Microsoft KB Archive/209053

= ACC2000: Cannot Delete the Admin User =

Article ID: 209053

Article Last Modified on 1/26/2005

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Access 2000 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q209053



Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

This article applies only to a Microsoft Access database (.mdb).



SYMPTOMS
When you try to delete the Admin user, you may receive the following message:

Are you sure you want to delete this account?

You can't undo the deletion of a user or group account. To restore a user or group account that has been deleted, you must recreate the account using the same name and personal identifier (PID).

If you click Yes, you receive the following error message:

Cannot perform this operation.



CAUSE
This behavior occurs because in Microsoft Access you cannot delete any of the default user or group accounts. The default accounts are as follows:

Admin, Admins, and Users



RESOLUTION
It is not necessary to delete the default users and groups. Instead, you can create alternate users and groups, and then disable the default users and groups.



How to Disable the Admin User
NOTE: Microsoft Access requires that there be at least one user in the Admins group. Before disabling the Admin user, you need to create another user account and include it in the Admins group.

To disable the Admin user, follow these steps:
 * 1) Start Microsoft Access and open the sample file Northwind.mdb
 * 2) If prompted for a user ID and password, type the user name and password of a user who is also a member of the Admins group.
 * 3) On the Tools menu, point to Security, and then click User and Group Accounts on the menu that appears.
 * 4) On the Users tab, select Admin as the user, and Admins as the group. Click Remove. Notice that now the Admin user is a member of only the Users group. Click OK to close the window.

