Access Database opens as read only

Question

I created an mdb database and saved it   Now I want to modify it but it says it s ReadOnly so I cannot change anything   It s an access 2000 file opened with access 2007   How can I change this please

User · Answer

The main reason for this is when the database is open somewhere else.

This could be as already said by many others:

not being closed properly somewhere
already open somewhere

When recently I had the same problem although different versions, I started to search for the reason.

In my case I had an excel file that queried data from the database.

In case the excel file is opened before the database, access would give this error.

Conclusion:

Check all files/connections related to the database. An open ODBC connection or query used in excel (my case) open the mdb file and will make it readonly.

User · Answer

Create an empty folder and move the  mdb file to that folder  And try opening it from there  I tried it this way and it worked for me

User · Answer

on my pc I had the same problem and it was because in properties -  security I didn t have the ownership of the file

User · Answer

Check that there are no missing references - to do this  go to the database window and click on  Modules   then  Design   then select the menu  Tools  and then  References   Or try doing a compile and see if it compiles fully  go to the Debug menu then select Compile  - it might tell you of a missing reference e g  Microsoft Office 11 0 Object Library  Select References from the Tools menu again and see if any references are ticked and say  MISSING    In some cases you can select a different version from the list  if 11 0 is missing  look for version 12 0 then recompile  That usually does the trick for me

User · Answer

If someone else has the database open  then ask them to close it  If the database was not closed cleanly  Access or a computer crashed   then you can try to Compact and Repair the file    I have also noticed that if the file is opened or put in a read-only state at any time  it might get  stuck  like that  So try this    Open Access  but no database Open the file in question  but explicitly open it in read-only mode  the  Open  button is actually a dropdown button  Use the button to open read-only Close the file  but not Access  Open the file again  but open normally    Not sure it that s a bug or a feature  but I ve seen it frustrate many a user

User · Answer

alos check the level of access to the shared drive  if the access to the shared drive is read only the file will open in read only format

User · Answer

In my case it was because it was being backed up my a background process which started before I opened Access  It isn t normally a problem if it have the database open when the backup starts

User · Answer

Another thing to watch for is when someone has access to READ the fileshare  but cannot WRITE to the directory   It s OK to make the database read-only for someone  but if they ever read it  including using an ODBC connection   it seems like they need to have WRITE permissions for the directory so they can create the lock file     I ve run into situations where the database gets locked read-only on the fileshare because the user who accessed it couldn t write to the directory   The only way to fix that quickly has been a call to the storage team  who can see who has the file and kick them off

User · Answer

While the OP is the original author of the database  and likely created a simple data model  I had experienced a similar behavior on a more complicated system   In my scenario the main  mdb file was on a network share location with read write access by the user   The  mdb file referenced tables in another  mdb file in a different network location - where the user did not have proper access   For others viewing this post to solve similar problems  verify the linked tables path and access   To verify linked tables    assuming Access 2010    Open database Click ribbon toolbar tab  External Data  Click ribbon toolbar button  Linked Table Manager  Identify paths to linked tables Verify proper security clearance to paths identified in linked table manager - if accessing ODBC  i e   Oracle  DB2  MySql  PostGRES  etc   sources  verify database credentials and drivers

[ms-access] Access Database opens as read only

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