Documents open as read-only

[Pierre of Perth]

I have a user with a Vista / Office 2007 combination on a desktop PC.
Everything is working well except for a very strange problem when opening
Word documents on shared network drives (its an SBS 2003 server). The
documents will randomly open as read-only with absolutely no warning. If a
document opens as read-only, it can be closed and opened again and you may
get full write access. Close it, open it again, and it may or may not be
read-only. It's completely random. The only way you can tell it's read only
is the (Read Only) next to the document name at the top of the window.

This behaviour is only exhibited when double-clicking on the file from
Windows Explorer. If Word is opened first and the document selected using the
Open menu, the document is fine every single time. Ditto when opening
documents on the local computer.

These particular documents are not used by people on other computers. But if
they try to open them, they don't have the problem. Any user that logs into
the computer has the same issue. It's not a file permission issue. I've
reinstalled Office to no effect. I've updated with all Windows/Office 2007
patches. I've recreated the normal.dotx file.

I've searched all over the place and can't find anybody who has experienced
this problem. Any suggestions? I have 3 other identical PC's onsite, and they
don't exhibit the problem - even with the above user logged on.

 

[Terry Farrell]

Strange! I presume that SBS and the computer are fully patched. A couple of
things to try.

With all applications closed, go to the users temp folder and make sure it
is empty. It is probably full of abandoned files, delete them all: you may
have to reboot first to unlock some of the files.

Then check in the server folder and make sure that it too hasn't got loads
of abandoned temp files. I suggest that after all users have logged off for
the day, you do a search of the users' folder for *.tmp files and delete
them all.

Test to see if that eliminates the problem.

 

[Pierre of Perth]

Hi Terry,

Yes, all computers are fully patched. NIC drivers are also up to date.

I tried the user's temp folders on the local PC - all of them. I've also
deleted all tmp files on the server, but there weren't many of them - if fact
most of them were for files used by other people who aren't experiencing the
problem.

Another thing I didn't mention is that when double-clicking on a file to
open it, it normally comes up maximised as the front window. So on this
computer, when we double-click on a Word doc, we know it will be read-only
because the window is actually minimised when it opens. The window on the
taskbar is also highlighted. When the document opens with write access,
everything is normal.

It makes no sense to me, but that's how it is. The user is getting very
frustrated because they will often not notice the read only status and
continue editing a document. They then need to Save As to retain their
changes, then physically rename the documents using Explorer.

 

[Terry Farrell]

Well it may be just needs reregistering in Word. From Start, Run type in

winword /r

and press enter. Does that change the behaviour? If not, take a look in the
Word Start-up folder and see what add-ins are installed. It may be an
incompatible add-in that is causing the problem.

Terry

 

[Pierre of Perth]

I'll get the user to try reregistering. What does that do differently to
uninstalling and reinstalling?

I've already ensured there are no startup add-ins.

 

[Terry Farrell]

It takes a millisecond: reinstalling takes... <g>

But it ensures that Word is correctly registered in Windows. But if it
doesn't work, I think this may be some incompatible third party add-in that
is causing a problem - possibly even the AV.

Terry

 

[Pierre of Perth]

No that didn't do anything.

The thing that frustrates me is that there are 3 other identical computers
on the network. Running the same applications/add-ins/etc.

I may have to bite the bullet and reinstall Vista altogether.

 

[Terry Farrell]

I'll certainly be interesting in knowing the outcome please - especially of
successful.

Am I correct in thinking that you have tried logging in as one of the other
users (who don't have the problem) and testing?

Terry

 

[Pierre of Perth]

Yes originally I thought this was the fix. I logged in using another person's
account and tested opening a few documents without incident. I then removed
the user's profile (how annoying this now is in Vista) and got them to log in
again. Word was fine for a while but then the problem reoccurred. This time
the user got the prompt:

"This document is locked for editing by 'another user', do you want to
Open a read only copy
Create a local copy and merge your changes later
Receive notification when the original copy is available"

This message appeared for about the first day of using a new profile each
time a 'read only' document was encountered, but then it stops appearing
altogether and the documents just open as read only without prompt.

The user has also had the following message until I deleted the normal.docx
file:
"The Open Office XML file Normal cannot be opened because there is a problem
with the contents". No error detail was available.
Clicking OK would allow her to continue.

These errors point towards orphaned temp files and perhaps Word file
corruptions, but clearing out temp files doesn't make a difference. And
having files randomly open read-only, then open fine 30 seconds later doesn't
really explain this.

The only other error message in the event viewer is event 1530 where
"Windows detected your registry file is still in use by other applications or
services. The file will be unloaded now....". This occurs each time they log
off. You think it's related?

 

[Pierre of Perth]

I just found a very interesting MS article.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/814112

The "cause" given - specifically the 2nd bullet point - definitely sounds
like the culprit. The only problem is the OS and Word version is different.

I'll have the user change the Explorer view and disable antivirus again to
see if it makes a difference.

 

[Pierre of Perth]

I got the user to put Windows Explorer in Tile view for all folders, then had
them disable the antivirus altogether. No difference. Damn - I really thought
I was on to something there.

 

[Pierre of Perth]

I had the user disable antivirus and set all Explorer windows to Tile view
instead of Details - but it made no difference. Damn - I really thought I was
onto something there.

They also told me something I wasn't sure of: they are still occasionally
getting a popup message that the file is "Locked for editing by another user"
and they are prompted for choices. However, this happens very rarely - mostly
the files just open as read-only without a prompt. And again I should mention
that these files are not used by any other person on the network.

 

[Terry Farrell]

This is starting to sound as tough the user's temp files are not being
deleted correctly when finished. This may be because the user has
insufficient permissions in the folder on the server (Word needs full
permissions to be able to create, edit and delete files in the document
folder) or possibly in his own local temp folder. As the user has a new
profile, when the error comes up again (locked for editing because it is
being edited by another user), close Word and check in the local temp folder
and make sure that all temp files have closed.

Also, it may be a problem with a dodgy network connection. Have you got a
managed network so that the user's port activity can be monitored for
errors?

Terry