General - Exclusive Access

Hi all -

Need some help please. I built an MS Access DB that serves about 140 employees. It's setup to automatically update a table on a nightly basis and has been doing great for 2 years. A few weeks ago, it stopped updating and every morning (after it's supposed to update), I get a message stating,

"You attempted to open a database that is already opened exclusively by user 'Admin' on machine 'CHW-6369-M-1'. Try again when database is available"

The above pc name is mine though some days it's shown other pc names. I've tried to close the .ldb Record-locking file but no worky. Any thoughts? My guess is that someone has the DB open and in a way that won't let my auto-timeout-closing feature work, so it stays open.....thus, I can't get exclusive access. Is there a way to force exclusive access?

Thanks kindly,
Dan

this has happened to me before. I had it on a server, so I had to kick everybody off the server.

A fix for you may to restart your computer. If it's windows xp, start up in safe mode and when in safe mode open the database while holding F11, then close the database and restart the pc.

Happens to us often. We kick everyone off Access for 5 minutes and then go back in

also, 140 employees??? Is that at the same time??? It's no wonder it's locked out. I've had as many as 40 on at the same time, but it became very unstable.

us it is about 20ppl and locks every so often

Ok, cool beans. So how do you kick overyone off? Is there a way for me to force that to happen?

FYI, I tried the safe mode idea and no worky. I don't have access to safe mode unfortunately.

And yes, I've got 140 employees but they're not on at the same time....not even close. I'd guess it maxes out at about 5 at any given time. Thanks.

one way, if you're able to do this without adverse effects would be to disable the network adapter for about 5 min..... if you can't do that due to other programs needing to be run remotely, disable the network share to the folder for about 5 min. Try to open the database while holding down the F11 key, then close it, see if the locking file goes away, then reshare, or re-enable your network adapter

Ok thanks. Tried the F11 suggestion again and no luck. I'll call our network administrator about closign the share temporarily.....good idea. Will let you know.

Ok, so my network administrator closed the share for 5 min as you suggested, but still no luck. Anything else? Would it help if I sent out a mass email having everyone logoff the DB at the end of the day? Then try? Thanks.

and you're sure it's not running residually in your computer? Can you restart your computer, or is that not an option?

Hey all -

Good stuff, I think I figured it out. Turns out the db was still formatted in Access 2000 when all of our machines use Access 2002/2003. The network administrator and I played a bit and found that, when the db is converted to 2002/2003, it closes the record-locking file on the networked folder just fine and runs perfectly. We're converting the official db Monday morning so cross your fingers that it'll work. Turns out the error occurred when I tried to compact and repair the db because it saw the db as open......

Thanks for all your help! I was really at a loss.