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tecmetro's avatar
tecmetro
Copper Contributor
Sep 10, 2020

Trouble finding the trigger behind the "Unrecognized database format Access" error message?

We have multiple local users on my domain (around 6), accessing a Access Front End database split.
For most of the days, things go well, but sometimes, after some user updates some register, the .mdb file becomes corrupt, and everybody else using Access on their local PCs get the "Unrecognized database format" error message (see picture). So I have to restart the server, erase the .ldb temporary file and then click on "Compact and restore database"  option under Database Tools tab. That fixes the problem.

Microsoft 365 Access Build 16.0.3....

But what's the trigger? Is it a limitation of Access? Is there any way I can prevent this from happening?

Thanks in advance!

access
office 365
    • tecmetro's avatar
      tecmetro
      Copper Contributor
      Sep 11, 2020
      As a matter of fact, the last 2 times it happened, a win 10 Client PC triggered the server error. I'll take a look
    • Robin Shanab's avatar
      Robin Shanab
      Iron Contributor
      Jul 28, 2021
      Hi Daniel,
      I want to discuss this issue here because, I never get this type of error.
      I saw many forums about this error, many experts says it is a bug. Now the question is; user only get this error in Windows 10?

      I don't think so. Can it be related to corruption?
      It's an open discussion, anyone can participate.
      • Daniel_Pineault's avatar
        Daniel_Pineault
        MVP
        Jul 28, 2021
        The question isn't if the user who gets the error users Windows 10, the question is "do you have any users that Access the database who are running Windows 10?". If you have even a single user who is on Windows 10, then this error is likely due to this bug.

        The only way to know for sure is to implement the workaround, compact and repair the database, and wait and see. If you keep having issues after C&R, then you need to start looking at the typical sources of corruption, things like unstable/saturated networks, wan/wireless network usage, unsplit database/shared front-end, ...

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