Ms-access – Microsoft Access is giving me network interrupted errors

connectivityms accessms-access-2016

We have just upgraded to window 10 and are using Microsoft Access 2016 (16.0.8431.2110) 32 bit.

As a result of this upgrade we now have the issue of intermittent network connectivity issues. My Access database session work will just lose the network connection, tables will be corrupted and the following error message will be displayed:

Your network access was interrupted. To continue, close the database, and then reopen it again.

Needless to say this is problematic as we are using 2016 AutoPLANT SS8 v8i with AutoCAD 2016 Service Pack 1 that is constantly reading/writing to the database. The result is a file crash and a reload is necessary.

Any one out there in the world have an idea of what is happening?

Best Answer

Let's have a look at the individual components.

Microsoft Access

According to Microsoft the Office program Access does have some limitations in regards to using it on network drives:

There are several ways that you can share an Access database depending on your needs and resource availability.

Reference Ways to share an Access desktop database (MS Office Support)

...but specifically:

Share data by using network folders

This is the simplest option and has the least requirements, but also provides the least functionality. In this method, the database file is stored on a shared network drive, and all users share the database file simultaneously. Some limitations include reliability and availability if there are multiple simultaneous users changing data since all database objects are shared. This technique can also reduce performance as all the database objects are sent across the network.

(Emphasis mine)
Reference: Share data by using network folders (MS Office Support)

Bentley AutoPLANT Modeler SS8 Refresh

The support notes for your versions are listed as:

This build supports

  • Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 x64
  • Office 2010, 2013 and 365/2013 and 365/2016 (both 32bit and 64bit)
  • SQL Server 2008 R2 / 2012 SP2 / 2014 (Enterprise / Standard / Express Edition)
  • ORACLE 11g Release 2 (v11.2.0.3) / 12c Release 1 (v12.1.0.2)
  • OpenPlant Isometrics Manager (OPIM) V8i (SELECTseries 6) Refresh
  • AutoPLANT i-model Composer V8i (SELECTseries 8) Refresh is required
  • The Run-time version of Microsoft Access is not supported
  • The Professional version of Office (including Microsoft Access) is required:
    • Enable use of Bentley Project Administrator.
    • For the generation of reports via Data Manager, Vision and Document Manager etc.
    • For use of Advanced Selection dialog in AutoPLANT Modeler and AutoPLANT Isometrics.

Reference: AutoPLANT Modeler SS8 Refresh - Installation Sequence (Bentley Communities)

Combining The Two Bits of Information

  1. If you are using Access for the intended purpose, then I would recommend opening up a support ticket with Bentley to determine what the issue might be.

  2. If you are using Access for the central database (which should be running on Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle 9i RDBMS), then I would recommend to re-install your current environment.

  3. If Access remains the culprit, then you might have to check your Company's Microsoft Domain Policies. You might have a rule that is automatically disconnecting your network drives after a certain period of inactivity.

  4. If your network drives are indeed failing, then you might want to contact the infrastructure guys to have a look a the SAN disks (where your network drives ar situated) and/or the network department to determine if your network is dropping connections:

    • after a period of time
    • due to network connectivity issues

  5. If you have a support contract with Microsoft then open up an incident with Microsoft.

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