Excel files saved to H drive are 0 byte size on initial save

[Serena]

Very difficult trouble-shooting on this one. Tried my best to pin-it-down
before submitting question.

Periodically, on the initial save of a new Excel file to a user's H:\My
documents directory, Excel will put the saved name into the title bar but the
file size will be zero bytes. Unless the user saves the file again the
contents of the file will be lost when the user closes Excel.

I have only been able to duplicate this on-demand when i am in Edit mode,
but it is reported by various users that this happens to them periodically no
matter what mode they are in.

Various error messages
H:|My Documents\filename.xls is currently in use. Try again later.

followed by

Excel cannot save the file to this location. To save changes and avoid
losing data in your file, click the MObutton..........."

 

[Ada Pan [MSFT]]

Hello Serena,

Based on my knowledge, this issue could be the known issue with McAfee 8.5i
antivirus software or Computer Associates (CA) eTrust 8.1.637.0 antivirus
software.

WORKAROUND:
====================

For the Computer Associates (CA) eTrust antivirus software:

1) Right-click the blue eTrust Realtime monitor icon in the system tray.

2) Choose Realtime Options.

3) Click the Advanced tab

4) Clear the Protect Network Drives option.

NOTE: In at least one customer environment, this workaround was not
possible due to some eTrust configuration on the server; it is not known
what configuration was preventing this. We had to completely uninstall the
CA eTrust antivirus software from the client computer and reboot to resolve
the issue.


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
==============================

Here is information from the CA support web site.

Article entitled "Unable to save Microsoft Word document to a Network
Drive" at
http://supportconnect.ca.com/sc/kb/techdetail.jsp?searchID=TEC436777&docid=4
36777, which includes the following information.

Description:
This document describes the steps to be followed when you are unable to
save a Microsoft Word document to a Network Drive, with Realtime protection
enabled.

Solution:
Create/Edit the Realtime Monitor policy on the Server to uncheck "Protect
Network Drives".
1. Login to the eTrust Integrated Threat Management Console on the Server
2. Go to Policy Management tab
3. Select 'eTrust Antivirus' from Application and 'Realtime' from Type.
4. Click on the Realtime Monitor policy.
5. Click on the Advanced tab.
6. Uncheck "Protect Network Drives" and click Apply to keep the changes and
to automatically distribute the policy across the branches where it was
applied.

If you have other anti-virus software on clients or server, please temp
disable them on non-business time and then test this issue again.

Regards,

Ada Pan

Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
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[Ada Pan [MSFT]]

Hello Serena,

How are you?

We are currently standing by for an update from you and would like to know
how things are going there. Please let us know if there is anything else
we can do further assistance.

Regards,

Ada Pan

Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
====================================================
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[Serena K.]

I did unload our virus scan software and it did not help.

Much more testing since I last wrote. This does not happen on ANY network
drive except the users H drives. Our H drives are DFS mapped. Could this be
the cause?

 

[Ada Pan [MSFT]]

Hello Serena,

I haven't heard such known issue.

Before we go further, I would like to know if this issue also can be
reproduced in any other programs. To test it, please try two different
programs: one is Office program (such as Word), and the other is non-Office
program (such as WordPad). Please let me know the test results.

Also, I would like to know if you can configure your anti-virus software to
exclude the H drive to scan or any other protections. Then, test if this
issue still persists.

In addition, I would like to know if users don't use the mapped drive but
using network share, say \\server\folder, Will the issue occur when users
saving Excel files to the network share?

If you have any update, please let me know. I am glad to be of assistance.

Regards,

Ada Pan

Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
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[Serena K.]

I tried the \\server\folder method and there was no improvement?
I disabled my virus scan completely and there was no improvment?
Happens in Excel and I just tested Word as well and it happens there also.
It is very flaky.
Sometimes it will save the new file just fine and sometimes it saves the
file with 0 bytes.
Bewildered in Houston?

 

[Ada Pan [MSFT]]

Hello Serena,

Before we go further, I would like to know if this issue can be reproduced
in any other non-Office programs. To test this, please new a WordPad
document from Start - All Programs - Accessories - WordPad.

Since we cannot get a stable reproduce of the problem, it is rather tough
for us to do troubleshooting, also it may take long time to narrow down or
resolve the problem. Thank you for your kind understanding. However,
please reset assured that I will try my best to help you.

In addition, I would like to collect the following information for further
research:

#1. Can this issue be always reproduced when you try to save a new Excel
workbook to the H drive?

#2. Does this issue occur when you edit an existing Excel workbook located
in H drive and then save it back to H drive?

#3. As a test, would you please completely remove Anti-virus software from
one client and then check if this issue recurs? Or if possible, please
build up a test machine, don't install any antivirus software but only
Office program, and then check if this issue can be reproduced.

#4. What is the anti-virus software installed on your side?

If you have any update, please let me know. I am glad to be of assistance.

Best wishes,

Ada Pan

Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
====================================================
[NOTICE] Apr 27th, 2009, at 9:00am PST, this Partner Online Technical
Support will be on the new Forum technology. Since then, you will submit
new tech issues to the POTC on Forum whilst the "New" option will be
removed from NNTP newsgroup. If you still have threads in troubleshooting
on the previous NNTP newsgroup, you can continue following them up on NNTP
newsgroup until every thread is solved. The landing page on the partner
portal is still at https://partner.microsoft.com/global/40014662 and the
user guide will be refreshed on time. If you have any questions or
encounter any difficulties when loading the POTC on Forum, please send
email to (e-mail address removed).

====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
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====================================================

 

[Serena K.]

Ada - additional info and answers to your questions.

ADDITIONAL INFO:

When I try to open one of the 0 byte files created in Excel I get the
following messages - "The you are trying to open xxxx.xls is in a different
format than specified by the file extensions. Verify that the file is not
corrupted and is from a trusted source before opening the file. Do you want
to open the file now?"

If we then open that file and make changes and try to save, we get the
following - "
xxxx.xls may contain features that are not compatible with Text (tab
delimited). Do you want to keep the workbook in thiis format."

If we select to save it, we have to tell it to overwrite the original.

ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS:

Q. I would like to know if this issue can be reproduced
in any other non-Office programs. To test this, please new a WordPad
document from Start - All Programs - Accessories - WordPad

A. I cannot reproduce itin WordPad


1. Can this issue be always reproduced when you try to save a new Excel
workbook to the H drive?
A. It is intermittent. Sometimes happens 20-30 times in a row, sometimes
I cannot get it to happen.

#2. Does this issue occur when you edit an existing Excel workbook located
in H drive and then save it back to H drive?
A. Not to my knowledge. It only seems to happen upon the creation of
NEW documents in Excel, Word. Not sure about Powerpoint.

#3. As a test, would you please completely remove Anti-virus software from
one client and then check if this issue recurs? Or if possible, please
build up a test machine, don't install any antivirus software but only
Office program, and then check if this issue can be reproduced.

A. Completely uninstalled our anti-virus software on my test pc and the
issue still occurs.

#4. What is the anti-virus software installed on your side?

Trend Micro Office Scan

--
Serena

Hello Serena,

Before we go further, I would like to know if this issue can be reproduced
in any other non-Office programs. To test this, please new a WordPad
document from Start - All Programs - Accessories - WordPad.

Since we cannot get a stable reproduce of the problem, it is rather tough
for us to do troubleshooting, also it may take long time to narrow down or
resolve the problem. Thank you for your kind understanding. However,
please reset assured that I will try my best to help you.

In addition, I would like to collect the following information for further
research:

#1. Can this issue be always reproduced when you try to save a new Excel
workbook to the H drive?

#2. Does this issue occur when you edit an existing Excel workbook located
in H drive and then save it back to H drive?

#3. As a test, would you please completely remove Anti-virus software from
one client and then check if this issue recurs? Or if possible, please
build up a test machine, don't install any antivirus software but only
Office program, and then check if this issue can be reproduced.

#4. What is the anti-virus software installed on your side?

If you have any update, please let me know. I am glad to be of assistance.

Best wishes,

Ada Pan

Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
====================================================
[NOTICE] Apr 27th, 2009, at 9:00am PST, this Partner Online Technical
Support will be on the new Forum technology. Since then, you will submit
new tech issues to the POTC on Forum whilst the "New" option will be
removed from NNTP newsgroup. If you still have threads in troubleshooting
on the previous NNTP newsgroup, you can continue following them up on NNTP
newsgroup until every thread is solved. The landing page on the partner
portal is still at https://partner.microsoft.com/global/40014662 and the
user guide will be refreshed on time. If you have any questions or
encounter any difficulties when loading the POTC on Forum, please send
email to (e-mail address removed).

====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from this issue.
====================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
====================================================

 

[Ada Pan [MSFT]]

Hello Serena,

Thanks for providing additional information.

Before we go further, I would like to know the version of Office on your
client side and if you have applied the latest Service Pack on Office.

If not, please visit the following links to first update your Office
version:

- Office 2000 SP3
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=5c011c70-47d0-4306-
9fa4-8e92d36332fe&DisplayLang=en

- Office XP SP3
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=85AF7BFD-6F69-4289-
8BD1-EB966BCDFB5E&displaylang=en

- Office 2003 SP3
http://www.microsoft.com/Downloads/details.aspx?familyid=E25B7049-3E13-433B-
B9D2-5E3C1132F206&displaylang=en

- The 2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 2 (SP2)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b444bf18-79ea-46c6-
8a81-9db49b4ab6e5&displaylang=en

Also, please try the methods in the following articles to see if the
problem can be fixed:

951212 Error message when you open an Office Excel worksheet that you
export from Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0: "The file you are trying to open
'[FileName]' is in a different format than specified by the file extension"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;951212

329287 You receive a message to save changes when you close a file that you
have not changed in Excel
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;329287

If you have any update, please let me know.

Regards,

Ada Pan

Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
====================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Ada Pan [MSFT]]

Hello Serena,

How are you?

We are currently standing by for an update from you and would like to know
how things are going there. Please let us know if there is anything else
we can do further assistance.

Regards,

Ada Pan

Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
====================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Tom B.]

Hello,

I have the same issue. There are a group of users all using the same
share on a single server where they open, modify and save Excel 2007 xlsx
documents. The files have links to other files in the same folder or other
folders on the server or locally so they ask if you want to update.

The users have noticed sometimes that as soon as they open the file they
notice that the size of the file changes to 0 bytes immediately. If they
resave to the server and close the file the file is blank and the data is
lost.

They have McAfee 8.5.0 with Office 2007 SP1. We have the same
configuration on tens of thousands of other PCs connected to other servers
which are all configured the same (or supposed to be) and no other users at
other sites are reporting the issue.

- Tom

 

[Serena K.]

We FOUND the cause for this. Our Windows Desktop Search was set to index the
H:\My documents directory.

If the Indexer is running at the time (magnifying glass would be pulsing in
the systray) you cannot successfully save new documents to that directory.

I forced this test by copying/pasting about a dozen documents from H:\My
Document back into the same directory, creating a dozen new documents, which
started the indexer. While it was indexing I could not save new files
without the 0-byte problem. Once it was finished indexing, I could save
documents fine.

I have disabled that location being indexed.

NOW - my new question. Where do I post this issue. It seems that the WDS
should be able to index without preventing the saving of files.

 

[Ada Pan [MSFT]]

Hello Serena,

Thank you for your reply and the detailed additional feedback on how you
were successful in resolving this issue. Your solution will benefit many
other users, and we really value having you as a Microsoft user.

Regarding the Windows Desktop Search behavior, I would recommend you
consider the following resources to post your question:

Windows Search Community Resources
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/technicalr
esources/community.mspx

Regards,

Ada Pan

Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
====================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.