Password problems

  • Thread starter Thread starter Michael Bentfeld
  • Start date Start date
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Michael Bentfeld

I am having a problem with passwords in Access 2000.
Everytime I open an Access 2000 database, Access prompts
me for a password, even for databases that aren't supposed
to be password protected. No one else has this issue. I
did create one database several months ago that uses
passwords. Could that affect other Access databases that
I'm accessing? Access seems to accept the password I set
for this database as my password for any database I try to
access. Furthermore, whenever I open one of these
supposedly non-password-protected databases, Access
apparently gives me exclusive rights to the database,
because anyone else who tries to access a database that
I'm currently using is locked out. How can I resolve this
password problem?
 
Michael Bentfeld said:
I am having a problem with passwords in Access 2000.
Everytime I open an Access 2000 database, Access prompts
me for a password, even for databases that aren't supposed
to be password protected. No one else has this issue. I
did create one database several months ago that uses
passwords. Could that affect other Access databases that
I'm accessing? Access seems to accept the password I set
for this database as my password for any database I try to
access. Furthermore, whenever I open one of these
supposedly non-password-protected databases, Access
apparently gives me exclusive rights to the database,
because anyone else who tries to access a database that
I'm currently using is locked out. How can I resolve this
password problem?
Click to expand...

Access has File-Based Passwords and User Level Security (separate things). User
Level Security is "session based", not attached to any specific file. When you open
Access you are always doing so in the security context defined by a workgroup file
(MDW extension). If you open Access without specifying a specific workgroup file in
the command line it will open using your default workgroup file.

If you use a workgroup file where the Admin user has been assigned a password then
you are prompted for a UserName and password when you open Access. Again, this does
not care what file you are intending to open. When you earlier created a file that
used security, you also created a new workgroup file that had a password assigned to
the Admin user. That process also made this new workgroup file your default
workgroup so you are now prompted whenever you open Access.

You need to use the Workgroup Administrator Utility to change your default workgroup
back to the standard one created when you first installed Office. This will be named
System.MDW and should be in your Office or Windows System folder. Once joined to
that workgroup you should stop getting the logon prompt.
 
I found the file you specified, but I don't know what my
original workgroup ID is. Is there a way I can find that
information?
 
Michael Bentfeld said:
I found the file you specified, but I don't know what my
original workgroup ID is. Is there a way I can find that
information?
Click to expand...

You should not need any ID to join a Workgroup file. Just use the Administrator
Utility and browse to the file and hit OK.
 
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