I see lots of postings (here and elswhere) about this problem of not being
able to get to the data when you get the "You do not have the necessary
permissions..." message and don't know the user password.

I have a related issue. In my case the db was set up by someone who's long
gone, and the user who uses it can get in just fine, but when I take a copy
of the db and try to open it on a workstation on a different domain I get
"the" message.

I need to get to the data and I don't want to look like an idiot in front of
the user. If I sit at their workstation, logged on as them, and export the
data and schema to a new empty db, will the new one still have the "security"
problem?

I'm writing a conversion program to get the data out of the old db and into
a new app, so I need to bring this db to my own network and look at it.

Thanks for any help.

If you can log in & get at the data on their PC, but not on your PC,
you probably need to copy the relevant workgroup (.MDW) file from their
PC to your PC, then start the database (on your PC) using a shortcut of
the following form:

"full path to msaccess.exe on your pc"
"full path to .mdb file on your pc"
/wrkgrp "full path to the copied .mdw file on your pc"

Alternatively, if you log in to their pc, and export the data into a
new db, I /think/ (but am not 100% sure) that the new db will be owned
by whichever Access user you were currently logged-in as on the user's
pc; in which case, you could easily get the same problem, when you try
to access that new db, on your pc, unless you copy the workgroup file,
as described above.

Alternatively, you could always export the data in a non-db format, eg.
flat-file comma-delimited, in which case, the security problems go away
instantly.

I recommend you try copying the user's mdb file /and mdw file/ to your
pc, then starting the db via a shortcut as described above.

Be sure to copy the /right/ mdw - your user's pc may have several of
them! To find the right one, just start the db on the user's pc, then
look for .ldb files; one of those will correspond with the mdb - eg.
blah.ldb <-> blah.mdb - and the other will correspond to the right mdw
- eg. blop.ldb <-> blop.mdw.

HTH,
TC

"TC" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> Alternatively, if you log in to their pc, and export the data into a
> new db, I /think/ (but am not 100% sure) that the new db will be owned
> by whichever Access user you were currently logged-in as on the user's
> pc; in which case, you could easily get the same problem, when you try
> to access that new db, on your pc, unless you copy the workgroup file,
> as described above.

They will be owned by that user, but the objects will lose all permissions
i.e. the Users Group will have full permissions on them.


--
Joan Wild
Microsoft Access MVP

Thank you TC!

I had the wrong workgroup (.mdw) file. Based on you help I've corrected that.

Now it tells me I do not have permission to convert the db. It was created
in Access 97 and I have Access XP. How do I give myself permission now that
I have the right workgroup file?

JC

Yes, that makes sense. I should have remembered that copying an object
does not copy its permissions also.

Cheers,
TC