MS Access 2010 decode database

Question

I have a MS Access 2003 .mdb database and I would like to convert it to .accdb.

I installed MS Office 2010, removed the password and when I try to Save Database As .accdb I receive the following message:

You are trying to convert an encoded database. Decode the database and then try again.

I did not find any other options in MS Access 2010 to decode the database.

Any suggestions?

In access 2007 "Encode/Decode Database" is on the "Database Tools" ribbon tab once you open an older mdb — Alex K.

Taryn Taryn · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-22T11:52:10

You will need to Decode the database before attempting your conversion. I found the following Microsoft article about it:

Overview of Access security (MDB)

Here is an excerpt from it:

The simplest method of protection is to encode the database. Encoding a database compacts the database file and helps protect it from being read by a word processor. Encoding a database that employs no security measures has no effect, because anybody can open the database and gain full access to all objects in the database. Encoding is particularly useful when you transmit a database electronically, or when your store it on floppy disk, tape, or compact disc.

Before you can encode or decode a Microsoft Access database, you must be either the owner of the database or, if the database employs security measures, a member of the Admins group of the workgroup information file that contains the accounts used to help protect the database. You must also be able to open the database in exclusive mode, which means you must have Open/Run and Open Exclusive permissions.

Decoding a database reverses the encoding.

Once you decode it you should be able to run the conversion.

MS Access 2010 decode database

2 Answers