Password Protecting Microsoft Access Database Files

To password protect your Microsoft Access database file (.mdb) you need to open it for exclusive use first. Don’t worry to what that means, here are the steps.

1. Open the Microsoft Access application
If you opened your database file (for example by double clicking on it) then close that and leave the Microsoft Access application open.

2. Go to File > Open

3. Browse to find your database file and select it (single click)

4. Before clicking the Open button (and before double clicking the file), click the arrow to the right of the Open button and select Open Exclusive.

5. Now Go to Tools > Security > Set Database Password… and type your password.

Note: You might get a message like the following:
You need to have the database open for exclusive use to set or unset the database password.
That is because you need to open the database exclusively by following steps 1 to 4 above.