Upgrade Access Application - Problems

[Monty51]

Don't know what forum to direct this to...please inform me: we have an Access 97 application that was programmed by someone that has since passed away. The application has-I guess "user-level"?-security enabled and we can't import the tables, queries, forms, reports, or code into Access 2010 to update it. When we attempt to open the database for editing we get "The current user account doesn't have permission to convert or enable this database" for an error screen, along with suggestions for dealing with that, none of which help.



How can we alter the database so we can read it?

Thanks.

[rpeare]

When you open the original database are you prompted for a password? Or is there a login screen? Is the database in a restricted folder (a folder that only certain people have read/write credentials)? What is the actual name of the file you are opening? if it's .mde you won't be able to do anything with it (that I know of) to open the user interface to get the objects out. What happens when you hold down the shift key and hold it down until the database is done opening? are you able to see forms, reports, queries, etc in the database window?

Can you right click those items and select copy then move to your 'new' database and hit paste and get any results?

[Monty51]

I have the original distribution disks for the application. Ordinarily a user would install all the files and run the associated code and use the Access application. My problem here is editing the underlying *.mdb file and code that forms the application (two separate *.mdb files). When I try to open them for editing in MS Access 2010 I get the fillowing screen:


I click "Ok" and Access takes me to the opening screen where I can choose a database to open.

I alos tried opening th3e *.mdb file from withing Access (File->Open) and the same thing happens.

I'm able to 'see' objects from the database when I try to import them into Access 2010, but only from the requestor that requires me to select the objects I want to import. In the requestor I can see every object in the database, but when I try to actually import them I get an error that says "Record(s) cannot be read; no read permission on (object name)".

The database is not in a restricted directory. There is no opening prompt for a password. Holding the Shift key down while double-clicking the database file (in Windows Explorer) produces the same results as above.

I don't know where to go with this.

[ssanfu]

Is the dB and mdB or an mdE? If mdE, you should be able to import the tables, but hot the rest.


It sounds like the dB might have ULS. Is there a file with an extension of mdw?
Google "removing ULS in Access 97"

One site that might help is
Serge Gavrilov
http://accesstools.narod.ru/

look for
CleanUserLevelSecurity v1.0
or
Users' passwords viewer v2.0

[ssanfu]

Also, you might read these two threads

https://www.accessforums.net/securit...ion-47386.html
https://www.accessforums.net/securit...ess-45318.html

One poster had some success using the Access password tool at https://www.thegrideon.com/

[Monty51]

Is the dB and mdB or an mdE? If mdE, you should be able to import the tables, but hot the rest.

It is an mdb.


It sounds like the dB might have ULS. Is there a file with an extension of mdw?

There is a System.mdw file which I can't seem to get into.

Google "removing ULS in Access 97"

One site that might help is
Serge Gavrilov
http://accesstools.narod.ru/

look for
CleanUserLevelSecurity v1.0
or
Users' passwords viewer v2.0

I'll give all of these a look. Thanks!

[Monty51]

The CleanUserLevelSecurity worked great on the main .mdb file with all the table definitions. However, the second .mdb file, which appears to contain queries, forms, reports, and code, well, I get an error box that says "Sorry, unsuccessful attempt". That's the whole error message. Any suggestions?

[ssanfu]

Did you try https://www.thegrideon.com/?

IIRC, there was a tool that would tell you what the admin password is or the id & pw of a user with admin rights. I think it was about $45. Might be worth it is you really need the FE.

[Monty51]

I missed this post. Thanks

[Monty51]

I've received quite a few suggestions and I thank everyone for their input. I feel I'm being pulled in a couple of directions at once, so please allow me the opportunity to recap what I've done and what I've accomplished before asking for suggestions on how to move on.

The Access application consist of two main files: AppData.mdb and AppCode.mdb. The former contains the tables used to store the application data and the latter contains all the forms, queries, modules and VBA (I hope that's the right term) that makes everything run as a stand-alone application.

To date, I've been able to run CleanUserLevelSecurity on AppData.mdb and remove the security from it, so I can import all the tables and their definitions into Access 2010. When I run CleanUserLevelSecurity on AppCode.mdb I get an error saying "Stop instruction encountered". That occurs whenever I run CleanUserLevelSecurity on it for the first time. Successive attempts result in "Sorry, unsuccessful attempt" (or something very similar). Thinking I've changed something, I always replace AppCode.mdb with a fresh copy before trying anything else.

I've also purchased "Access Password" which tells me that there are two main users accounted for: non-standard user ACAdmin and standard user Admin, and that the database itself has no password assigned. It also attempts, I guess, to give me ACAdmin's password, but the password is hidden by asterisks even though I've purchased and registered the application.

I've also purchased "VBA Password Bypasser", which I'm not sure I should have. Using it, I attempt to open AppCode.mdb but upon opening I still get the restrictions displayed earlier in this thread.

Reading the instructions and $45 later, I'm not further than I was after I ran CleanUserLevelSecurity. I'm still reading the manuals on the two purchased applications, but I'm thinking they may not be the ones I need.

That's where I'm at. If I haven't missed anything in this thread, I'm looking for suggestions about where to go next.

Thanks for your time.

[Monty51]

Update: all things considered, I decided to go with Access password from thegrideon.com. I've been able to recover the users, their passwords, and their IDs. Thanks to all for the suggestions and the help. You've been a very helpful group of people.

As for myself, on to learning about user-level security so I can edit this database the way it was intended.

Thanks again to all!