URGENT >>> DAO.Database [3197] error

[BasicSystems]

Error text:
An error has occurred loading the requested project

I AM FULLY BLOCKED BY THIS ERROR
THERE APPEARS TO BE NO PREVIOUS POSTS OR DOCUMENTATION
HARD TO BELIEVE GIVEN THE SEVERITY OF THE ERROR

Repro
- I have a Parallels VM running my licensed single user copy of EA
- I need to open my .eap from a VMWare box so I can import a SQL Server schema - this is my dev env
- I installed EA on the VMWare VM
- I setup an ODBC and successfully imported the db scema

Now when I attempt to open the .eap from either installation of EA I get this error

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An error has occurred loading the requested project
DAO.Database 3197

The Microsoft Jet engine stopped by process because you and another user are attempting to change the same data at the same time
---

I have tried renaming the .eap file
Renaming / deleting the .ldb files
Nothing works

This is a full blocking issue PLEASE HELP

[BasicSystems]

Ok; my bad for not trying to repair. That worked
Not entirely obvious solution but worked

To EA - love your tool BUT please document this error and how to fix it