Unable to decrypt Microsoft Access *.mdb database with user security - sql-server

Question

I have old .mdb database with a lot of tables/forms/queries and external connections (was created in Access 2003) with User Level security.
Now I have decided to move to SQL Server, but I can't decrypt database (in Access 2010 & 2013) to use with Access to SQL tool.
Decryption process is working but in the end I get an error: "you can't access this table".
I've tried repair & compress.
Can you help me?
Thank you.

Answer 1

You don't have a lot of choices as far as I know:
you can reconstruct the .mdw file by creating a new database and using the exact same username and PID of the original user, then use the new .mdw with the old database.
You can use some of the tools from Serge Gavrilov to help you find the username and PID from a database.
Have a look at the forums on UtterAccess.com. There seem to be a lot of discussions regarding lost mdw.
you can use some data repair services like at EverythingAccess. Cost some money, but I'm sure they can recover your data.
Once you can access the DB, you can write code to extract all the forms, queries and such from the DB. Here's a snippet of code I wrote that does this. You're going to need to tweak it heavily, because it's based on a form that allows you to choose the database name. You're going to have to repeat this for queries, forms, etc...
' Database.
Dim dbRep As DAO.Database
Dim dbNew As DAO.Database
' For copying tables and indexes.
Dim tblRep As DAO.TableDef
Dim tblNew As DAO.TableDef
Dim fldRep As DAO.Field
Dim fldNew As DAO.Field
Dim idxRep As DAO.Index
Dim idxNew As DAO.Index
' For copying data.
Dim rstRep As DAO.Recordset
Dim rstNew As DAO.Recordset
Dim rec1 As DAO.Recordset
Dim rec2 As Recordset
Dim intC As Integer
' For copying table relationships.
Dim relRep As DAO.Relation
Dim relNew As DAO.Relation
' For copying queries.
Dim qryRep As DAO.QueryDef
Dim qryNew As DAO.QueryDef
' For copying startup options.
Dim avarSUOpt
Dim strSUOpt As String
Dim varValue
Dim varType
Dim prpRep As DAO.Property
Dim prpNew As DAO.Property
' For importing forms, reports, modules, and macros.
Dim appNew As New Access.Application
Dim doc As DAO.Document
' Open the database, not in exclusive mode.
Set dbRep = OpenDatabase(Forms!CMDB_frmUpgrade.TxtDatabase, False)
' Open the new database
Set dbNew = CurrentDb
DoEvents
' Turn on the hourglass.
DoCmd.Hourglass True
'********************
Debug.Print "Copy Tables"
'********************
If Forms!CMDB_frmUpgrade.CkTables = True Then
Forms!CMDB_frmUpgrade.LstMessages.addItem "Copying Tables:"
' Loop through the collection of table definitions.
For Each tblRep In dbRep.TableDefs
Set rec1 = dbRep.OpenRecordset("SELECT MSysObjects.Name FROM MsysObjects WHERE ([Name] = '" & tblRep.Name & "') AND ((MSysObjects.Type)=4 or (MSysObjects.Type)=6)")
If rec1.EOF Then
XF = 0
Else
XF = 1
End If
' Ignore system tables and CMDB tables.
If InStr(1, tblRep.Name, "MSys", vbTextCompare) = 0 And _
InStr(1, tblRep.Name, "CMDB", vbTextCompare) = 0 And _
XF = 0 Then
'***** Table definition
' Create a table definition with the same name.
Set tblNew = dbNew.CreateTableDef(tblRep.Name)
Forms!CMDB_frmUpgrade.LstMessages.addItem "--> " & tblRep.Name & ""
' Set properties.
tblNew.ValidationRule = tblRep.ValidationRule
tblNew.ValidationText = tblRep.ValidationText
' Loop through the collection of fields in the table.
For Each fldRep In tblRep.Fields
' Ignore replication-related fields:
' Gen_XXX, s_ColLineage, s_Generation, s_GUID, s_Lineage
If InStr(1, fldRep.Name, "s_", vbTextCompare) = 0 And _
InStr(1, fldRep.Name, "Gen_", vbTextCompare) = 0 Then
'***** Field definition
Set fldNew = tblNew.CreateField(fldRep.Name, fldRep.Type, _
fldRep.Size)
' Set properties.
On Error Resume Next
fldNew.Attributes = fldRep.Attributes
fldNew.AllowZeroLength = fldRep.AllowZeroLength
fldNew.DefaultValue = fldRep.DefaultValue
fldNew.Required = fldRep.Required
fldNew.Size = fldRep.Size
' Append the field.
tblNew.Fields.Append fldNew
'On Error GoTo Err_NewShell
End If
Next fldRep
'***** Index definition
' Loop through the collection of indexes.
For Each idxRep In tblRep.Indexes
' Ignore replication-related indexes:
' s_Generation, s_GUID
If InStr(1, idxRep.Name, "s_", vbTextCompare) = 0 Then
' Ignore indices set as part of Relation Objects
If Not idxRep.Foreign Then
' Create an index with the same name.
Set idxNew = tblNew.CreateIndex(idxRep.Name)
' Set properties.
idxNew.Clustered = idxRep.Clustered
idxNew.IgnoreNulls = idxRep.IgnoreNulls
idxNew.Primary = idxRep.Primary
idxNew.Required = idxRep.Required
idxNew.Unique = idxRep.Unique
' Loop through the collection of index fields.
For Each fldRep In idxRep.Fields
' Create an index field with the same name.
Set fldNew = idxNew.CreateField(fldRep.Name)
' Set properties.
fldNew.Attributes = fldRep.Attributes
' Append the index field.
idxNew.Fields.Append fldNew
Next fldRep
' Append the index to the table.
tblNew.Indexes.Append idxNew
End If
End If
Next idxRep
' Append the table.
dbNew.TableDefs.Append tblNew
End If
DoEvents
Next tblRep
'********************
Debug.Print "Copy Data"
'********************
' Loop through the list of table definitions.
For Each tblRep In dbRep.TableDefs
Set rec1 = dbRep.OpenRecordset("SELECT MSysObjects.Name FROM MsysObjects WHERE ([Name] = '" & tblRep.Name & "') AND ((MSysObjects.Type)=4 or (MSysObjects.Type)=6)")
If rec1.EOF Then
XF = 0
Else
XF = 1
End If
' Ignore system tables and CMDB tables.
If InStr(1, tblRep.Name, "MSys", vbTextCompare) = 0 And _
InStr(1, tblRep.Name, "CMDB", vbTextCompare) = 0 And _
XF = 0 Then
' Open a recordset for the new table.
Set rstNew = dbNew.OpenRecordset(tblRep.Name, dbOpenTable)
' Open a recordset for the old table.
Set rstRep = dbRep.OpenRecordset(tblRep.Name, dbOpenTable)
' Continue if there are records.
If Not rstRep.BOF Then
' Move to the first record.
rstRep.MoveFirst
' Loop through all the old table records.
Do Until rstRep.EOF
' Add a record to the new table.
rstNew.AddNew
' For each field in the new table, set the value
' to the value in the related field of the old table.
For intC = 0 To rstNew.Fields.count - 1
rstNew.Fields(intC).Value = _
rstRep.Fields(rstNew.Fields(intC).Name).Value
Next
' Update the new table.
rstNew.Update
' Move to the next old table record.
rstRep.MoveNext
Loop ' rstRep
End If
' Close the new recordset.
rstNew.Close
' Close the old recordset.
rstRep.Close
End If
DoEvents
Next tblRep
End If