MS Access database won’t work over a network

Symptoms:

When you double-click on a shortcut to a Microsoft Access Database held on a network server or shared folder on a peer-to-peer networked computer:

1. Nothing happens – the database does not open or MS Access starts but is blank, and your database does not open
2. You always get an “open file security warning” before the database opens (noticeable after upgrading from Internet Explorer 6 to 7 or 8 )
3. A Mail-merge document will not open when linked to Word or Excel – it says  something like “Word cannot find its data source…”

Solutions

• Open MS Access and then browse to open the database. Better still create a shortcut that first points to MS Access and then points to to your database e.g – the Target field in the shortcut looks something like this:
  “C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft OfficeOFFICE11MSACCESS.EXE” “F:shared_filesnewdatabase.mdb”   (Fixes problem 1)
• If you are running Windows XP Pro, Vista Business or Windows 7 Pro:  Run gpedit.msc, and go to Local Computer Policy –> User Configuration –> Administrative Templates –> Windows Components –> Attachment Manager and enable “Default risk level for file attachments”,  then enable “Inclusion list for low file types” and add to this list the file extensions (eg “.mdb” without the inverted commas). (Fixes problems 1 & 2)
• Add the (name and/or IP address of the) remote server (where the database is housed) to the Control Panel —> Internet Options —> Security —> Trusted Sites —> Sites For example  add “file://server”  and  File://192.168.0.17  and  Uncheck “Require Server Verification” (Fixes problems 1 & 3)