BUG: Access quits unexpectedly when you open a digitally-signed database with grouped controls in Access 2003

When you open a digitally-signed database or a database project in Microsoft Office Access 2003, and the database or the database project contains forms that have grouped controls or reports that have grouped controls, Access 2003 may quit unexpectedly. You may receive the following error message:You may also receive the following error message:

Service pack information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Office 2003. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

To work around the problem, you must ungroup the controls in the digitally-signed database. However, to open the problem database and to ungroup the controls, you must temporarily set the Macro Security Level to Low. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Start Access 2003.
2. On the Tools menu, click Macro, and then click Security.
3. In the Security dialog box, click Low (not recommended) on the Security Level tab.
4. Click OK.
5. Click Yes, and then click OK.
6. Open the problem digitally-signed database.
7. Open the forms or the reports that contain grouped controls. Ungroup the controls.
8. Save your changes.
9. On the Tools menu, click Macro, and then click Security.
10. In the Security dialog box, click either Medium or High on the Security Level tab to reset your original security level.
11. Click OK.
12. Click Yes, and then click OK.
13. Open the problem database that is digitally signed.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section. This problem was first corrected in Office 2003 Service Pack 1.

Steps to reproduce the problem

1. Start Access 2003.
2. On the Tools menu, click Macro, and then click Security.
3. In the Security dialog box, click either Medium or High on the Security Level tab.
   
   Note The default security level is Medium.
4. Open the Northwind.mdb sample database.
5. In the Database window, click Forms under the Objects section.
6. In the right pane, double-click Create form in Design view.
7. Add two Text Box controls to the form.
8. Select the two Text Box controls.
9. On the Format menu, click Group.
10. Save the form. Name the form Form1.
11. Close Form1.
12. On the Tools menu, click Macro, and then click Visual Basic Editor.
13. Add a digital signature to the database. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. On the Tools menu, click Digital Signature.
    2. In the Digital Signature dialog box, click Choose.
    3. In the Select Certificate dialog box, select one of the available certificates, and then click OK.
       
       Note If the Select Certificate dialog box does not contain any certificates, you can create your own certificate and then complete the previous steps.
    4. In the Digital Signature dialog box, click OK.
14. Close the Visual Basic Editor, and then close Access.
15. Start Access 2003.
16. Open the Northwind.mdb sample database.
    
    When you try to open the Northwind.mdb sample database, you may receive the error message that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section.

For more information about the issues that are fixed in Access 2003 by Office 2003 Service Pack 1, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about grouping controls and ungrouping controls, click Microsoft Office Access Help on the Help menu, type Group controls or ungroup controls in the Search for box in the Assistance pane, and then click Start searching to view the topic.

For more information about how to create your own digital certificate, click Microsoft Office Access Help on the Help menu, type Create your own digital certificate in the Search for box in the Assistance pane, and then click Start searching to view the topic.