Running Workgroup Admin in Access2007 ~ LEARN MS-ACCESS TIPS AND TRICKS

Introduction.

If you are serious about implementing User-Level Security in Microsoft Access 2003 (mdb) databases and want to continue using them in Access 2007 security settings intact, avoid converting them to the Access 2007 format. Once upgraded, the security model changes completely, and User-Level Security is no longer supported in the accdb databases.

If you have already converted an MDB database into ACCDB format and lost all user-level security settings, the situation is not entirely hopeless. If you have a backup of the original .mdb file, you are in luck—simply restore the backup and continue using it in Access 2007, retaining your User-Level Security.

If no backup exists, you can still downgrade the database. Use the Save As… option from the Office Menu (top-left corner), select an earlier format such as Access 2002–2003 or Access 2000, and save the active database as a new .mdb copy. However, this will not automatically restore the lost security settings. You must reapply them manually, assigning permissions to each database object either at the group level or for individual users.

Running the Workgroup Administrator.

In either case, you must join the Workgroup Information File (a database with the file extension .mdw) from Access 2007 to attach your database Users/Groups and continue using them with your .mdb databases, or to implement new security profiles.

When you open an .mdb database in Access 2007, the Users and Permissions menu will appear under Database Tools. However, your database Users and Groups will not be visible under this option unless you first join the Workgroup Information File that you were using in an earlier version of Access.

In Access 2003, you can do this from Tools → Security, which provides an option to run the Workgroup Administrator program to create or join a Workgroup Information File. In Microsoft Access 2000, this program is located in the Language folder (…\1033 for U.S. English) of MS Office:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\1033\WrkgAdm.exe

Running this utility allows you to join the appropriate Workgroup Information File and manage security accordingly.

However, in Microsoft Access 2007, none of these menu options are available. The only way to access the Workgroup Administrator is by running the following command, either from VBA or directly in the Immediate Window:

DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdWorkgroupAdministrator

You can execute this command manually from the Immediate Window (open the VBA editor with Alt+F11, then press Ctrl+G to display the Immediate Window), or programmatically from a Command Button Click event on a form. This will allow you to create a new Workgroup Information File or join an existing one on the server.

Once you have joined the Workgroup Information File, you can continue using .mdb files with their existing User-level security in Microsoft Access 2007, or manually restore any lost security settings.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Security