Remove Admin Access - What does it actually do?

[Barbecue]

I've got a solution that will be personalized to specific individuals before being burned to CD. To allow the personalization, I have some admin-only layouts and scripts that are used to enter the customized information before the CD is burned.

To make it impossible for the end-user to get into this stuff, I'm considering using the "Remove Admin Access" feature of Developer, which is something I have not ever used before. The description just says it permanently removes admin access and hides calculations, but doesn't go into any detail on what this means.

What does this option really do? Does it simply disable the Admin user from interactive login, or does it actually remove the account? How does it impact scripts that run as admin, privilege sets, and so forth? Are there any "Gotchas" I should look out for when using this option?

[Reed]

It actually removes any accounts with [Full Access], removes access to Define Database..., Layout Mode, and Scriptmaker.

If you do this to your database, only do it on a copy, since you won't be able to make any future changes. You should also make sure there is a way to get the data out of the protected solution before removing admin access.

[Barbecue]

That sounds like what I want then, thanks. Would doing this have any effect on scripts that are set to run with full access privileges? I assume not, but just want to be sure. Also, does this change affect Allow User Abort or error capture?

This thing is not really a database, more of an interactive document, so I'm not worried about getting data back out. And I'm a great believer in multiple redundant backups!

[transpower]

It's not normally recommended to "Remove Admin Access"; it's normally better to just keep your Admin password secret. Make a user login with non-design privileges to protect your work, and give that login to your users.

A couple of months from now, you will probably want to change something ...

[Reed]

The primary situation where you'd want to remove admin access would be if you are selling your solution and distributing it to the public. Doing this will prevent anyone from using any present or future password bypass tools to see your solution logic.

[Barbecue]

Transpower, normally I would agree with you (witness the fact that I've never before used this feature) but in this case there's no chance I will want to go in and make changes to the distributed files. Any changes that may be needed will be made to the original working file, and a new CD install distributed to everyone.

This solution is being distributed to a number of third parties completely outside our control. It's sort of like an exam, users answer questions, are given a final result of pass or fail, and a report is printed and faxed in. My biggest concern is preventing cheating, not protecting my code, though I don't want people seeing my spaghetti mess and six billion calc fields either...

I want to make it impossible for someone who obtains a copy of the files to see the admin layouts, even if they do guess the admin password (unlikely) or use some sort of cracking program (I don't know how likely that might be). It sounds like removing admin access will do what I want.

There's a lot I'd like to do to make administration more automatic, but if this thing's not out the door this week, the angry villagers will be storming the castle with pitchforks and torches.