Database Prompting for Password

[casey]

We recently got new computers (switched from XP to Vista). Now none of the
people who are on the new computers can open their Access 2007 databases.
They're being prompted for a password, though they were not password
protected ever at any time.

I did a search here on this discussion group for this issue and I found a
discussion on the same thing. The "fix" was the user was told to move the
system.mdw file from the old computer to the new one. In our case, that is
not possible because the older computers have already been re-cycled and are
gone. We had no idea that there would be this kind of issue present with
Access 2007 or we certainly wouldn't have imaged over the older computers.

Is there any kind of work around for this? Something in the registry?
Anything? Surely this doesn't mean we will lose every single one of our
databases?

 

[Beetle]

I don't have a lot of experience with Access User Level Security,
so I am by no means an expert, but since you don't have any other
responses I guess I'll throw in my 2 cents worth

First, AFAIK ULS has been removed in A2007 *if* you are using the
new accdb database. It is still an option if you are using the older
..mdb databases, so the first thing to know would be if you converted
your databases to accdb when you migrated to A2007.

If your databases are still .mdb, then the problem likely isn't A2007
itself, but the missing .mdw file, which handles the ULS settings.

You might try creating a new .mdb file and importing all of the
objects (tables, queries, forms, reports and code) from one of
your existing applications, but you will probably have to rebuild
the ULS settings, unless you intend to use the newer accdb
database, in which case you can't use ULS anyway.

Whatever you decide to do, I would suggest making backup copies
of all of your current files, just in case.

Again, I'm not an expert here, so these are just suggestions. Hopefully
someone with a more direct answer to your question will pick up
on this thread.

 

[John B. Smotherman]

Casey,

Here's another $.02:

You say the database wasn't password protected, so I think it's likely that
you never used user level security. If this is the case, the .mdw file isn't
absolutely necessary.

Is it possible that your database app executes some VBA code in a form
that's opened automatically? This was the solution when I had the same
problem, moving from Access2003 on XP to Access2007 on Vista. Access2007,
especially on Vista, really locks down what it will do, until you tell it
what you want. Check to see if there's a security warning just below the
ribbon bar. It will say "certain content has been disabled" or something
close to that. There will be an options button just to the right of the
message and when you click it you have the option to enable the content.

If this works, then what you'll need to do - on each user's account - is to
open the database, click on the options button, and INSTEAD of enabling the
content, all the way at the bottom of the popup is a link to open the trust
center. Add the folder where the database application is to your trusted
locations, and you'll be set.

HTH

B.

 

[casey]

Here's some pieces of info to answer some of the comments/questions:

1) we did not migrate from Access 2003 to Access 2007 in this particular
issue I'm having problems with. We had Office 2007 on the XP computers also.
We purchased new computers with Vista (and we loaded our Office 2007 on
them). And then all I did was copy the users's files over from their XP
system to their new Vista computer. Some of the databases were originally
Access 2003 that were converted to Access 2007 while on the XP systems. But
some of the databases are brand newly created Access 2007 databases. So I
can't narrow it down by saying it's "only" the databases that at one time
were 2003, or even that it's "only" the new Access 2007 databases, because
that's not the case. It's every single one of my user's databases.

2) None of the databases were ever password protected.

3) What it is prompting us for is password. It's not prompting for a userid

4) Some of the databases would open directly to an input form. Some have no
forms, macros, etc set up for opening. In fact the vast majority of my users
have a low level knowledge of Access and can only do basic table, form,
report creation.

The only common element is: Access 2007 was on the XP computers, Access 2007
is on the VIsta computers, and now nobody on the Vista computers can open a
single one of their databases because it's prompting for a password.