So take the extra 5-10 second, compile your databases and distribute the compiled version instead of the master mdb/accdb. With regards to Access in particular, being unlike any of the other Office applications, this illustrates the critical importance of always distributing your front-end as an mde/accde (by converting the db to mde/accde the VBA is completely inaccessible, hack or no hack) to your end-users where security is even mildly a concern (which is pretty much everywhere nowadays!). VBA code in Microsoft Visual Basic Applications (including Microsoft Access. That’s it, everything should now be in order. How to password protect VBA code in your Access Database modules - FAQ. Open the Database Properties which will now have no password specified.Įnter a new password and confirm it to resecure the VBA Project with a known password. You will receive several error messages, simply dismiss them all (and yes, there can be quite a few!). Open the newly saved file in Access (like you would normally) and then go into the VBA editor. Once you have replaced all the occurrences, perform a Save As to save these modification under a new file.

Open the database file in any HEX Editor of your choosing.įind any and all occurrences of the term DPB= and change the B to another value (many tutorials suggest x, but it doesn’t seem to truly make any difference) Never work with the original database file just in case anything goes wrong. Make a copy of the database in question and only work with the copy. I was surprised to find that there was an incredibly simple hack that can unlock any Access password protected VBA project and I figured I’d share in case it could help others. I recently needed to unlock an Access VBA Project for which my client had lost the password.

Ms access password protect vba code