Error - "Not valid account name or password"

[Coleen]

Hi All
I am pretty new to Access Security, but have successfully run the security
wizard for one set of users on a simple two-table mufti-user database. The
users are mapped to a different drive than I am, so when the secured
database icon came up, I simply changed the drive letter in the path, and
all the users for that database were able to get into it with no problems.
I have another database which has multiple users, has a spilt FE/BE and
linked tables. I tried the security wizard on it, and ended up with the
error message "Not valid account name or password" when I changed the drive
letter in the path of the secured .mdb icon. I could access the database
just fine (I am set up as the administrator) but none of the other users
could access it at all. Has anyone ever encountered this problem before? I
ended up having the database FE file restored and deleting all the secured
..mdw files. Now, I'm scared to try the security wizard again, the group of
people who use this are constantly in it, and I don't want to disturb them
unless I know the security will work. Any suggestion would be most
appreciated.

Thanks,

Coleen

 

[Joan Wild]

Hi All
I am pretty new to Access Security, but have successfully run the security
wizard for one set of users on a simple two-table mufti-user database.

What version of Access?

The
users are mapped to a different drive than I am, so when the secured
database icon came up, I simply changed the drive letter in the path, and
all the users for that database were able to get into it with no problems.

You could have used UNC pathnames instead. \\servername\share\path That
way you don't have to worry about drive mappings.

I have another database which has multiple users, has a spilt FE/BE and
linked tables. I tried the security wizard on it, and ended up with the
error message "Not valid account name or password" when I changed the
drive
letter in the path of the secured .mdb icon. I could access the database
just fine (I am set up as the administrator) but none of the other users
could access it at all.

What is in the target of the shortcut (icon)? It sounds as though they are
using their default system.mdw file instead of the secure mdw.

What version?

 

[Coleen]

Sorry 2000...

What version of Access?
problems.

You could have used UNC pathnames instead. \\servername\share\path That
way you don't have to worry about drive mappings.


What is in the target of the shortcut (icon)? It sounds as though they are
using their default system.mdw file instead of the secure mdw.

What version?

 

[Coleen]

Sorry, I missed your other questions...first, I'm not versed with security
protocol at all, so please be patient...what is the UNC path? The full path
for the secured icon target is:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\MSACCESS.EXE"
"L:\Emissions\Emissions Database.db1.mdb" /WRKGRP "L:\Emissions\Secured.mdw"

I just had the users change the L:\ to their mapped drive, and it worked
fine. I used the exact same procedure on the database with the linked
tables, and it gave the error. One thing did happen that may have caused
this, which I forgot about, while running the wizard, my computer locked up,
and I had to kill the Access application. I'm pretty sure that corrupted
the secure .mdw file, because when I tried to open the sysmdw, it gave me an
error, but it looked like it stored the user names and groups OK. I ended
up just restoring everything, but I'm afraid to try the wizard again because
of the different mapping of the drives, and the linked tables. Will linked
tables effect the security wizard? Sorry I don't know much about UNC Path.
I looked it up in the Access help file, but it doesn't tell me much...

Thanks ever so much for your help,

Coleen

You could have used UNC pathnames instead. \\servername\share\path That
way you don't have to worry about drive mappings.

What is in the target of the shortcut (icon)? It sounds as though they

are using their default system.mdw file instead of the secure mdw.

 

[Keith]

Sorry, I missed your other questions...first, I'm not versed with security
protocol at all, so please be patient...what is the UNC path? The full
path
for the secured icon target is:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\MSACCESS.EXE"
"L:\Emissions\Emissions Database.db1.mdb" /WRKGRP
"L:\Emissions\Secured.mdw"

A UNC equivalent would be:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\MSACCESS.EXE"
"\\YourServerName\Emissions\Emissions Database.db1.mdb" /WRKGRP
\\YourServerName\Emissions\Secured.mdw

where \\YourServerName is the name of the server the drive letter maps to.

I just had the users change the L:\ to their mapped drive, and it worked
fine. I used the exact same procedure on the database with the linked
tables, and it gave the error. One thing did happen that may have caused
this, which I forgot about, while running the wizard, my computer locked
up,
and I had to kill the Access application. I'm pretty sure that corrupted
the secure .mdw file, because when I tried to open the sysmdw, it gave me
an
error, but it looked like it stored the user names and groups OK. I ended
up just restoring everything, but I'm afraid to try the wizard again
because
of the different mapping of the drives, and the linked tables. Will
linked
tables effect the security wizard? Sorry I don't know much about UNC
Path.
I looked it up in the Access help file, but it doesn't tell me much...

Work on a copy of you file. I you have your databse split into the classic
front/back end arrangement then you will not affect your users.

Regards,
Keith.
www.keithwilby.com

 

[Joan Wild]

Sorry, I missed your other questions...first, I'm not versed with security
protocol at all, so please be patient...what is the UNC path? The full
path
for the secured icon target is:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\MSACCESS.EXE"
"L:\Emissions\Emissions Database.db1.mdb" /WRKGRP
"L:\Emissions\Secured.mdw"

UNC means Universal Naming Convention. Instead of relying on L: you would
use
\\servername\Emissions\etc... Then user's drive mappings don't matter.

I just had the users change the L:\ to their mapped drive, and it worked
fine. I used the exact same procedure on the database with the linked
tables, and it gave the error.

I'm thinking that when you ran it again on the backend, you created a
different mdw rather than using the same one. You need to use the same mdw
to secure both the frontend and the backend.

Also, since you are using 2000, you need to know that the wizard cannot be
relied on. See the security FAQ
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=207793
and
www.jmwild.com/AccessSecurity.htm

 

[Coleen]

Thanks very much Joan & Keith for the information. I'll try it again,
without the wizard, following the steps you've laid out in
www.jmwild.com/AccessSecurity.htm Joan, thank you! I will also set up the
UNC for the users to point them to the server, instead of the mapped drive,
that should help, since half my users are in a different city than I am, and
we're all mapped differently to the server. Thanks again to both of you, I
appreciate it

Coleen

A UNC equivalent would be:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\MSACCESS.EXE"
"\\YourServerName\Emissions\Emissions Database.db1.mdb" /WRKGRP
\\YourServerName\Emissions\Secured.mdw

where \\YourServerName is the name of the server the drive letter maps to.
Work on a copy of you file. I you have your databse split into the classic
front/back end arrangement then you will not affect your users.

Regards,
Keith.
www.keithwilby.com

I'm thinking that when you ran it again on the backend, you created a

different mdw rather than using the same one. You need to use the same mdw
to secure both the frontend and the backend.

Also, since you are using 2000, you need to know that the wizard cannot be
relied on. See the security FAQ
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=207793
and
www.jmwild.com/AccessSecurity.htm

 

[Coleen]

Hi Joan, sorry to be a pest, but I tried to follow your instructions on the
Access 97/2000 Step by Step security, but the first thing you say to do
"Start, Run wrkgadm.exe" does not work. I get an error message: "Cannot
find the file 'arkgadm.exe' (or one of its components). Make sure the path
and filename are correct and that all required libraries are available."
Does this mean that my installation of Access is missing libraries? Is there
another way to open the workgroup administrator? Any advice you have is
much appreciated. Thanks - Coleen

 

[Joan Wild]

Hi Joan, sorry to be a pest, but I tried to follow your instructions on
the
Access 97/2000 Step by Step security, but the first thing you say to do
"Start, Run wrkgadm.exe" does not work. I get an error message: "Cannot
find the file 'arkgadm.exe' (or one of its components). Make sure the
path
and filename are correct and that all required libraries are available."
Does this mean that my installation of Access is missing libraries? Is
there
another way to open the workgroup administrator? Any advice you have is
much appreciated. Thanks - Coleen

Are you certain you are using version 2000? If it's a later version, the
workgroup administrator is located in Access - Tools, Security menu.

 

[Coleen]

Yes, I'm definitely running Access Y2K (checked the Access help/about and am
running Access 2000 (9.0.6926 SP-3), but I did a search on my local drive
and was able to find the wrkgadm.exe file. I just opened it from there, and
I will follow your instructions from there. I have been pulled on to another
project, and won't be able to get back to this until tomorrow. I'll let you
know how it goes...thanks so much for your help

Coleen