Simple Q

A customer has asked me to import data from a program they are using into
mine. Writing a custom export is no problem but I can't get into the
database. It is an mdb file and opening the file in notepad it starts like
this:


Standard Jet DB µnb` ÂUé©gr@? o~Y�ÿ.s1Åyºí0¼ßÌ�cÙíÇYFûS¼N?ûì

which confirms I guess that it is an access database. When I try to open it
in access 2000 it gives me an error saying I don't have permissions. It
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/information-technology/12051-simple-q.html
doesn't even ask for a password. Is there some way to confirm what version
of access this is and is there any way to get past the security?
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=12051

Many thanks,
Michael

 
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You'll need to get the security file (.MDW extension) from your customer.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=12051
Once you have the file, join the workgroup where it is located. Then a
username and password will let you in.
--
Arvin Meyer, MCP, MVP
Microsoft Access
Free Access downloads
http://www.datastrat.com
http://www.mvps.org/access

"Michael C" wrote in message
news:%23Fn0zNLmGHA.4864@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>A customer has asked me to import data from a program they are using into
>mine. Writing a custom export is no problem but I can't get into the
>database. It is an mdb file and opening the file in notepad it starts like
>this:
>
>
Standard Jet DB µnb` ÂUé©gr@? o~Y�ÿ.s1Åyºí0¼ßÌ�cÙíÇYFûS¼N?ûì
>
> which confirms I guess that it is an access database. When I try to open
> it in access 2000 it gives me an error saying I don't have permissions. It
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=12051
> doesn't even ask for a password. Is there some way to confirm what version
> of access this is and is there any way to get past the security?
>
> Many thanks,
> Michael
>

"Arvin Meyer [MVP]" wrote in message
news:ea$dRiMmGHA.4716@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> You'll need to get the security file (.MDW extension) from your customer.
> Once you have the file, join the workgroup where it is located. Then a
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=12051
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=12051
> username and password will let you in.

Thanks for the reply,

It comes with an MDA file but no MDW file. Is that just a variation or is
the MDW stored elsewhere?

Regards
Michael

On Mon, 26 Jun 2006 1352 +1000, "Michael C"
wrote:

>It comes with an MDA file but no MDW file. Is that just a variation or is
>the MDW stored elsewhere?

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Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=12051
eeeuwww... that may be a moldy oldie! As I recall, Access 1.0 used MDA
files, and 2.0 let you choose between MDA and MDW. I'm not certain
whether newer versions of Access can handle MDA's or not.

John W. Vinson[MVP]

"John Vinson" wrote in message
> eeeuwww... that may be a moldy oldie! As I recall, Access 1.0 used MDA
> files, and 2.0 let you choose between MDA and MDW. I'm not certain
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=12051
> whether newer versions of Access can handle MDA's or not.

hmmm that is quite possible. I've checked the password using this code:

http://www.trigeminal.com/lang/1033/...asp?ItemID=5#5

and it returns blank but I cannot access it using Admin as username and
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=12051
password as blank. Is there something else I should be doing. I've created
and ODBC datasource and am connecting through that. I've specified the mda
file as the system database in the ODBC setup which is what they did on the
users machine. Is there anything else I should be doing?

Thanks,
Michael

"John Vinson" wrote in message
news:71mu92phbq3n35v7t5dstarsp023sok928@4ax.com...
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=12051
> On Mon, 26 Jun 2006 1352 +1000, "Michael C"
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=12051
> wrote:
>
>>It comes with an MDA file but no MDW file. Is that just a variation or is
>>the MDW stored elsewhere?
>
> eeeuwww... that may be a moldy oldie! As I recall, Access 1.0 used MDA
> files, and 2.0 let you choose between MDA and MDW. I'm not certain
> whether newer versions of Access can handle MDA's or not.

I've confirmed that it is in fact an access 2.0 database as I had to
download the access 2 to 2003 converter from MS website. When I open the
database it now asks for a username and password but how do I get that
password?

Thanks again,
Michael

On Mon, 26 Jun 2006 1625 +1000, "Michael C"
wrote:

>how do I get that
>password?

From the documentation, or from the original developer.

The password code you mentioned is for the *DATABASE* password - a
much weaker protection than the protection provided by a workgroup
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Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=12051
file, even a .mda. The latter can be broken with effort but it's not
easy.

John W. Vinson[MVP]

"John Vinson" wrote in message
> From the documentation, or from the original developer.

I've asked the customer to request the password from the developer. The data
does belong to the customer so they should be able to do what they like with
it but I can see the developer not liking that idea. (I'm not going to gain
any intellectual property looking at tables and queries

> The password code you mentioned is for the *DATABASE* password - a
> much weaker protection than the protection provided by a workgroup
> file, even a .mda. The latter can be broken with effort but it's not
> easy.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=12051
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=12051

Is brute force the only option or can those dodgy password revealing
websites break it?

Michael

On Tue, 27 Jun 2006 09:37:19 +1000, "Michael C"
wrote:

>"John Vinson" wrote in message
>> From the documentation, or from the original developer.
>
>I've asked the customer to request the password from the developer. The data
>does belong to the customer so they should be able to do what they like with
>it but I can see the developer not liking that idea. (I'm not going to gain
>any intellectual property looking at tables and queries

With a properly designed security system, you should be able to get
the password for a Group which has read (or read/write) access to the
data in the tables, but no permissions to examine the code.

>> The password code you mentioned is for the *DATABASE* password - a
>> much weaker protection than the protection provided by a workgroup
>> file, even a .mda. The latter can be broken with effort but it's not
>> easy.
>
>Is brute force the only option or can those dodgy password revealing
>websites break it?

Brute force will just break the database into little bits... among
those dodgy websites there are ones that will, and there are
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Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=12051
legitimate sites as well. Those sites' owners would not thank me for
posting links in this public forum, though.

John W. Vinson[MVP]