is, I think it's pure coincidence.

A security warning from Access (trusted Location or similar?) may have hung something that Outlook relies on, but it doesn't do anything with Outlook unless you tell it to.

You can install Access stand-alone without Outlook even being on the machine, there is no direct or even indirect connection that I'm aware of, unless you were trying to use SendObject, when it might have tried to see what your default email client was, and then use it?

Wow, thirty plus coincidences, when Access is open but for many of those coincidences, I'm asleep (and not on the keyboard, although that does happen recently). Yet none of these coincidences were there for the three months I had this new laptop and only used Outlook and not Access.

 

[twgonder]

What button? What window? What do you see in the window?

Remember, we can't see your screen!

If you were asking about the Outlook button in Access and not in the security error message, then it's this one (which I presume everyone has on the path I provided--but maybe it's new in Access 2021):

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Still, the big question, why is Access trying to get ahold of something in Outlook without my "consent" or prompting?

Fair question. From your discussion, Access was loaded AFTER Outlook was loaded, not at the same time. That means all of the libraries Access needs for other apps should already be present. Just for snorts & giggles, check VBA Windows >> Tools >> References to verify that there are no broken or missing library references. Verify that the Access and Outlook reference major versions on the libraries are the same number (probably 12 or greater). If you have the kits or downloads required for it, do an OFFICE REPAIR that would allow you to repair the installation.

 

[cheekybuddha]

If you were asking about the Outlook button in Access and not in the security error message, then it's this one (which I presume everyone has on the path I provided--but maybe it's new in Access 2021):

View attachment 102277

So have you ever clicked that button and created an Outlook Task?

 

[twgonder]

Fair question. From your discussion, Access was loaded AFTER Outlook was loaded, not at the same time. That means all of the libraries Access needs for other apps should already be present. Just for snorts & giggles, check VBA Windows >> Tools >> References to verify that there are no broken or missing library references. Verify that the Access and Outlook reference major versions on the libraries are the same number (probably 12 or greater). If you have the kits or downloads required for it, do an OFFICE REPAIR that would allow you to repair the installation.

Actually, I installed Office Pro all at once. But, as I stated earlier, the original HP Windows had Office stuff partially installed, probably for 365.
The problem didn't start happening until I started Access, and since then it's a steady stream of "unauthorized changes blocked" security messages and occasional hangs for Access and Outlook. The latest today at 4:51 pm when I wasn't at the computer.

I'm not sure what I should be looking at in the References. The first four check boxes are checked, the rest look okay from what I can tell.

I've maye had two Outlook hangs in the last year before using Access, on this and another laptop. I've had maybe three in the past two weeks. Most of the hangs have been in Access, but I've stopped editing code while in the form view, as advised here, that may help.

 

[twgonder]

So have you ever clicked that button and created an Outlook Task?

Yes, to see what would happen. Three days ago. The problem of hangs started about two months ago when I first started using Access on this newish laptop.

 

[KitaYama]

Have you considered a clean re-install of all Office products?
Everybody is telling you Access doesn't do that sort of things and if you see something weird is going on, apparently there's something wrong with your install or setup.
There's an app on MS support site for this purpose.

If it was me, I would do a recovery of Windows from an image. It would take only 20 minutes and I would be on my feet again, clean and fresh.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Actually, I installed Office Pro all at once. But, as I stated earlier, the original HP Windows had Office stuff partially installed, probably for 365.
The problem didn't start happening until I started Access, and since then it's a steady stream of "unauthorized changes blocked" security messages and occasional hangs for Access and Outlook.

This makes me wonder if you have a consistent installation. More precisely, at that moment that you installed Office Pro, was your PRIOR installation properly removed? We have in the past seen "remnant" issues where a prior installation had some leftovers to dodge and trip around. This might sound crazy, but look at KitaYama's suggestion of doing a fresh install or recovery of Windows. In the worst-case scenario, you would need to re-image the Windows on your system, then on that refreshed image that has never seen Office, do a "virgin" installation, being sure to install with uniform "bitness" (32-bit recommended). Replace your data and move forward from there.

Otherwise, the only other way I could see to do this will sound even crazier, but ... remove Office Pro entirely. Install 365 of whatever bitness was installed before. Now REMOVE 365 completely. Finally, reinstall Office Pro of the desired bitness. This is intended to use the deinstallation code to remove any remnants so that you have nothing left over from O365 OR Office Pro. It is that, or re-image Windows, which means backing up all of your data and reinstalling everything ELSE that you had on your system.

While you are at it, verify that when you do the installation, that you do the final installation including Access and Outlook with uniform bitness.

As to what you should have seen in the Tools >> References jaunt, there is a section under the "list" portion of the little pop-up references form that would include messages such as "Missing" or "Broken" for a reference that had become somehow "out of sorts" - and if you found one of those, you would know to uncheck and then separately assert the desired reference... if you could do so. But you said they looked OK so there went that idea.

 

[twgonder]

I had two Access Windows open (by accident,) but I do sometimes for copying. When I shut one of them down the "Unauthorized changes blocked" notification popped up. Hmmmm

The easy solution is to just allow Access to "change" whatever it wants to do to Outlook, but the question again, why is Access doing this? I doubt it's an installation problem, the error would be much more severe I would think. I really don't want to start uninstalling and installing again. If it's a serious problem, I hope MS will figure it out with a patch. The bigger question yet is why HP and others allow MS to preinstall 365 if it's going to cause problems with other installations of Office later (if that is the reason)?

 

[twgonder]

Have you considered a clean re-install of all Office products?
Everybody is telling you Access doesn't do that sort of things and if you see something weird is going on, apparently there's something wrong with your install or setup.
There's an app on MS support site for this purpose.

If it was me, I would do a recovery of Windows from an image. It would take only 20 minutes and I would be on my feet again, clean and fresh.

Well yes, I could go back two months and do a restore...for this simple problem, Um no.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I had two Access Windows open (by accident,) but I do sometimes for copying. When I shut one of them down the "Unauthorized changes blocked" notification popped up. Hmmmm

Keep track of which one was opened first. Do the experiment of seeing whether, starting from two Access windows open, it is the first-opened instance or the second-opened instance closing first that triggers the notification. (This is a test for locking issues and lock conversion.)

 

[twgonder]

Keep track of which one was opened first. Do the experiment of seeing whether, starting from two Access windows open, it is the first-opened instance or the second-opened instance closing first that triggers the notification. (This is a test for locking issues and lock conversion.)

I should probably put this in its own post, with more of an explanation. However, it just came up with this problem. For my synch plans regarding Home and Remote back ends (in another post that got out of hand), I've thought of having one remote computer (like the last sales workstation--least used) run both Fe and Be at the same time (the Be running to log changes and send them to home for synching while the Fe does the sales task.) I've been mapping it out in my head. But I gotta ask, is there anything knowingly "wrong" with running two instances of Access on one machine at the same time?

 

[twgonder]

So, I started another instance of Access, opened a different .accdb.
Got ready to quit for the night, switched over to Access, got my emails, and then this came up:

I haven't done anything, or loaded any sample .accdb that do anything with mail.
Now tell me again how Access doesn't do anything to Outlook unless I tell it to.

 

[CJ_London]

To answer post #44, I often have several instances of access open at the same time without a problem.

but if the first instance has an active reference to the second instance, the second instance will be locked for design changes

as for your main issue I don’t think anyone here can offer any more insight or suggestions as to why that is happening as nobody else appears to have had the same experience . If it was due to a ms update or a wrong install I would expect there would have been multiple posts on this and other forums

nearest I could find was this 10 year old thread

Redirecting