Clicked yes on "Block unsafe expressions" - how is it reversed?

[WrHn85]

OK, it was bound to happen eventually...

New user of Access 2003 has inadvertently clicked "yes" to "Block Unsafe Expressions" and now can't even click a simple command button to print a report. Db has not a single macro, nothing fancy, mostly wizard code.

Other folks logging onto that PC can still function fine.

I'm assuming it has set him into Sandbox mode & we need to back out of that setting. I've searched a ton of GHudson posts on this forum, read everything Jeff Conrad links to, looked at the following MS articles.

Understand how to enable or how to disable Sandbox mode
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=294698

Enable or disable sandbox mode
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HP010504321033.aspx

One article issues a dire warning about dangers of setting registry keys and the other doesn't seem to fix the problem at all. We're in a severely locked down environment and cannot download anything or change system settings -heck, can't even run ScanDisk anymore.

Will re-installing Access solve this, or does anyone know of a solution that will work given our limitations?
Any help is appreciated!

 

[ghudson]

I am pretty sure that I have the registry keys posted in a thread to correctly set the users Windows XP computer so that Access 2003 will work. It should include what you need to set for the sandbox mode.

 

[WrHn85]

Hi, GHudson,

Thanks for the reply. I found your posts very instructive and helpful.

In this situation we can't get into any system settings (hope I've understood your post correctly) and have no ability to change anything, so I'm trying to find out if there's any way to reverse out of this and disable sandbox mode altogether. Otherwise I think it's a call to the HelpDesk to wipe out this user's ID altogether and give them a new one.

 

[ghudson]

If the user can turn the sandbox on or off then you should be able to do the same with a registery key edit. Like most programs, Access sets specific keys in the registry for the logged in user. The keys I have provided can be run directly from within Access using VBA or by call in the .reg files. Other wise you will have to have your IT folks uninstall Office 2003 and then reinstall it. Then you will have to ensure they hit the right button to turn off the sandbox mode. Most programs will not work if the user is not an Admin for their PC. I bet you might have more rights than you think.

 

[SleepyJay]

Hmm...

I'm curious as to why you can't do anything after selecting that option. I've found that all it does is ask one less question every time I open the database. I have tons of code. And, clicking a "print" button doesn't seem unsafe at all. I have code that explores every file in a Network drive (and turns it into a table) and there's no problem with it.

Maybe there's something else going on that is masking the reason you can't run code there. What are set on when you go to Tools->Macros->Security? Is it set on "High" or "Medium"? High would definitely cripple your form code!

jason.

 

[WrHn85]

We couldn't turn Sandbox off even by resetting the macro security like the MS article instructed. What we could get into is one thing but what we could do without getting shot is another (government office, eh).

Turned out the PC had Jet 4.0 SP8 installed but the user's ID was missing this plus some other basic Windows functionality. Got his profile reset, worked great until the network printer was remapped and it went back to acting up like before.

Tomorrow they will reimage the PC and hopefully reset all users to the same functionality (yeah, I know, this sounds like a "please god make my foot like the other one" story...)

Thanks guys for the help - much appreciated anyway!