.laccdb file getting locked

[larryg99]

Hello All;

Any thoughts on why a lock file becomes locked to the point that only someone with system admin level privileges needs to kill the file? I have a log-off function (hidden page with timer on startup) that is effective most days, but some days not so much, and still other days where nothing I can do can log users off the db so that I can get exclusive use to maintain the db. The lock procedure is functional (I think) because I can view the lock file with notepad and view the users that supposedly are logged into the db. When I log on myself I then see my machine number, and when I log off my machine number is gone. However there are times when the lock file shows me logged on, and I'm not. The auto force log-off seems effective some days but not others.

Thanks...

 

[The_Doc_Man]

This occurs whenever a "ragged" shutdown occurs. With Access, that lock file is one of the last (if not THE last) files to be closed. If there is a network drop on one of your users, that will do it. If the user in question tried to close the app but something has it in what is called a "rundown" state, the app isn't fully closed yet. (It is merely on the way out.) Many times I have seen my users swear that they shut down the app but when they check their task list, it is still there.

When that happens, the lock file just hasn't had its turn to be closed yet for that user. Rundown would guarantee that ALL files will be closed because Access doesn't do the rundown - Windows itself does it based on a list of open "handles" associated with the process that hosted Access.

The only solutions I have found are

(a) a reboot of the BE host or

(b) identify the user whose FE has it open and have that user reboot HIS/HER machine, or

(c) you can TRY to play with the Command Prompt window's OPENFILES command on the BE host, which would list the open handles, one of which would be the handle that is locking the lock file. There would be a task number associated with it and you can kill the task (on the BE host) that is causing the hold-up. The OPENFILES has a /Disconnect option that might be helpful in this context. You can get help on that command by going into the command prompt window and typing OPENFILES/? to get the options, and you will see that the help "tree" allows you to get more details on each option.

 

[CJ_London]

I can do can log users off the db so that I can get exclusive use

Hope this doesn't mean you have not split the db or if you have, users are using the same front end.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Good point, CJ, but it is still applicable when you are doing BE maintenance. Even something so simple as a BE Compact & Repair or just making a clean backup is not really good except in stand-alone on the BE file.

 

[CJ_London]

but it is still applicable when you are doing BE maintenance

agree but most maintenance is around the front end, not the back end......