I am being blocked from viewing reports and printing in Access?

[Guest]

When we first got access we tried to set up a database in Access 2003 with
security and all that fun stuff. It wasn't working for us so we went with
excel instead. Now we want to use Access for something else but we cannot
open/create any reports or do any print functions (print preview, page setup,
print). I already tried completely reinstalling Office 2003 but still have
the same problem. Please help we are a small business that can't afford to
hire someone to tell us you just have to change one security clearance.

 

[Granny Spitz via AccessMonster.com]

we are a small business that can't afford to
hire someone to tell us you just have to change one security clearance.

It would be cheaper to hire someone to take 15 minutes to fix the problem,
show you what went wrong, and show you how to avoid these problems in the
future, but if you want to DIY, you can read the Security FAQ.
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=207793

 

[John Vinson]

When we first got access we tried to set up a database in Access 2003 with
security and all that fun stuff. It wasn't working for us so we went with
excel instead. Now we want to use Access for something else but we cannot
open/create any reports or do any print functions (print preview, page setup,
print). I already tried completely reinstalling Office 2003 but still have
the same problem. Please help we are a small business that can't afford to
hire someone to tell us you just have to change one security clearance.

First off... try opening Access (not opening any database) and use
Tools... Security... Workgroup Manager. What .mdw file are you
currently joined to? If it's C:\Windows\System32\SYSTEM.MDW then
you'll need to either remember your old password, or get help.

If it's some other mdw file (as it will be if you implemented security
correctly) then you should be able to Join SYSTEM.MDW and get back to
an unsecured state; you'll be able to create new databases without
security interfering (though of course your secured database will
still be locked up).

John W. Vinson[MVP]

 

[Dirk Goldgar]

When we first got access we tried to set up a database in Access 2003
with security and all that fun stuff. It wasn't working for us so we
went with excel instead. Now we want to use Access for something
else but we cannot open/create any reports or do any print functions
(print preview, page setup, print). I already tried completely
reinstalling Office 2003 but still have the same problem. Please help
we are a small business that can't afford to hire someone to tell us
you just have to change one security clearance.

This may be a security issue, as other responders have suggested, but it
occurs to me it may just possibly be simpler than that. Does the
computer you're working on have a default printer set up (as would be
done via the Printers control-panel applet)? If there's no default
printer installed, most report-related features don't work. If the
report-related features are the only ones you can't get to work, I'd
certainly make sure everything is okay in the Printers folder, that
there's a default printer designated with a proper driver installed.