"Joan Wild" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed)>...
> "E Harris" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > "Joan Wild" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:<(E-Mail Removed)>...
> > > "E Harris" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > > news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> >
> > Here's my experience:
> >
> > We are a environmental science research facility. We create and
> > maintain several databases, all working out of our workgroup.
>
> I'm assuming here that you mean you have secured all your databases using
> Access's user security - i.e. workgroup means under your specifically
> created workgroup file (as opposed to a workgroup in a networking sense).
This is correct. We created our own .mdw file.
>
> >
> > But we are also sent databases from other researchers in other states.
> > When we are currently signed into our workgroup, and try to open the
> > databases they've sent us, we get the message "The current user
> > doesn't have permission to convert or enable this database", followed
> > by a list of possible reasons. The first one being "You must join the
> > workgroup that defines the user accounts used to access the database."
> >
> > Again, I'm pretty new to Access security, so my first thought was,
> > "Ok, this makes sense-- our fellow researchers, miles away, obviously
> > have their own workgroup..... and they were signed into that workgroup
> > when they created this database. Since I obviously don't have their
> > workgroup file, and can't recreate it, let me see if I can open the
> > database after joining the default workgroup."
> >
> > And so then, yes-- after joining the default workgroup (for me, it is
> > C:\WINDOWS\system32\system.mdw), I was able to open the database.
>
> That indicates that it wasn't secure at all. I find this odd. Have you, in
> fact secured any of your databases? Every system.mdw in the world is the
> same i.e. their workgroup file isn't any different than your's (unless you
> have secured your databases).
Right. When I speak of how their workgroup file is different than
ours, I mean that their users and permissions obviously don't match
ours. Ours are secure, yes. The default blank password for the Admin
user has been changed, and Admin is a member of the Admins group.
>
> >
> > So can you help me understand what's going on here? Furthermore, what
> > we want is for the databases they send us to "behave" as if that had
> > been created under our own workgroup, so that we don't have to go back
> > and forth between our workgroup (to work with our databases) and the
> > default one (to work with theirs).
>
> It still doesn't make sense to me. Their databases are not secured
> (actually are you able to do more than open them using the default
> system.mdw?).
I was not clear. Yes, after joining the default workgroup,
system.mdw, we are only able to open them. But that is all we need to
do-- to view the data from these other researchers. I wanted to see
if, since their workgroup file (again, I mean the file as designed by
them, with their userIDs and permissions) is not here, that meant that
the table owners were set as the notorious "<Unknown>", but of course
in this state, I can't even get to Tools-Security->User and Group
Permissions. It's grayed-out.
>
> I can't explain it based on what you are saying. You should be able to open
> their database using your workgroup. But since you can't, the only thing I
> can suggest, is that you use shortcuts to start Access with the correct mdw
> (you don't necessarily have to open a database in the shortcut).
> Alternatively, your only other option is to unsecure your databases, so that
> they use the default system.mdw
>
> ...still doesn't make sense though...
Yes, that is all I wanted-- to be able to open their databases using
our workgroup-- even just to view the data only. Right now, when
signed into our workgroup, trying to open their database gives us the
"Current User doesn't have permission to enable this database" error.
After joining system.mdw, we don't get this error. We can open the
tables (but not edit).
About invoking wrkgadm.exe from the command line-- when I try this, I
get the error, "This application uses CTL3D32.DLL, which has not been
correctly installed. CTL3D32.DLL must be installed in the Windows
system directory."
I had seen this before, but had read here from some other post that
the Workgroup administrator is now incorporated into Access 2002, so
that one doesn't have to get there by running wrkgadm.exe anymore, as
you used to in earlier versions of Access. And sure enough, we always
get to the Workgroup Administrator by going to
Tools->Security->Workgroup Administrator from Access itself. Works
fine.
Should I be able to run the stand-alone wrkgadm.exe without the error?
It's only an issue now that I may want to create a shortcut to it
with the command-line flags that will join the user to the appropriate
workgroup.
At least the error tells me what to do to correct the situation. But
I'm just confused as to why I can get to the Workgroup Administrator
from Tools menu, but not run it on its own. Two different types of
Workgroup Administrators, maybe?
>
>
> > Thanks again for your help, Joan. I'll name my first-born after you.
>
> Cool!
If you have any other input, Joan, I do appreciate it. But the
urgency from my higher-ups has dimished somewhat. The official
solution they got from me was that, manually joining the default
workgroup to view our fellow researchers' databases, and rejoining our
workgroup to view ours, is "just what you have to do."
I wanted to give them a more elegant solution.
Oh well.
Thanks again.
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