ACC: Storing SQL Database Login IDs and Passwords Locally

ID: Q101084

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Access versions 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 7.0, 97

SUMMARY

Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.

Storing SQL database login IDs and passwords locally requires that the database administrator create a unique table on the server.

MORE INFORMATION

In Microsoft Access, when you link (or attach in Microsoft Access 2.0 or earlier) a SQL database table, you can choose whether you want Microsoft Access to store your login ID and password locally. If you do not, Microsoft Access prompts you for your login ID and password each time that you connect to the SQL database containing the table.

If you want Microsoft Access to store the connection information in your Microsoft Access database so that you do not have to type it each time, you can click to select the Save Login ID And Password Locally check box in the Attach Tables dialog box when you link the SQL database table.

For Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase SQL Server, and ORACLE Server databases, your SQL database administrator can choose to disable this feature, requiring all users to enter their login IDs and passwords each time they connect to a SQL database.

To disable the ability to store login IDs and passwords locally, your SQL database administrator must create a table called MSysConf in the SQL database. When a user connects to the SQL database, Microsoft Access looks for this table in the database and, if it finds it, queries the table. If the values in the table correctly specify that local storing of login IDs and passwords should be disabled, Microsoft Access does so, regardless of whether the Save Login ID And Password Locally check box is selected. If the table is not present or does not specify disabling of the feature, users can store login IDs and passwords locally.

The SQL database table MSysConf should have the following structure.


   Column name   Data type                                 Allows Null?
   --------------------------------------------------------------------
   Config        A data type that corresponds to a         No
                 2-byte integer

   chValue       VARCHAR(255)                              Yes

   nValue        A data type that corresponds to a
                 4-byte integer                            Yes

   Comment       VARCHAR(255)                              Yes

If the data source you are working with is case-sensitive, use the table and column names exactly as shown. All users must have permission to use the SELECT statement on this table and only the system administrator can have permission to use the DELETE statement on this table.

In ORACLE, there are a few things that are different. For instance, the word "Comment" is reserved in ORACLE, so you will need to change it to "Comments." The other change relates to a difference in data types. Here is how the table would appear in an ORACLE database:


   CONFIG          NUM(4,0)         NOT NULL
   CHVALUE         VARCHAR(255)
   NVALUE          NUM(5,0)*
   COMMENTS        VARCHAR(255)

Nvalue can have a precision of up to Num(9,0).

To disable password and login ID storage, the table should have only one row as follows:


   Column name     Value    Explanation
   --------------------------------------------------------------------
   Config          101      This is the only valid value for Microsoft
                            Access version 1.1.

   chValue         NULL     This is reserved for future use.

   nValue          0 or 1   Use 0 to prevent the password and login ID
                            from being stored; use 1 to permit
                            password and login ID storage as in
                            version 1.0. The default is 1.

   Comment                  Allow storage of passwords and login IDs in
                            Microsoft Access.

Keywords : kbusage OdbcOthr
Version : 1.0 1.1 2.0 7.0 97
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto