Access.LockFile

[Jason]

I have an Access application that links to tables in a
shared hard drive in the office. The other day when
users came in to the office they were unable to use the
app and got an error stating "The Microsoft Jet database
engine cannot open the file '(file path)'. It is already
opened exclusively by another user or you need permission
to view its data". I checked permissions and everyone
has read/write/edit permissions. I notice that when I
open the database with the tables it says that it is
a "Access.LockFile.9". I made no changes that I am aware
of, and I cannot find where I need to make chages to
enable the other users to access the database. I
appreciate any help or suggestions.

-Jason

 

[Dirk Goldgar]

I have an Access application that links to tables in a
shared hard drive in the office. The other day when
users came in to the office they were unable to use the
app and got an error stating "The Microsoft Jet database
engine cannot open the file '(file path)'. It is already
opened exclusively by another user or you need permission
to view its data". I checked permissions and everyone
has read/write/edit permissions. I notice that when I
open the database with the tables it says that it is
a "Access.LockFile.9". I made no changes that I am aware
of, and I cannot find where I need to make chages to
enable the other users to access the database. I
appreciate any help or suggestions.

The file with the type "Acess.LockFile.9" is not the back-end database
itself. It's the .ldb file -- the lock file -- that Access uses to keep
track of who's in the database and what pages they have locked. This
file is created when anyone first opens the database, and should
normally be deleted automatically when the last connection to the the
database is closed. If a user turns off his PC when he has the database
open in Access, or cancels Access from the task manager, or doesn't have
delete privileges on the folder where the lock file is created, then the
lock file is left behind and may keep others locked out of the database.
It may also be the case that someone opened the database exclusively,
and that person still has it open.

It is possible to examine the lock file to see who is currently in the
database, or who was last in the database if the lock file is left
behind after a failure of some kind -- see this link:

http://www.mvps.org/access/general/gen0034.htm

That may help to identify the culprit. If you're *sure* there is no one
in the database now, you can safely delete the lock file, which should
free up the database for others to use again. Be sure it's the lock
file, not the database, that you delete!