occasionally I get the error message
Could not update; currently locked. ,DAO.QueryDef ,3218

strsql = "SELECT * FROM qryPurOpenList WHERE 1 = 2"
Set qdf = CurrentDb.QueryDefs("qryPurOpenListPT")
qdf.SQL = strsql
qdf.Close

qryPurOpenListPT is a passthrough query linked to a sql server 2005 db
strsql is constructed from user selected options, in this case, no
data should be returned, which is correct
this function is used 100 of times daily, and I only see this error a
few times a month

so, is it having problems setting qdf ? or closing after setting SQL ?
how do I tell ?
is it possible for the passthrough query to be in a state where it
can't be modified ?

every user has their own FE that is loaded from a central repository
daily

wow.. it sounds to me like using Linked Tables is too complex for what you're trying to do.

Have you considered using Access Data Projects?