Question User cannot start Access database (1 Viewer)

[croydon]

I have an Access 2013 user who cannot use a particular Access database whilst her colleagues are using it. She gets no error message, Access just starts (she sees the 'Access' splash screen) then ends.
If she goes into the database as the first user, it's fine. Her colleagues can also enter it without any problems.
It's just that she can't enter it when they are using it.
Although I didn't think it was to do with the particular Access database, I ran a compact and repair anyway but this did not resolve the issue.
I'm wondering whether the problem is with the instance of Access 2013 on her laptop?
Any thoughts would be appreciated

 

[isladogs]

Check whether the other user has opened it exclusively.

 

[Ranman256]

Is this a SPLIT database?

 

[croydon]

The database is not split and there are three other users that can be on at the same time and none are exclusive.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

OK, "not split" is legal but unwise. If you really wanted to do this SAFELY and avoid as much as possible the potential for corruption, look into splitting this DB ASAP.

HOWEVER, let's directly address the other issue. The telling comment is this one:

If she goes into the database as the first user, it's fine.

Compare her permissions to those of the other users. To use a shared database, ALL users must have "MODIFY" level of permission (that's the broad-brush level) on the folder itself and all files therein. The MODIFY permission setting implies 10 or 11 different detailed "advanced" permissions that are actually needed. However, it is easiest to just set the user to have MODIFY permissions and be done with it. The failure mechanism is probably that your miscreant user can't create the .LDB file and thus by default has to use Windows File Locking to open the file exclusively.

IF your domain administrator doesn't like that, look into defining a GROUP with those permissions and then assign your users to that group. That's the way the U.S. Navy prefers for situations similar to this.

 

[bdra2778]

Some times that same happends to me, I have to rename the file and all is solved. Try this.

I dont know why this happen, but that procedure works for me.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

bdra2788, when that "need to rename the file" happens, it is often because you have a hidden file of that name that is locked and waiting to be deleted. Sometimes a reboot will clear the lock in that case.

 

[croydon]

An update on this: We had the user's profile checked and it was the same as her colleague's. We have a workaround now (but I'm not sure why it works). We created a shortcut to the database on the user's laptop. We found that if she starts Access from Start Programs then selects the shortcut from the 'Recent' list, she can get into the database successfully whilst other users are using it. I don't understand why this works, I assume there must be something blocking her from opening the database on the network but it works when she starts Access locally first. Would this be some firewall issue?

 

[JHB]

I don't know how your network and net account is set up, but can't you give the problem user another computer temporarily, just to test if something is wrong with the computer?

 

[Cronk]

One explanation that might be that the user has both full and run-time versions of Access on their PC. I recall a site where double clicking on the FE file opened the run-time version and the file did not open, probably because of an error on open.


Opening the FE using the file Open in the full version or setting up a short cut that included the full path to the full version, together with the FE path, worked fine.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Good idea, Cronk. In that case it would be a matter of the Associations and where they are pointing.

Croydon, the firewall issue you mentioned is possible, but only if there is some kind of difference between the names of what is being opened the two different ways.

I.e. MSACCESS.EXE vs. some other program - OR if the thing being opened is from the wrong place i.e. not from some folder like C:/Program Files/Office/... whatever. I ran into this once when dealing with a firewall that was protecting an e-mail gateway machine. Access can run something called CDO that allows it to directly create and send SMTP-style e-mail. The firewall allowed Outlook to send to the gateway but not Access, because the firewall was looking for OUTLOOK.EXE but not MSACCESS.EXE, so what you ask COULD be a firewall problem.

Here is the experiment you need to run in order to see if Cronk's idea is right AND if you have a multi-install case. You have to set up a time when you can do this without interference from other users, though.

Have your "problem child" do her thing to open the app both the original way and the "workaround" way. Once in, get the user to a point where the ribbon can be accessed and click FILE >> HELP. On the right-hand side of the resultant screen there will be a sub-header "About" and under that will be a version string. For Ac2010, the version string looks like

Version: 14.0.7229.5000 (32-bit)

Using both starting methods, you should get the same exact version string. If you do not, then you have multiple versions of Access active on that system.