Dear friends,

I did some research and found several articles about this issue but none helped to resolve.

I have a MS Access 2003 database having 3 files:
1. MDB - Back End file (contains: data)
2. MDE - Front End file (contains: forms, reports, queries, VBA)
3. MDW - Security file (contains: users and groups)

All 3 files are located on a server. There is a shortcut placed on user's desktop. The shortcut points to MDE file and includes /wrkgrp for the MDW file. All the users are in same custom group in MDW file having Admin permissions.
When the first user logs in, everything is fine. Then any consecutive users logs in, they get message box saying:
"You do not have exclusive access to the database at this time. If you proceed to make changes, you may not be able to save them later."
This message box appears about 30 or 31 times.

My question is that the short cut is opening a MDE file and the user has Admin permissions both in MDW and Windows folder, so why does MS Access 2003 displays this message box ? Is there any resolution to this issue ?

Please help.
Thanks.

You need to put a copy of the mde file on each users' desktop (NOT a shortcut), and not have them open a shared copy of the file from the network. You cannot prevent the situation you have unless each user opens their own copy from their computer. You may have to re-establish the links to the back end so that they point to a mapped drive, and each user MUST be mapped to the folder with the mdb back end the same way, ex: "Z:\Database\Database.mdb" otherwise you will have to visit each user and re-establish their link to the mdb using the linked table manager. Welcome to enterprise development.

Did that help?


mmcdonal

Dear mmcdonal,

Thanks for your explanation. It really helps.
I had posted this question in Microsoft Office Community forums and Joan Wild, Microsoft Access MVP, did reply to resolve this issue. Like you, Joan mentions about providing a separate copy on each user's desktop. Also, Joan states an alternate solution to resolve this issue as follows:

That is due to Adobe version 7. To fix...
Control Panel, Add/remove programs, find Adobe, click Modify -> create Adobe
PDF. Expand to Acrobat PDF Maker and expand to locate Access; deselect the
add-in for Access.

--------------

Thanks,
Suraj.

surajguru,

The solution you posted regarding the Adobe Acrobat plugin for Microsoft Access is the correct solution. I was having the exact same problem and found your posting via Google. I removed the Abode plugin which solved the issue completely.

I maintain an application which uses a Microsoft Access frontend-only MDE file shared on a network with approximately 200 users. This file is shortcutted to each users workstation and the average concurrent load is approximately 100 users. This solution has worked without a single problem for more than 4 years and only exhibited this issue after a user had both Access 2003 and Adobe Acrobat installed. This solution of removing the Adobe plugin solved the issue.


Now, while I am sure this will start some trouble, I had to take the time to register just in order to say this:

The solution offered by mmcdonal is absolutely incorrect and very misleading. There is no reason to put the MDE file on each machine, and in fact there are very good reasons not to do so, Ever. This suggestion is completely contradictory to his own comment welcoming you to enterprise development.

Assuming that this application is used in any sizable organization, and in enterprise development you always assume that it will grow... You would never want to place an MDE file, which must be maintained and updated, on every workstation if you can avoid it. While Microsoft Access as an application host is a very poor solution for enterprise development to begin with, when it is unfortunate necessity, a solution such as a single network shared MDE file for the frontend only is a reasonably scalable solution. This allows you to update the application by replacing the single MDE file rather than deploying a new MDE file to every user.

Unfortunately, the fact that mmcdonal is listed as an "Advanced Member" means that those looking for a solution to their problem will likely accept what he has written as fact. This is an unfortunate example of someone offering their own flawed opinion as though it is a fact.


Good Luck
dashcraf