password problem

[109bow]

Hoping someone can help with this one!
In an attempt to add security to a database I am building, I have added the file in the attachment to my database, without reading all the replies, now every time I open any Access database on my Pc I am asked for a password, because of this file.
Let this be a lesson to anybody who's not totally sure what impact adding a file will have, like I have!
I have removed the added form from my database but still the problem remains.
I am running Windows10 with Access2013.
Any advice on how to remove this password protection would be gratefully received.

 

[Ranman256]

If you turned on password protection , it WILL ask you for the password everytime.
If you dit not, I dont think adding a file to an attachment field will cause this password prompt.

 

[109bow]

Ranman, thanks for your reply.
Password protection wasn't turned on and still isn't. The only thing that changed was the addition of the form in the zip file to my database. this then created the password form every time I open a database file.

 

[isladogs]

Hoping someone can help with this one!
In an attempt to add security to a database I am building, I have added the file in the attachment to my database, without reading all the replies, now every time I open any Access database on my Pc I am asked for a password, because of this file.
Let this be a lesson to anybody who's not totally sure what impact adding a file will have, like I have!
I have removed the added form from my database but still the problem remains.
I am running Windows10 with Access2013.
Any advice on how to remove this password protection would be gratefully received.

The attachment contained a database with one form but no other file

If it had done, I wouldn't have opened it JUST IN CASE it had the same effect on my computer!
I expect other forum users would feel the same!

If you just mean that the password form opens when you open that database then change the startup options to remove that form OR remove it from the autoexec macro if you created one.

If EVERY database somehow opens that form, then you may have somehow modified your Access system.mdw file.
Try deleting and re-creating that file

 

[The_Doc_Man]

109bow - Please be aware that as a general rule, while we can give mechanical advice on password issues, as a matter of ethics many of us will not touch password problems of the "how do I remove a password" because there is no way for us to verify that you are doing this to a database you own. Oh, you can say you own it, but there is no way to VERIFY that you in fact do own it. As a result, if we are complicit in a data theft, we might actually be held responsible for damages.

PLEASE understand that I am not accusing you of something bad. What I am saying is that there is a legal liability risk associated with this specific kind of problem. Other than the simple advice offered by ridders relating to SYSTEM.MDW, we are going to be strictly limited in the advice we can offer here because we cannot, through vBulletin, ascertain the things we would need to know AND VERIFY regarding ownership of the file in question.

 

[109bow]

The_Doc_Man, I totally understand your reservations on giving guidance on how to remove password protection from a database. However my instance is somewhat different. I have stupidly imported an Access form from a zip file, posted by wardster on this forum. This imported form has now effected all databases I have on my PC. I have copied on of these databases to my laptop which then opens fine without this annoying password form popping up before I could open the database.
All I am asking is how I can disable the effects caused by adding this imported form to my original database.

ridders, I have deleted the system.mdw, but I'm not sure how to create a new one. I will uninstall Office2013 and the re-install it to see if this has any effect.

 

[Gasman]

Was it this one?

https://www.access-programmers.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=111547&highlight=password

 

[109bow]

Gasman, yes that is the exact one!

 

[109bow]

Just an update, I have deleted the system.mdw file, as suggested by ridders and uninstalled Ofiice2013. After re-installing Office2013 my databases open without the unwanted password form popping up.
A hard lesson learnt!
Thanks for everybodies input.

 

[isladogs]

Glad it worked
Sorry you had to reinstall Office

As I understand it, the system.mdw file is a legacy from old versions of Access (pre 2007) when it was used for workgroup security
It wasn't totally secure!

In A2007 this was replaced by a different type of security
I'm sure the Doc Man can provide full details on this!

The mdw file is not needed for accdb files

In the old days, you could delete the system.mdw file then it would normally be re-created when you opened Access
OR you could create one manually using the wrkgadm.exe file in windows\system32 folder

Not sure whether that would have worked for you in Access 2013

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Ridders beat me to it. To regenerate a SYSTEM.MDW file, use WRKGADM.EXE, which gives you a SYSTEM.MDW file with a single user, SYSTEM, and an empty password.

And the reason it did what it did was because the SYSTEM.MDW file is used for ANY legacy database (2003 format or earlier) with file type .MDB or .MDE, the file type for the old format. Newer databases use .ACCDB and don't require workgroup security.

The reason it isn't automatically regenerated NOW is because after AC2003 it became a legacy feature.