How To Recover & Repair Corrupted ACCDB File?

Are you unable to open your MS Access file? Or does your ACCDB file completely restrict you to perform any task on it?

Well, it’s a sign that your MS Access .accdb file got corrupted and you need to immediately repair corrupted accdb file. Otherwise, you will be stuck in data loss situations.

If you too facing similar kinds of issues in your Access database accdb file then this blog is very important to read.

This blog post helps you to know what are the various reasons for your Access database corruption and how to repair and recover corrupt ACCDB files. 

What Is An .Accdb File?

Microsoft Access database file is integrated with database encoding specification by Microsoft to replace the previous MDB version with accdb database file format. Shifting with the .accdb extension, these Microsoft Access database files are get integrated with support for Microsoft SharePoint Services. Another file format introduced with MS Access software, i.e ACCDE file, which gets locked from displaying any VBA code associated with the corresponding ACCDB file.  So, this can’t be edited by the user.

The Access Database ACCDB file format replaces the older MDB format used in prior versions of Access. This includes enhancement to it like support for encryption and file attachments.

While working with this accdb file format in ms access, a similar ms access record locking information file having extension .laccdb.  It automatically gets created in the same folder to prevent from accidentally editing the original file. This temp file is very useful when multiple people are using the same ACCDB file simultaneously.

Benefits Of Access Accdb File Format:

The database created in Access 2016/2013/2010/2007 is in .accdb file format. This format supports features like multivalued fields, data macros, and publishing to Access Services.

One can easily convert databases that were created in MS Office Access 2003/2002/2000 or 97 to .accdb file format. But the database having already in .accdb file format can’t be opened or linked by using a version of Access earlier than Access 2007.

Additionally, the .accdb format doesn’t format support user-level security or replication.  If you want to share your database with people using Access 2003 or earlier.  In order to use the replication or user-level security, you must use the .mdb file format.

What Program Will Open An ACCDB File?

Accdb file can also get opened with MS Access version 2007 and newer version. MS Excel imports the accdb file but that data will then saved in some other spreadsheet format.

Here are the lists of programs that can be used to open the .accdb file. Have a look over the applications that can help you in accessing your not opening accdb file.

MDB Viewer Plus:

This free program can be used to open and edit .accdb files. It’s a great alternative especially if you don’t have a copy of MS Access.

OpenOffice Base or LibreOffice Base:

Another way to open your .accdb file without Access is to use OpenOffice Base or LibreOffice Base. They both let you connect to an existing Microsoft Access 2007 database (an .ACCDB file), but the result is a file saved in the ODF file format (i.e .ODB file).

MDBOpener.com:

You can use this application to upload the .accdb file online and view the table without using any database software on your PC.

ACCDB/MDB Explorer:

This application can also open MDB & ACCDB files, but it’s not free. So, now you can open your Access .accdb file even without using the MS Access application.

Read about: 7 Excellent Ways To Open Mdb File In Effortless Way…!

What Are The Reasons Of MS Access Database (.Accdb) File Corruption?

Though there are various reasons that can easily damage or corrupt accdb file. Below find out some of the common reasons that are responsible for inaccessible accdb file:

• Virus/Malware Infection – If your computer is infected with viruses or malware then it can easily corrupt entire data stored in your system, including the Access ACCDB file.
• Improper Exit of Application – If you are working on your database file in MS Access and suddenly due to power failure your system get shut down then it results in improper exist of application which can lead to corruption of Access database file.
• Hardware or Software Failure – Hardware/Software failure is very dangerous for computer data. There are basically two types of hardware failure – physical and logical. When the user faces any software or hardware failure then there are huge chances of data corruption/damage.

Apart from this, there are several other causes of Access database corruption, check out this helpful post for further reading: Top 15 Root Causes Of Microsoft Access Database Corruption…!

Error That Indicates The Access Accdb File Corruption

In any of the above-mentioned cases .accdb file can easily get corrupted which at the end makes your MS Access file completely inaccessible. Once it gets corrupt you may find several error messages such as:

• The database ‘filename.accdb’ needs to repaired or isn’t database file.
• Database need to repaired.
• Unrecognized database format ‘path/filename.accdb’.
• Microsoft has detected corruption in this file.
• The database is in an unexpected state.

 How To Fix Corrupt .Accdb File?

There are two easy ways to repair corrupted accdb file that you can follow:

1 – With The Help Of MS Access Repair And Recovery Tool

If the in-built utility fails to fix the corruption then in that case you must take the help of MS Access Repair and recovery tool. It is one of the widely and popularly used software that is particularly designed to repair corrupted accdb file and safely recover the data from the corrupt MS Access database. It comes with a user-friendly interface and anyone can operate it easily. The tool works on almost all versions of Windows OS such as Windows 10/8.1/8.1/XP/Vista, etc.

* By clicking the Download button above and installing Stellar Repair for Access (14.8 MB), I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the End User License Agreement and Privacy Policy of this site.

The Access Repair And Recovery Tool effortlessly fixes up your corrupt Access database (mdb/accdb) file issue without putting any risk of data loss or modifying any data in MS Access 2007, 2010, 2013 & 2016.

• It repair accdb file smoothly.
• The software is capable of restoring deleted Access tables, forms, modules, queries, etc.
• Recover permanently deleted or damaged mdb/accdb file data.
• It allows recovering corrupt Access MDB Database files.
• With this software, you can export and save a healthy database with the schema.
• It also recovers corrupted Access database files which lost due to MDB file oversizing issues.
• This software supports well on all Access Database 2010/2013/ 2016/2019 versions & all former versions.

Steps Repair and Recover ACCDB File

2- With the help of In-Built Compact and Repair Database Utility

MS Access application has inbuilt Compact & Repair utility. Users can use this utility whenever they encounter any type of corruption or error. This tool can easily fix most of the corruption and various errors of your inaccessible MS Access file. So, before approaching this compact and repair utility to repair accdb file you must take a backup of your file.

Please check out the following article to catch complete detail on how to compact and repair Access database.

3- Decompile Microsoft Access VBA code

When VBA modules get compiled in Access, the complied code is very much dependent on the VBA p-code parser library. There are few types of this library that can lead to corruption if the compiled code is run on various machines with different versions of this library installed.

Microsoft added a command-line switch to access that allows removing all complied VBA codes from an Access database, leaving only the non-complied source code in place. You can try the command line switch if you can gain access into your database but strange error messages will appear during this execution of VBA module/class code.

To run the decompile option from Access just open Access with a command-line option of ‘/decompile’, for example, run the following from the command line:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\MsAccess.exe /decompile C:\DatabasePath\FileName.mdb

Note:

You need to change the path shown above for MsAccess.exe if you installed it to a different location. After the completion of the decompile procedure, you should close Access and then re-open it to compile all modules again.

Some More Ways To Manually Repair Accdb File And Restore Access Database Items:

• The very first step that you all must approach is the backup of your Access database items.
• Delete .ldb file which automatically gets created by jet database engine when the database is gets opened.
• You can also make use of the jet compact utility to repair accdb file which is specifically designed to tackle Access database problems.
• Delete all complied VBA code from your Access database. To perform this, just use the following command line switch from Microsoft.

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\MsAccess.exe /decompile C:\DatabasePath\FileName.mdb

Note:

The path is shown above for MsAccess.exe needs to change if you have installed it to a different location.

• Import off your corrupt Access database into a new database file. For this just try the following steps:

1. Open MS Access and create new database files.
2. Under the External Data tab, hit on Access to import Access Database.
3. In the next appearing window, click on Browse and locate the database file that you want to import.
4. In the file name text box of Get External Data Wizard, just enter the name of the source database. Or click browse to display file open dialog box and then choose or type the name of your source database.
5. Hit import table, queries, forms, reports, macros, and modules into the current database and tap the OK option.
6. In import objects dialog box, tap each tab and select the objects which you want. Remember you can only import tables, macros, queries.

Conclusion

So, if your MS Access .accdb files get corrupted then follow the above-mentioned methods to repair corrupted accdb file. In my opinion, you must go for inbuilt utility, if it does not help you then you can go for the recommended MS Access Repair and recovery tool.