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I had a client today who could not open their shared backend database. The system displayed the error “Could not lock file”.
I determined that Access was trying to open the file in exclusive mode, even though none of the normal methods to open the file exclusively were being applied:
• The File / Options / Client Settings / Advanced / Default open mode was set to Shared
• No command line /excl was being used
• The user had Full Control permissions for the shared folder containing the database
• Creating a new test database opened it exclusively, so that no other user could open it.
• The newly created test database could not be reopened if another user opened it,
• Several other users could simultaneously open the new test database without a problem.
The user had been using the database for normal operations for several days prior to the problem.
The user’s system has updated to build 16.0.14701.20248 today.
All other test users had build 16.0.14701.20226.
I rolled the user's Office installation back to 16.0.14701.20226 by using the Office Deployment Tool https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-revert-to-an-earlier-version-of-office-2bd5c457-a917-d57e-35a1-f709e3dda841
The problem was solved.
Can anyone else confirm that this problem exists with the latest build of Access?
Neil Sargent
Smart IT Ltd
A family of Microsoft relational database management systems designed for ease of use.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
There are numerous reports about lock file issue sure to Patch Tuesday's update.
https://www.devhut.net/access-lock-file-issues/
Rolling back the update appears to currently be the only fix.
If you refer to my link https://www.devhut.net/access-lock-file-issues/ I am keeping all the information up to date there including a list of the culprit updates & builds.
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This is why in our company we recommend Office 365 users are on Semi Annual Enterprise channel. Let others deal with the bugs; we have a business to run!
Daniel,
I notice that yesterday's update included a security patch for Jet which could be the culprit.
Would that also explain why it's affecting the Semi Annual Enterprise channel - does that channel get security fixes straight away?
Is there any acknowledgement of the problem from Microsoft yet?
Kind regards
Neil
Sadly, this is impacting Enterprise semi annual according to certain threads.