Good evening folks,

I am running into what is probably a serious newbie problem here, but I
can’t figure it out and I am hoping that someone can tell me what to do
before I go postal! (Meaning no offense if you are a USPS employee.)

Anyway, we’ve been running this database for about 6 users in Access 97 for
about 6 or 7 years now, and we’ve been very happy with it. But, it was
finally time to replace our old computers, so we decided we would get new
computers with Access 03 on them and convert the database. The conversion
seems to have happened just fine. HOWEVER – we can no longer use the
database as a multiuser database! Each person can get into the converted
database, but only one at a time. When a second person tries to get in, they
invariably get the message that “The database has been [placed in a state by
user ‘Admin’ on machine ‘xx’ that prevents it from being opened or locked.”

I have tried placing the machines in the same workgroup, but that didn’t
help. I have made sure that all of the machines have the latest patches for
everything. They are running XP SP2 and MS Ofc 2003 Pro. And – I don’t know
if this is at all relevant – the new machines have some program on them that
is an MS SQL 2000 client.

Anyway, I’d surely appreciate some help getting all of my users into this
database simultaneously. Thanks in advance,

-Bruce D

"Bruce D" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:E569E0F1-F085-4AC6-8437-(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> we can no longer use the
> database as a multiuser database! Each person can get into the converted
> database, but only one at a time. When a second person tries to get in,
> they
> invariably get the message that "The database has been [placed in a state
> by
> user 'Admin' on machine 'xx' that prevents it from being opened or
> locked."
>
> I have tried placing the machines in the same workgroup, but that didn't
> help. I have made sure that all of the machines have the latest patches
> for
> everything. They are running XP SP2 and MS Ofc 2003 Pro. And - I don't
> know
> if this is at all relevant - the new machines have some program on them
> that
> is an MS SQL 2000 client.
>

Have you given each user their own copy of the front end and have you
removed the 'open exclusive' option?

Regards,
Keith.
www.keithwilby.com

Keith -

he he he.....the guy who wrote the DB (NOT me) did NOT spearate the forms
and data entry from the data. There's only one file. So, no, I did NOT give
each person a separate copy. And, no, I don't know how to separate them -
I'm a network guy, not a programmer.

As for "open exclusive" - do you mean in tools --> options? I have checked
that each computer is set to open the file in shared mode, AND I can see the
..ldb file when someone has it open. And yes, the .ldb file disappears when
the file is closed.

-Bruce D

"Keith" wrote:

> Have you given each user their own copy of the front end and have you
> removed the 'open exclusive' option?
>
> Regards,
> Keith.
> www.keithwilby.com
>

> "Bruce D" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:E569E0F1-F085-4AC6-8437-(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > we can no longer use the
> > database as a multiuser database! Each person can get into the converted
> > database, but only one at a time. When a second person tries to get in,
> > they
> > invariably get the message that "The database has been [placed in a state
> > by
> > user 'Admin' on machine 'xx' that prevents it from being opened or
> > locked."
> >
> > I have tried placing the machines in the same workgroup, but that didn't
> > help. I have made sure that all of the machines have the latest patches
> > for
> > everything. They are running XP SP2 and MS Ofc 2003 Pro. And - I don't
> > know
> > if this is at all relevant - the new machines have some program on them
> > that
> > is an MS SQL 2000 client.
> >
>

>
>

Does each /windows/ user have full read/write/create/delete permissions
to the folder in which the database (mdb) and workgroup (mdw) files
reside?

HTH,
TC

"Bruce D" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3B640BEF-82F7-424C-BE46-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Keith -
>
> There's only one file. So, no, I did NOT give
> each person a separate copy. And, no, I don't know how to separate them -
> I'm a network guy, not a programmer.

It's really not difficult to split an Access database, it would probably
only take you an hour or so. I suspect that if you did split it and give
each user their own FE that the problem might go away. Even if you got it
working as a single file it wouldn't be long before you ran into corruption
problems - multi-user access to a single Access file is a big no-no.
>
> As for "open exclusive" - do you mean in tools --> options? I have
> checked
> that each computer is set to open the file in shared mode, AND I can see
> the
> .ldb file when someone has it open. And yes, the .ldb file disappears
> when
> the file is closed.

Shared mode is correct and the fact that the ldb file disappears means that
the file permissions are set correctly so I can only advise you try the
split solution.
>
> -Bruce D
>
> "Keith" wrote:
>
>> Have you given each user their own copy of the front end and have you
>> removed the 'open exclusive' option?
>>
>> Regards,
>> Keith.
>> www.keithwilby.com
>>

yes

"TC" wrote:

> Does each /windows/ user have full read/write/create/delete permissions
> to the folder in which the database (mdb) and workgroup (mdw) files
> reside?
>
> HTH,
> TC
>
>

"Bruce D" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:E569E0F1-F085-4AC6-8437-(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> Anyway, we've been running this database for about 6 users in Access 97
> for
> about 6 or 7 years now, and we've been very happy with it. But, it was
> finally time to replace our old computers, so we decided we would get new
> computers with Access 03 on them and convert the database. The conversion
> seems to have happened just fine. HOWEVER - we can no longer use the
> database as a multiuser database! Each person can get into the converted
> database, but only one at a time. When a second person tries to get in,
> they
> invariably get the message that "The database has been [placed in a state
> by
> user 'Admin' on machine 'xx' that prevents it from being opened or
> locked."

That usually is a sign that someone exited the database abruptly, and it
also can happen more readily when you have users sharing the same frontend.

With everyone out of the mdb, look in the folder and if the ldb is still
there delete it. Then open the mdb and use Tools, Compact and Repair.

You really should split the database as others have advised.

--
Joan Wild
Microsoft Access MVP