If you ran the user-level security wizard, it should have created an
unsecured backup of your MDB. The last step of the wizard is to give it a
name. The default would seem to be (your MDB name).bak in the directory of
the database that you are securing. Can you find this file?
The first step in the wizard is to decide whether to modify the current
workgroup information file (WIF) or to create a new one. If your install of
Access was clean (Access was still pointed at the default WIF), the option
to modify the current WIF should have been disabled and you would have been
forced to create a new WIF. Did you create one and can you locate it?
If you chose to create one, the next step includes deciding whether to make
the WIF your default or to create a shortcut (with command line parameters)
to open your database with the new WIF. The default would seem to be to
create a shortcut, but it sounds as though you elected to make the new WIF
your default. Can you confirm that? If not, do you see a shortcut in the
directory of the MDB on which you ran the wizard bearing the named of your
MDB?
If you have the unsecured backup of your MDB, created a new WIF, and elected
to make it your default, you should be able to recover by following the
procedure I suggested in my first post and using the unsecured backup copy
of your database.
If you completed the wizard, electing to create a shortcut to open the
secured database (knowingly or otherwise), and are attempting to open your
secured MDB with Access directly, you are trying to open it with what is
likely the default WIF. The message you receive would be expected. The
solution would be to use the shortcut to open your MDB or make the new WIF
your default. Then, you'll be able to unsecure your MDB. (More on that
when we know where you are.)
If you don't have the unsecured backup but do have the new WIF, completed
the wizard, and cannot remember the name and password for a user that is the
owner of the database or a member of the Admins group, you will need to hack
Access security. Googling the following yielded four relevant hits on the
first page of results: microsoft access security password. (I have no
personal experience with any WIF hacking tool.) As in the previous
paragraph, then you will be able to unsecure your MDB.
By the way, if you have the wizard security report it may help you figure
out what you did if you don't remember.
