Sticking with a defined Workgroup.

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Guest

Hi all
I want to be able to stick with a defined workgroup, or if Acces cant get
it to send a message to that affect rather than create its own. Specifically
- the workgroup is on a network drive. If the drive cant be connected to
Access defaults to one it creats on the Root. There must be a way to force
an error (and get it to automatically look for the preferred workgroup once
the problem is sorted)?

Thank you all

Finnie
 
If you secure the mdb properly, you'll get an error if it tries to open your
secure mdb using the system.mdw.
 
Ok, thank you. I thought I had and have just used the Security Wizard to run
a check. All seems fine except it couldn't encode the database. I have always
avoided this over performance issues - is this what I'm missing? There's no
confidential information in the database as such, security is implemented
more from a functionality viewpoint, keeping users from entering areas they
dont need.

Finnie
 
You don't have to 'encode' the database, no. A good way to check if you've
secured it properly is to use the workgroup administrator and join
system.mdw (the workgroup that ships with Access). This will make
system.mdw your default.

Now try to open your secure mdb via a double-click in Windows Explorer. You
shouldn't be able to even open it - you'll get a message saying you don't
have permissions.

The only way you should be successful in opening the secure mdb is if you
are using the secure mdw. Instead of making this your default mdw, use a
desktop shortcut with "path to msaccess.exe" "path to mdb" /wrkgrp "path to
secure mdw" as the target.
 
Thank you! "DOH" as they say - I hadn't removed all permissions from the
Users group. Thank you for the suggestion re the shortcut - works a treat!

Thank you again for your time

Finnie
 
Can you explain the desktop shortcut key trick a bit more. I don't understand
yet. My trouble is that when I distributed my secure database by putting it
and a mdw that I created on a network server all users of the new database
must join the mdw (WIF) to be able to access the database. Once they are done
using that seccure database, and they try to open another unsecure database,
they still need to login because it seems their PC is still linked to the
secure mdw. Is there a way to set it up so once they are done with the secure
database their default mdw (WIF) is reinstated?
 
As Joan wrote (so I'm now an "expert" :-) ) start the program Msaccess and
join the system mdw. Then set up your shortcut to the secure database as
follows (this is from my installation, replace the paths with yours)

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\MSACCESS.EXE" "C:\Program
Files\Fionns Programs\FionnsFinac.mdb" /wrkgrp"M:\mks.mdw"

The users log on through the defined workgroup file and hence can access
your database. The logon only exists for the time they are using this db, all
other times they are still connected to the system (unsecured) workgroup (and
wont be able to open the secured db if they try to get into it that way). It
a v neat trick and is documented in the help file but I hadn't come accross
it until Joan pointed it out.

Hope that helps

Finnie
 
Access ships with security turned 'on'. By default you are joined to a
workgroup file called system.mdw. Every time you open Access it silently
logs you in as a user called 'Admin'.

So when you 'join' your secure mdw on the server, it is now the default mdw
used for all sessions. It is the mdw that determines whether you are
silently logged in as Admin (for unsecure mdbs), or you have to provide a
username/password.

The idea is to leave each computer joined by default to the standard
system.mdw that ships with Access, thus requiring no login. For the secure
mdb, you want to over-ride the default and use the secure mdw. It would be
tedious to have to use the workgroup administrator every time you wanted to
switch workgroup files. So instead use a desktop shortcut - its target
would look like...
"path to msaccess.exe" "path to mdb" /wrkgrp "path to secure mdw"

If everyone has installed the same version of Access, and installed to the
same location, you can create the shortcut and then just copy it (it's just
a lnk file) to each user.
 
I understand now. Finnie provided me with an actual samle path to help me
understand. It works graeeat! Thank you for your help.
 
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