Problem opening Excel 2003 files on network drive

paulpud

We have 4 desktop PCs that connect to a Linkstation NAS and all have been working fine up until today.

3 of the desktops are opening xls files on the NAS perfectly but if the other desktop attempts it a 'cannot access' message pops up, and once this happens none of the other desktops can open the same file, getting the same 'cannot access' message, until the problem computer is rebooted.

Has this happened to anyone else and is there a solution before I start uninstalling/reinstalling?

unforeseen

Does the problem machine still have have read/write access on the NAS?

It may be able to create the lock file but not write data to it.

AndyPix

This could be a number of things ..
What is the exact wording of the message ?


(And it would still need write access to create the lock file in the first place BTW)

paulpud

We get a Microsoft Excel box pop up with the yellow warning triangle and the message 'Cannot access (filename).xls'

It does appear to be a permissions issue; a word document will open from the problem desktop successfully, but any changes are met with the message 'Cannot complete the save due to a file permission error'. If we then try to open this document from another computer we get a File In Use message despite it being closed.

Heading out of my techy comfort zone I've gone into the admin settings on the Linkstation but I can't see anything obviously wrong. The folders being accessed have no restrictions and, as far as I can tell, all 4 users have the same permissions

AndyPix

Hmm
If you right click on the folder containing these files , go to properties and then the security tab ,
do you see the users username in the permissions box (possibly preceeded by computername and a slash)


, and are if you click on the username, is there a tick in the "full access" box ?

unforeseen

AndyPix wrote: »

This could be a number of things ..
What is the exact wording of the message ?


(And it would still need write access to create the lock file in the first place BTW)

Create file/write data allows the file to be created. Without 'write attributes' as well it cannot be written to.

paulpud

AndyPix wrote: »

Hmm
If you right click on the folder containing these files , go to properties and then the security tab ,
do you see the users username in the permissions box (possibly preceeded by computername and a slash)


, and are if you click on the username, is there a tick in the "full access" box ?

I guess because it's on the Linkstation you don't get these options, just a General tab and a Customize tab, which is the same as the sub folders. The info displayed on the problem computer is the same as the others.

I've done some more dabbling this morning and the problem only seems to affect Excel and Word files, which I have now uninstalled and reinstalled but the problem persists. I have made alterations to Notepad docs, Wordpad docs, PDFs and even altered a couple of Jpegs and Bitmaps which all saved ok and could be opened by all computers afterwards.

Le_Kirk

I recall this or a similar problem, a couple of years ago on my work PCs. Files saved on the PC's C drive would open fine but not those from network. It baffled our Men in Skirts (MIS - the name given to the IT dept.) until they discovered it was a Windows update causing it. Can't recall if it was XP or 7 at the time but it certainly wouldn't have been 10.

paulpud

2 of the PCs are running XP home, the problem one XP professional and the other Win 7. We've stuck with XP because of it's reliability/compatibility with software and I've always managed to solve issues up until now.

I've completed a system restore to a week ago without success so at the moment the workaround for the problem PC is to drag the xls / doc file from the NAS onto the desktop to view it or work on it, save any changes and then paste it back into the NAS folder, overwriting the original.

I've just booted the problem PC into safe mode with networking and the xls / doc files are opening and saving without a problem.

paulpud

I think I've narrowed it down to anti-virus.

After realising everything worked ok in safe mode I started looking at the programs loading on boot and uninstalled a couple, including AVG anti-virus. On rebooting, the problem was resolved so, thinking it was AVG causing the issue, I downloaded and installed Avast ant-virus. Rebooted again and the problem was back, uninstalled Avast, rebooted and the problem was gone.

So we now have a computer that is again working fully with word and excel files on the NAS as long as there is no anti-virus installed.

AndyPix

paulpud wrote: »

I guess because it's on the Linkstation you don't get these options,.

Sorry, i was presuming that you had a drive mapped to the source.


Map a drive to [URL="file://\\ipaddressOfNas\folder"]\\ipaddressOfNas\folder[/URL] and AVG shouldnt get involved then