5 Ways To Repair Corrupt Access Database File Without Any Data Loss

Is your Access Database is getting corrupt somehow? Looking for some best fixes to Repair Corrupt Access Database Without Losing Any Data?

Well if yes, then this tutorial will guide you in the right direction for fixing all this mess up easily and instantly.

As, it contains complete information about Access Database Corruption whether it’s related to its causes, or the error that commonly encountered after the occurrence of corruption issues. Along with that the post also contains the manual as well as a software solution.

So let’s get started to explore complete details about Access Database Corruption.

Most Recommended Option To Repair Corrupt Access Database File

AUTOMATIC SOLUTION FOR FIXING CORRUPT ACCESS DATABASE

It is highly recommended that you must take the help of a third party MS Access Database Repair Tool. This software will help you to fix any type of corruption issues and errors encountered in your Access database. It comes with an advanced scanning algorithm that is very much effective in repairing and recovering the complete database files and re-establishes all database components.

* 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.

This tool is capable enough to repair corrupt .mdb and .accdb file format of the Access database. It comes with a self-descriptive user interface and therefore non-technical users can also easily operate this tool and easily retrieve back all the Access database objects such as tables, forms, reports, queries, restraints, macros, database relationships, and other data.

Steps To Repair and Recover Corrupt MS Access Databases

Those who don’t want to go with the software solution, just keep reading this post. As the post also contains many other options to repair corrupt Access database file without any data loss.

About Access Database Corruption:

If you are using Access Database then you might also know that it is a Microsoft proprietary Database Management System (DBMS). Like other Microsoft applications, MS Access is also very popular and it is used in many companies and organization and it is effective as well as it is user-friendly.

Microsoft Access has Relational MS Jet Database Engine with simple to grab user interface at the front and development tools running at the back. It is involved with object-oriented programming ability and software development tools that can be used to develop different client-server applications. You might also know that the MS Access database has two types of database files format named as.MDB (2003 and earlier version) and .ACCDB (2007 and higher version).

The easy to use interface has made this DBMS a favorite choice for many corporate. Though database files are often prone to corruption, which can lead to the extreme loss of critical data loss that is present in it. Similarly, the MS Access database is also prone to corruption.

This post is for recovering the corrupt database of the Access server without losing any data. You will also learn to know about the reasons behind MS Access Database  2016 corruption and solution on how to repair Access database.

What Are The Common Reasons Of Access Database Corruption?

There are many reasons that are responsible for the Access database corruption. Some of them are mentioned below:

  • Editing the Memo field data frequently increases the chances of Access database to get corrupt. It generally occurs form the problem with the VBA module which is not risky n the loss of data, but it is risky because it may damage the database design.
  • If Access database files get infected with virus and when anybody opens the access database, the infection gets spread to entire database files and gets corrupted.
  • If the same database accessed by multiple users having different Jet Service packs and if they are installing updates, then even small differences in the MDB file format can cause the database to get corrupt.
  • Improper installation of third-party applications or plug-ins for Access can also lead to the corruption of the database.
  • Sometimes hardware failures such as available of bad sector on hard drives and lost packets on the network are also one of the reasons behind database corruption.
  • Sometimes, the availability of few bugs in the MS Access and Jet Engine software are themselves responsible for the database corruption.
  • Improper system shutdown while your Access database files were opened and you were doing some work on it, is also one of the reasons that can cause corruption in MS Access database.

Error Encounters During Access Database Corruption:

Error Encounters During Access Database Corruption

So, these are some common reasons for the corruption of Access database 20007/2010/2013/2016 and when you face such a problem you lose access to all its important database components and face a vital data loss. One of the examples mentioned below for Access corruption just takes a look at it.

For example: When you try to open a corrupt .mdb file, then you might get different error messages. One of the error messages is mentioned below:

The database needs to be repaired or isn’t a database file. You or another user may have unexpectedly quit Microsoft Office Access while a Microsoft Office Access database was open. Do you want Microsoft Office Access to attempt to repair the database?”

If you click on “Yes” button, then MS Access will start the process to repair Access database. And if it gets failed then, it may display the error message:

Unrecognized database format ‘filename.mdb’

The reason behind the occurrence of the error message is due to Access database corruption. But you do not need to worry at all. As there are some solutions that you can follow to Troubleshoot Access database corruption and restore them back.

How To Recover Corrupt Access Database File Without Losing Any Data?

Well, there are few solutions that you can follow to repair corrupt Access database. Below find out the solutions:

Solution 1: Import Corrupt Database

Try importation of corrupt Access Database into a new Access 2010 database file by following these steps:

  • Open MS Access and create a new database file.
  • Tap on Access to import Access database under the External Data tab.

Import-Access-Database-1

  • In the next pop-up window, click on Browse and locate the database file while it is imported.

Import Corrupt Database into new MS Access Database

  • Specify the place and techniques to store data in a new database and then click OK.
  • In the next window select for all database objects that you want to import and click to the Ok option.

Import-Access-Database-9

Solution 2: From Valid Backup

If you have an updated, valid, and proper backup of this Access database, then you can make use of that specific backup for restoring all the lost data.  So, always try to maintain the proper backup of your Access Database .

Solution 3: Using ‘Compact and Repair Database’

Unluckily, if you do not have any backup, then you can use the built-in MS Access Compact and Repair Database utility to fix the corruption. Below follow the steps to repair Access database files:

  • Open Microsoft Access. Click on Tools and select ‘Compact and Repair Database

Compact and Repair

  • Select ‘Database to Compact From’ and choose ‘Compact

compact and repair 5

  • As and when you click on Compact the repair process get started
  • Wait for the repair process to get completed. Once it gets complete, click on ‘Save’ button

compact and repair 4

That’s all I hope your problem gets solved.

Solution 4:  De-compile 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 which 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 de-compile procedure, you should close access and then re-open it to compile all modules again.

Wrap Up:

If you want a secure and complete Access database recovery then all the mentioned fixes in this post are just perfect.  But it’s up to you whether you want to try the manual fixes or want to go with the professional recommended solution. If you have technical knowledge then you can take the risk for the manual fixes. But if you don’t have knowledge of such then it’s safe to make use of the recovery software.  All n all both the option of Access Database Recovery you have in this post.

tip Still having issues? Fix them with this Access repair tool:

This software repairs & restores all ACCDB/MDB objects including tables, reports, queries, records, forms, and indexes along with modules, macros, and other stuffs effectively.

  1. Download Stellar Repair for Access rated Great on Cnet (download starts on this page).
  2. Click Browse and Search option to locate corrupt Access database.
  3. Click Repair button to repair & preview the database objects.

Pearson Willey is a website content writer and long-form content planner. Besides this, he is also an avid reader. Thus he knows very well how to write an engaging content for readers. Writing is like a growing edge for him. He loves exploring his knowledge on MS Access & sharing tech blogs.