MS Access Database locked by Unknown user

Question

I have an access database that is on a network drive that multiple users can access. The database corrupted this morning and I am in the process of trying to fix it. The problem I am having is when I attempt to rename the database it says it is currently in use by someone. There is no .ldb file associated with this file so at this point and am dead in the water because I can't rename it, compact it or anything.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

Answer 1

ldb file is automatically created when first user opens the DB, it tracks the number of users who have opened the DB and locking status of every object so if one user is open in read only then 2nd user can edit db

this file automatically deleted when last user close connection to the db file.

You dont manually delete/modify this file, as it may result into inconsistent state of DB

You can open this file in Notepad and check how many users have opened this file, But DONT change anything.

Answer 2

Just had to do this, Try "F11" then select "tables", select topic and click open, from there it a simple C&P into excel sheet.

Hope this helps Dave Pragnell

Answer 3

Copy the database to another location. The copy wont be locked. Then you can work in ways to save your work until you solve the lock problem in the original file. If your problem is due to VB code file corruption, try to open the database with the "/decompile" option:

Start-Run:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\msaccess.exe" "C:\example.mdb" /decompile

If you haven't any ldb file associated with the mdb, it will be difficult to discover what user is locking your database. If you have few users, you should restart their machines. It would be prehistoric but should be fastest than trying to unlock the file through other ways.