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access thread: Access Permissions
Message #1 by "Simon Garstin" <sgarstin@t...> on Mon, 5 Mar 2001 10:21:19
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What a nightmare ! I would really appreciate some expert help on this
one....
I have set up an Access database which will (in time) be accessible from
various PCs on a network. Simple enough. At the moment, however, there is
only one PC, used by 4 people.
I would like to set up user groups allocating various permission levels
(delete, insert, update etc..) as appropriate. When a user opens up the
database on the PC, he/she enters their username/password and uses the
database with the appropriate permissions. Then when they are finished,
they close the database, and another user can come on enter their details
and use the database with their permissions etc.. etc..
I wouldn't have thought this was too difficult to achieve and the Access
help strongly implies this is so. However I CANNOT get Access to behave
like this. The central question is - how do you change the user of a
database under this scenario ?
There are 2 ways of setting permissions - directly via Tools|Security
etc.. - or by using the User-Level Security Wizard, which secures the
database and creates a backup.
Method 1 lets you add users to groups, however if you want to set
individual passwords to each user - it only appears to let you do this for
user 'admin'.
That aside, once entered, all the information - new users, permissions
etc.. - appears to have been "taken" by the database.
However, when you close it and open it again there is no user/password
dialogue box in sight - it just takes you straight back in - as
user 'admin'. How do you go in as another user - and hence with the
appropriate permissions ?
Method 2 - the User-Level Security Wizard - seems thorough and lets you
assign new users (and passwords this time) to groups. However when you
close and come back in there is (again) no username/password dialogue box
and it takes the current username as the one entered in when you log on
into windows.
This implies that by different 'users', Access actually means different
computers (if so why on earth doesn't the Help facility say so and save
newbies like myself hours of wasted effort!).
However, maybe everyting is set up and the user log-on just needs to
be 'turned on' somewhere else.
Perhaps there is a good on-line resource (not Microsoft-based please!)
someone can point me to.
Thanks in anticipation of your help....
Simon G
Message #2 by Brian Skelton <brian_skelton@o...> on Mon, 5 Mar 2001 11:19:48 GMT
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It looks like you've done everything, except for the final
step of disabling the 'Admin' account. When Access is
installed, the default user is set to 'Admin' and this
account has no password, so Access bypasses the logon box and
opens.
To force Access to ask who the user is, give the Admin
account a password. Access will then require users to logon.
A couple of other points to remember:
1)Access treats all 'Admin' accounts as the same. To secure
your database you have to remove all permissions from the
'Admin' account. Otherwise, anybody with a freshly installed
copy of Access will be able to get into your data!
2) The security database (usuallly system.mdw) is PC
specific. So if you are planning to distribute your database
around an organisation, you need to find some way of
distributing the security system and telling the target PC
where to find it.
---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2001 10:21:19
>From: "Simon Garstin" <sgarstin@t...>
>Subject: [access] Access Permissions
>To: "Access" <access@p...>
>
>What a nightmare ! I would really appreciate some expert
help on this
>one....
>
>I have set up an Access database which will (in time) be
accessible from
>various PCs on a network. Simple enough. At the moment,
however, there is
>only one PC, used by 4 people.
>
Message #3 by Manolis Manolas <mmsoft@r...> on Mon, 5 Mar 2001 04:41:19 -0800 (PST)
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Start by defining a password for admin.
Close the database.
When you start Access again, it Shows a dialog box with
Userid <admin> and asks for a password.
You give the UserId of some <user> and its password and enter.
Close the database.
When you start Access again, it Shows a dialog box with
Userid <user> and asks for a password...
...that is Access remembers the last user's UserId.
This process may help you as a first step.
(If someone copies the database and trasfers it to another computer
where system.mdw does not contain your information about users, it
is possible that the database is wide open to the admin of that PC.
There is a white paper explaining how can you secure a database).
Regards
Manolas Emmanuel
>What a nightmare ! I would really appreciate some expert help on this
>one....
>
>I have set up an Access database which will (in time) be accessible
>from
>various PCs on a network. Simple enough. At the moment, however, there
>is
>only one PC, used by 4 people.
>
>I would like to set up user groups allocating various permission
>levels
>(delete, insert, update etc..) as appropriate. When a user opens up
>the
>database on the PC, he/she enters their username/password and uses the
>database with the appropriate permissions. Then when they are
>finished,
>they close the database, and another user can come on enter their
>details
>and use the database with their permissions etc.. etc..
>
>I wouldn't have thought this was too difficult to achieve and the
>Access
>help strongly implies this is so. However I CANNOT get Access to
>behave
>like this. The central question is - how do you change the user of a
>database under this scenario ?
>
>There are 2 ways of setting permissions - directly via Tools|Security
>etc.. - or by using the User-Level Security Wizard, which secures the
>database and creates a backup.
>
>Method 1 lets you add users to groups, however if you want to set
>individual passwords to each user - it only appears to let you do this
>for user 'admin'.
>
>That aside, once entered, all the information - new users, permissions
>etc.. - appears to have been "taken" by the database.
>
>However, when you close it and open it again there is no user/password
>dialogue box in sight - it just takes you straight back in - as
>user 'admin'. How do you go in as another user - and hence with the
>appropriate permissions ?
>
>Method 2 - the User-Level Security Wizard - seems thorough and lets
>you
>assign new users (and passwords this time) to groups. However when you
>close and come back in there is (again) no username/password dialogue
>box
>and it takes the current username as the one entered in when you log
>on into windows.
>
>This implies that by different 'users', Access actually means
>different
>computers (if so why on earth doesn't the Help facility say so and
>save newbies like myself hours of wasted effort!).
>
>However, maybe everyting is set up and the user log-on just needs to
>be 'turned on' somewhere else.
>
>Perhaps there is a good on-line resource (not Microsoft-based please!)
>someone can point me to.
>
>
>Thanks in anticipation of your help....
>
>Simon G
>
=====
Visit www.alef.gr, greek science fiction, interactive site.
Entropy is increasing faster by burning books (Manolas M.)
Message #4 by pmcmillin@m... on Mon, 05 Mar 2001 08:37:23 -0600
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I have a question regarding this issue also...
When you set this up on the computer it applies to Access as a whole and
not just that one database, right? We tried setting this up in one of my
college database classes and had great difficulty. Because it changes one
of the system files, it applied to Access. So that anytime any one opened
up Access on that computer it prompted you for a userid and
password. What's up with this?
At 10:21 AM 3/5/2001 +0000, you wrote:
>What a nightmare ! I would really appreciate some expert help on this
>one....
>
>I have set up an Access database which will (in time) be accessible from
>various PCs on a network. Simple enough. At the moment, however, there is
>only one PC, used by 4 people.
>
>I would like to set up user groups allocating various permission levels
>(delete, insert, update etc..) as appropriate. When a user opens up the
>database on the PC, he/she enters their username/password and uses the
>database with the appropriate permissions. Then when they are finished,
>they close the database, and another user can come on enter their details
>and use the database with their permissions etc.. etc..
>
>I wouldn't have thought this was too difficult to achieve and the Access
>help strongly implies this is so. However I CANNOT get Access to behave
>like this. The central question is - how do you change the user of a
>database under this scenario ?
>
>There are 2 ways of setting permissions - directly via Tools|Security
>etc.. - or by using the User-Level Security Wizard, which secures the
>database and creates a backup.
>
>Method 1 lets you add users to groups, however if you want to set
>individual passwords to each user - it only appears to let you do this for
>user 'admin'.
>
>That aside, once entered, all the information - new users, permissions
>etc.. - appears to have been "taken" by the database.
>
>However, when you close it and open it again there is no user/password
>dialogue box in sight - it just takes you straight back in - as
>user 'admin'. How do you go in as another user - and hence with the
>appropriate permissions ?
>
>Method 2 - the User-Level Security Wizard - seems thorough and lets you
>assign new users (and passwords this time) to groups. However when you
>close and come back in there is (again) no username/password dialogue box
>and it takes the current username as the one entered in when you log on
>into windows.
>
>This implies that by different 'users', Access actually means different
>computers (if so why on earth doesn't the Help facility say so and save
>newbies like myself hours of wasted effort!).
>
>However, maybe everyting is set up and the user log-on just needs to
>be 'turned on' somewhere else.
>
>Perhaps there is a good on-line resource (not Microsoft-based please!)
>someone can point me to.
>
>
>Thanks in anticipation of your help....
>
>
>
>Simon G
>
>
Message #5 by "Pardee, Roy E" <roy.e.pardee@l...> on Mon, 05 Mar 2001 07:15:32 -0800
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This behavior is a drag, but there is a way around it. Rather than using
the workgroup administrator utility to join the workgroup defined in the
.mdw file with your account definitions, you stay with system.mdw and
instead reference the workgroup file on a shortcut command line with the
/wrkgrp switch.
So you give your users desktop shortcuts to your app, and on the shortcut's
Target you put:
<<path to MSAccess.exe>> <<path to your .mdb file>> /wrkgrp <<path to your
.mdw file>>. For instance
"C:\Program Files\Access2000\Office\MSACCESS.EXE" "P:\MyDir\MyDatabase.mdb"
/WRKGRP "P:\MyDir\Secured.mdw"
HTH,
-Roy
-----Original Message-----
From: pmcmillin@m...
[mailto:pmcmillin@m...]
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2001 6:37 AM
To: Access
Subject: [access] Re: Access Permissions
I have a question regarding this issue also...
When you set this up on the computer it applies to Access as a whole and
not just that one database, right? We tried setting this up in one of my
college database classes and had great difficulty. Because it changes one
of the system files, it applied to Access. So that anytime any one opened
up Access on that computer it prompted you for a userid and
password. What's up with this?
At 10:21 AM 3/5/2001 +0000, you wrote:
>What a nightmare ! I would really appreciate some expert help on this
>one....
>
>I have set up an Access database which will (in time) be accessible from
>various PCs on a network. Simple enough. At the moment, however, there is
>only one PC, used by 4 people.
>
>I would like to set up user groups allocating various permission levels
>(delete, insert, update etc..) as appropriate. When a user opens up the
>database on the PC, he/she enters their username/password and uses the
>database with the appropriate permissions. Then when they are finished,
>they close the database, and another user can come on enter their details
>and use the database with their permissions etc.. etc..
>
>I wouldn't have thought this was too difficult to achieve and the Access
>help strongly implies this is so. However I CANNOT get Access to behave
>like this. The central question is - how do you change the user of a
>database under this scenario ?
>
>There are 2 ways of setting permissions - directly via Tools|Security
>etc.. - or by using the User-Level Security Wizard, which secures the
>database and creates a backup.
>
>Method 1 lets you add users to groups, however if you want to set
>individual passwords to each user - it only appears to let you do this for
>user 'admin'.
>
>That aside, once entered, all the information - new users, permissions
>etc.. - appears to have been "taken" by the database.
>
>However, when you close it and open it again there is no user/password
>dialogue box in sight - it just takes you straight back in - as
>user 'admin'. How do you go in as another user - and hence with the
>appropriate permissions ?
>
>Method 2 - the User-Level Security Wizard - seems thorough and lets you
>assign new users (and passwords this time) to groups. However when you
>close and come back in there is (again) no username/password dialogue box
>and it takes the current username as the one entered in when you log on
>into windows.
>
>This implies that by different 'users', Access actually means different
>computers (if so why on earth doesn't the Help facility say so and save
>newbies like myself hours of wasted effort!).
>
>However, maybe everyting is set up and the user log-on just needs to
>be 'turned on' somewhere else.
>
>Perhaps there is a good on-line resource (not Microsoft-based please!)
>someone can point me to.
>
>
>Thanks in anticipation of your help....
>
>
>
>Simon G
>
>
Message #6 by Brian Skelton <brian_skelton@o...> on Mon, 5 Mar 2001 15:33:49 GMT
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This is the way it's meant to work.
All user names, passwords and access rights, etc. are held in
one workgroup database (typically system.mdw in the system32
directory on an NT system). This allows a user to log on to
Access and then open any database they have rights to without
having to close down Access.
If you want to protect a particular database, but allow the
user open other databases without logging on, you need to do
something along these lines.
1)Create a second workgroup database file (use the
wrkgadm.exe program - again found in the system32 directory
on an NT system)
2)Join the new workgroup database (use the wrkgadm.exe
program to do this)
3)Open and secure your database.
4)Close the database and rejoin the original workgroup
database.
5)Create a shortcut to your database. The shortcut target
will be something like this:
"c:\program files\microsoft office\office\msaccess.exe" "path
and filename of database file" /wrkgrp "path and filename of
new workgroup file"
The /wrkgrp switch overrides the location of the default
workgroup database for the session.
Brian
---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2001 08:37:23 -0600
>From: pmcmillin@m... (Pam McMillin)
>Subject: [access] Re: Access Permissions
>To: "Access" <access@p...>
>
>I have a question regarding this issue also...
>
>When you set this up on the computer it applies to Access as
a whole and
>not just that one database, right? We tried setting this up
in one of my
>college database classes and had great difficulty. Because
it changes one
>of the system files, it applied to Access. So that anytime
any one opened
>up Access on that computer it prompted you for a userid and
>password. What's up with this?
Message #7 by "Simon Garstin" <sgarstin@t...> on Mon, 5 Mar 2001 15:50:19 -0000
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Manolis,
Thanks for that - it worked.
Interesting point about copying the database to another PC - also it (the
same file not a copy!!) can also be opened unsecure by someone on another PC
via a network. Copying the workgroup file across solves it but if one
forgets to do this.....
Where can I find a copy of this white paper ?
Another subsequent reply stated the problem with changing (joining) a
workgroup imposes that workgroup on all. Microsoft support says the way
round this is to create custom shortcuts to the databases which include a
command line version of saying effectively "open this database using this
workgroup" - eg. "c:\msoffice\access\msaccess.exe /wrkgrp
c:\myapp\secacc.mdw".
Have not actually tried to create the shortcut but this solves the problem
of always entering the Access program unsecure. And accessing individual
Access db files, you just do the same thing. This approach would work but I
think it's a bit cumbersome - a pity there is no global setting for access
where one can set a default workgroup unless U specifically join another
one.
Any thoughts ?
SG
----- Original Message -----
From: Manolis Manolas <mmsoft@r...>
To: Access <access@p...>
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2001 12:41 PM
Subject: [access] Access Permissions
> Start by defining a password for admin.
> Close the database.
> When you start Access again, it Shows a dialog box with
> Userid <admin> and asks for a password.
> You give the UserId of some <user> and its password and enter.
> Close the database.
> When you start Access again, it Shows a dialog box with
> Userid <user> and asks for a password...
> ...that is Access remembers the last user's UserId.
>
> This process may help you as a first step.
> (If someone copies the database and trasfers it to another computer
> where system.mdw does not contain your information about users, it
> is possible that the database is wide open to the admin of that PC.
> There is a white paper explaining how can you secure a database).
> Regards
> Manolas Emmanuel
>
> >What a nightmare ! I would really appreciate some expert help on this
> >one....
> >
> >I have set up an Access database which will (in time) be accessible
> >from
> >various PCs on a network. Simple enough. At the moment, however, there
> >is
> >only one PC, used by 4 people.
> >
> >I would like to set up user groups allocating various permission
> >levels
> >(delete, insert, update etc..) as appropriate. When a user opens up
> >the
> >database on the PC, he/she enters their username/password and uses the
>
> >database with the appropriate permissions. Then when they are
> >finished,
> >they close the database, and another user can come on enter their
> >details
> >and use the database with their permissions etc.. etc..
> >
> >I wouldn't have thought this was too difficult to achieve and the
> >Access
> >help strongly implies this is so. However I CANNOT get Access to
> >behave
> >like this. The central question is - how do you change the user of a
> >database under this scenario ?
> >
> >There are 2 ways of setting permissions - directly via Tools|Security
> >etc.. - or by using the User-Level Security Wizard, which secures the
> >database and creates a backup.
> >
> >Method 1 lets you add users to groups, however if you want to set
> >individual passwords to each user - it only appears to let you do this
> >for user 'admin'.
> >
> >That aside, once entered, all the information - new users, permissions
>
> >etc.. - appears to have been "taken" by the database.
> >
> >However, when you close it and open it again there is no user/password
>
> >dialogue box in sight - it just takes you straight back in - as
> >user 'admin'. How do you go in as another user - and hence with the
> >appropriate permissions ?
> >
> >Method 2 - the User-Level Security Wizard - seems thorough and lets
> >you
> >assign new users (and passwords this time) to groups. However when you
>
> >close and come back in there is (again) no username/password dialogue
> >box
> >and it takes the current username as the one entered in when you log
> >on into windows.
> >
> >This implies that by different 'users', Access actually means
> >different
> >computers (if so why on earth doesn't the Help facility say so and
> >save newbies like myself hours of wasted effort!).
> >
> >However, maybe everyting is set up and the user log-on just needs to
> >be 'turned on' somewhere else.
> >
> >Perhaps there is a good on-line resource (not Microsoft-based please!)
>
> >someone can point me to.
> >
> >
> >Thanks in anticipation of your help....
> >
> >Simon G
> >
>
>
>
> =====
> Visit www.alef.gr, greek science fiction, interactive site.
>
> Entropy is increasing faster by burning books (Manolas M.)
>
>
>
>
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