Do not have sufficient rights to access database

[Guest]

I just took over maitenance of a database that will not let me in. I try to
open it and it says I do not have sufficient rights to open this file,
contact system administrator/creator. Well the system administrator is the
creator and they are no where to be found. What is happening, the other
users that are set up to use this database are getting the same message.
There is a secured.mdw file in the same directory as this file, but I am not
allowed to make any changes to it. HELP! This database has been unavailable
for 1 week and I need to get it fixed.

 

[Joan Wild]

How are you starting the database? You may/should have a desktop shortcut
that specifies the workgroup file to use.

 

[Guest]

I do not have any type of shortcut. The file is located on our server, so I
just open it directly through Windows Explorer. Technically I do not use
this database, it was designed for another department, I just get the joy of
maintaining it (not). I thought about just starting over with a brand new
database, but I can't even get into it to see what data was sotred in the
database. I am familiar with Access, but I haven't worked much with the
whole security issue. Thanks for your help.

 

[Joan Wild]

You said there was a secured.mdw in the same folder as the database. You
need to open the mdb while joined to (or using) that mdw. Create a desktop
shortcut with the following in the target.

"path to msaccess.exe" "path to mdb" /wrkgrp "path to secured.mdw"

You'll need a username/password to get in.

 

[Guest]

Okay, I created the shortcut. I still get the error message that I do not
have permission to open this database. It does not give me an opportunity to
enter a username/password. Any other suggestions.

 

[Joan Wild]

If the login prompt does not come up, then the Admin user's password is
null. Click ok on the message, and then go into Tools, security, Accounts.
Click on Change password and set a password for the Admin user. That will
cause the dialog to show up; then you can log in as any user you like.