Question: Good day, Mr. Richard
I would like to know what tutorial can help me on how to fix this error: "Database has been placed in a state by user 'Admin' on machine 'Machine' that prevents it from being opened or locked." I am using Access 2010, and I get this message when two or more people want to open a shortcut of the database in the network. I really appreciate your response. -Francisco
Answer: Hi Francisco. This is usually caused by one of two problems:
(A) You have the database open in DESIGN mode somewhere. If anybody is making design changes, it locks the database for everyone else. This is almost always the problem.
(B) The other users don't have read and WRITE access to the folder that the database is in. Everyone who needs to use it needs to have read/write access to the shared folder.
To try fixing it:
(1) Make sure EVERYONE is out of the database.
(2) Make a backup copy of your database.
(3) Delete the record locking (LACCDB) file that Access automatically creates. It SHOULD delete it every time you exit the database, but sometimes it gets left around if the database crashes.
(4) Compact & Repair your database.
(5) Check the shared folder settings. Make sure the users have read and WRITE access to the shared folder.
(6) Try logging on to the database on the machine that hosts it (aka The Server). Close the database.
(7) Log on from a DIFFERENT workstation by itself. See if you can get it. Close the database.
(8) Now try multiple workstations and make sure nobody goes into DESIGN mode in anything.
IDEALLY, you should SPLIT your database and force your end-users to use an ACCDE file (encrypted, run-only database with no design capabilities). This should avoid most record-locking problems. I cover the best way to handle this situation in my Access Split Database Security Seminar.
See if that works. If not, let me know.