Windows 11 Slowing Down Database

[Cotswold]

Have you got a permanent link from a small BE table to an always open FE form?

 

[GPGeorge]

Spoiler:

I visited the site yesterday because of an emergency (someone pulled the switch on the switch) and lo and behold the Win11 laptop is working as fast as the others.

I used it when the other stations were not connected, so I’m not sure if the problem disappeared or not.

Spoiler:

Thanks for all the tips. I hope to keep you all posted with good news, hopefully.

Shimon

This is highly indicative of the problem of a lack of a persistent connection when multiple users are connecting to a back end on the network. Albert, for one, has already explained this extensively.

 

[Shimon]

Have you got a permanent link from a small BE table to an always open FE form?

I tried that and the result was not consistent. As the users say that the station works fine, I’m not going to invest much time looking for the problem.
Thanks to all for your input,
Shimon

 

[MagicIT]

I tried that and the result was not consistent. As the users say that the station works fine, I’m not going to invest much time looking for the problem.
Thanks to all for your input,
Shimon

Glad yours has improved, albeit we don't know why.

In my client the issues still remain and they are at the point of tears with it. They now have a new server and network infrastructure and all PCs upgraded hardware-wise and still the database performance falls off a cliff at the second user.

Although they don't use that many at the same time, the previous developer put in multiple back end files which I will be combining as much as possible (never really seen more than about 2 in my lifetime at other locations). Main ones are on persistent connections and generally most of them hardly have any tables opened on them. The issue we keep coming back to is that it never used to be like this, even with the quirky design and often poor coding etc. As usual the client can't really pin down when it went slower, but might have been in the move from Win 10 to 11.

Database is split FE/BE
Full AV exclusions
Trusted Locations in place
Currently on Access x32 - going to try x64 just to see but not had the need to do that before.
Need to review Bitlocker again.
Will be trying to get the IT support to test a Terminal Server
Will start to look at SQL server (as I use at many clients), however this application is quite unique and might not play well with it.

 

[MagicIT]

Has anyone had any issues lately with oplocks or SMB Compression on Windows Server 2025?

 

[RonPaii]

Has anyone had any issues lately with oplocks or SMB Compression on Windows Server 2025?

Assuming you are not using SMB1 or 2, oplocks is not and issue. I have disable leasing mode of the server share containing the BE. This is more to reduce corruption and may reduce performance.

Disable Leasing Mode

https://infusionsoftware.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001439295-SMB3-Leasing-Mode

What is SMB File Sharing for Windows and Windows Server?

Learn how the SMB protocol enhances file sharing in Windows Server with features like encryption, performance optimization, and high availability.

learn.microsoft.com

set-smbshare -name "Share Name" -LeasingMode none

 

[imjosh]

Why are people still using MS Access backends when SQL Server Express is available for free? I have full SQL Server available at work and have converted a few Access applications over. It took a bit of work, but it wasn't exceptionally difficult. Using the MS SQL Server Migration Assistant to convert the backend and an AI editor like Cursor + the msaccess-vcs-addin to make the needed updates to the front-end, it might not even be very much work these days.

And having the option to use T-SQL for advanced queries, Views and Stored Procedures makes future development more flexible and far easier in many cases compared to getting things done with what's possible using only Access's capabilities. Not to mention that SQL Server is rock solid vs Access files, especially with multi-user >= 10 users, are fragile. It's MUCH faster. Even the free version of SQL Server has much higher limits on database sizes, table sizes, and everything else. You also get automated differential and log backups (edit: not automated in the free version, but you can automate with Windows Task Scheduler and a few simple scripts), you can use Active Directory for authentication/authorization - all kinds of things. So, all of my new multi-user applications start with SQL Server backends now.

Can someone with more experience tell me the downsides or gotchas of moving to SQL Server Express? Is there any reason to start new, multi-user projects with Access backends? Thanks