sharing across a network

[cheshire191]

i've been having problems sharing my database accross the network. I am using
Access 2003 SP2 on all machines.

currently the database is on a machine running windows XP Sp2 The folder it
is in is shared to the the network.

I can open the database on 1 computer at a time, but when i try to open in
two locations at once i get a erros all over the place.

the database IS in shared mode.
the file format is aceess 2002-2003

i have also tried splitting the database but that does not seem to work
either.

any suggestions?

thanks in advance.
chris

 

[hdurey]

We have the same conditions and problems as you describe, except our dbase is
located on a network server and we cannot even open a second instance of the
dbase once it has been opened on one workstation. When we try to open a
second instance, we just get the busy hourglass icon for a few seconds and
then nothing. This problem only started after the workstations were upgraded
to Office Pro 2003. Previous versions of Office had no problem opening
numerous simultaneous copies of databases from the server.

Please advise with suggestions...

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

the first thing to check is file permissions....

Often, we ask do uses have full rights to the folder and back end data file?

Everyone comes back and says...yes....

After testing many things...I go to the clients site, and low and behold,
THEY DO NOT have permissions!!!

I simply cannot tell you the number of times the above has happened. This
usually results in me having to sit down with the network person..and show
right to their face that full permissions have NOT been granted to that
directory..

In plain English
Full permissions means people can create files, delete files, read
files, write files. All of these permissions MUST be granted to ALL users
that will access that folder where the mdb files are.

The reason for the above is that ms-access creates, and deletes files in the
directory when it goes multi-user. If you take away the file create rights,
and file delete rights, then ms-access switches into single user mode. Of
course, the network guy is still confused, since he still says that everyone
has read and write access to that folder. Again, full rights means each user
can do anything, and everything in the directory, and that includes
creating, and delete files. So, read + write permissions is NOT enough...

The next thing to check is that users are not opening the mdb file in
exclusive mode. This will also will only allow the first user in, and then
additional users will NOT be able to open the file.

This option is found under tools->options->advanced
Make sure the Default open mode is set to Shared.

At this point, more then one user should be able to use the application.
However, if you want ANY DEGREE of reliability, then you need to install the
application part on each pc. How to do this is explained here:

http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal/Articles/split/index.htm

The above not only tells you to place the software on each pc..but explains
WHY YOU do this!!! - I consider the WHY part more valuable then the telling
you what to do part.

And, if you are using a wide area network, then you will find the following
article of value also
http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal//Wan/Wans.html