normal.dotm in use

[Midweek]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I have a small class network of 15 or so MacBooks that use a workgroup network login on a Mac Server 10.5.

We use class logins (i.e. all 15 children log in as the same username so they can access the same home folder etc). I don't want to have individual logins for each child or computer as this is time consuming and too complicated for our uses.

However whenever a user opens word it throws up the "normal.dotm is already in use" error and a further database error box telling me to use the database utility to fix it which does nothing (no database found).

I have tried redirecting all the folders (user templates, startup etc) to the local hard drive in preferences/file locations.
Word just seems to switch to some other folder every time without prompting.

Is there any way I can have multiple logins using word at the same time or is Office 2008 just rubbish on the Mac and can't handle this sort of thing? Word 2007 seems to have no problem with a similar setup on a Microsoft Server 2003 network with active directory logins.

Any help greatly appreciated as this is driving me crazy.

Cheers

 

[John McGhie]

Somehow, you need to tell the server which user is which.

If they are all on the same Login name, then you need to ensure they each
have different Unix IDs, or the server can't tell the difference. That's
one of the functions of ActiveDirectory on the Microsoft server.

The users' User Templates location must be set to a location that is
read/write and exclusive to each user. If it is not, you will get this
error. The Normal.dotm template should never be shared.

In Word 2007, you get away with this because the server does not try to lock
the template for the second and subsequent users unless they attempt a save.
In Mac OS, the server attempts to lock the template on open, so the second
user to open the template will fail.

Hope this helps

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I have a small class network of 15 or so MacBooks that use a workgroup network
login on a Mac Server 10.5.

We use class logins (i.e. all 15 children log in as the same username so they
can access the same home folder etc). I don't want to have individual logins
for each child or computer as this is time consuming and too complicated for
our uses.

However whenever a user opens word it throws up the "normal.dotm is already in
use" error and a further database error box telling me to use the database
utility to fix it which does nothing (no database found).

I have tried redirecting all the folders (user templates, startup etc) to the
local hard drive in preferences/file locations.
Word just seems to switch to some other folder every time without prompting.

Is there any way I can have multiple logins using word at the same time or is
Office 2008 just rubbish on the Mac and can't handle this sort of thing? Word
2007 seems to have no problem with a similar setup on a Microsoft Server 2003
network with active directory logins.

Any help greatly appreciated as this is driving me crazy.

Cheers

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Midweek]

Thanks for the reply John. Much appreciated.

It's back to rethinking my login procedure I guess.

Cheers