MDW Converter

Extract text from Access Workgroup files (MDW)


Drop or upload your .MDW file
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How to extract text from your MDW file

  1. Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your MDW file.
  2. You’ll see a preview, if available.
  3. Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.

Convert MDW to another file type

To convert MDW Workgroup files to another format, you need Microsoft Access or other Database software.

Convert a file to MDW

To convert other file formats to the "Access Security Credentials File" file type, you need software like Microsoft Access or a similar tool.


About MDW files

The .MDW file is primarily an Access Workgroup Information File managed by the Microsoft Jet Database Engine to store user accounts, group memberships, and security permissions for older MDB databases. A smaller percentage of these files are 2D and 3D CAD drawings used by MEDUSA software, or highly specialized medical diagnostic data files from Mortara Instrument devices. You need legacy versions of Microsoft Access to properly authenticate against the database variant. The main disadvantage of the .MDW format is its obsolete and proprietary nature. It was designed to restrict access, meaning if the file is lost or corrupted, users are permanently locked out of their own databases. It is not supported by web browsers, requires a paid software license, and cannot be easily queried by modern SQL engines. If you must extract data from an Access Workgroup file, the most realistic target formats are CSV or TXT to recover user names, though password hashes and complex security policies will be lost during extraction. If dealing with the MEDUSA CAD variant, you should convert to DXF or DWG to regain compatibility with modern drafting tools. This file format is notoriously difficult to open or convert because it functions as an encrypted security container or a closed binary blob. Standard online tools fail because they cannot bypass the Jet Database Engine security layer. Often, only the original software can properly read or export the data. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or conversion may still be possible.

Convert.Guru analyzes your MDW file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.

Users also converted ACCDB, JET and MAG files.


FAQ

If you want to convert MDW file to TMP, TEMP, CACHE, LOG, BAK, OLD, NEW, PART, DOWNLOAD, CRDOWNLOAD, LOCK or PID, you can use Microsoft Access or similar software from the "Database Security Workgroup File" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert DEVICE, CACHE, SOCK, SYMLINK, PID, MOUNT, FIFO, LOG, PIPE, TMP, JUNCTION or TEMP files to MDW, try Microsoft Access or another comparable tool in the "Database Security Workgroup File" category.



The MDW Converter Story

The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our MDW converter.