Word "save to server" bug solved

D

Dave Provine

Many people, but not all, have run into the Save to Server bug with OS
10.4 and servers. The solution has been identified and is somewhat
easily implemented.

The problem is explained here-

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302979

The local UID on the user's computer needs to be changed away from the
default 501 or 502.

If you open Terminal on their computer while they're logged in, and
type "id" without quotes, it should return something like this-

uid=1025(provine) gid=20(staff) groups=20(staff)

If the uid is 501 or 502, that's bad. Change it to something much
higher like 5263214. It can be a large number. It just has to be
Globally Unique.

This tip from
http://forums.macosxhints.com/archive/index.php/t-12077.html will help
you change the UID.

Changing UIDs in the terminal is a simple NetInfo property overwrite:
sudo niutil -createprop . /users/userName uid XXX
(replace userName as appropriate and XXX with the new UID number)

Finding and changing UIDs across the filesystem is a one-liner command:
sudo find / -user UID -exec chown userName {} \;
(replace UID with the old UID number and userName with the new user
name to associate file ownership.)


Again, it's the LOCAL UID on the user's computer that is the problem.
That's why it's somewhat random as to who gets stricken by it, and why
users with Network Home Directories never have the problem. By default,
they will always have different UIDs.
 
C

Chris Ridd

Many people, but not all, have run into the Save to Server bug with OS
10.4 and servers. The solution has been identified and is somewhat
easily implemented.

The problem is explained here-

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302979

The local UID on the user's computer needs to be changed away from the
default 501 or 502.

If you open Terminal on their computer while they're logged in, and
type "id" without quotes, it should return something like this-

uid=1025(provine) gid=20(staff) groups=20(staff)

If the uid is 501 or 502, that's bad. Change it to something much
higher like 5263214. It can be a large number. It just has to be
Globally Unique.
Click to expand...

(Excellent information BTW)

The maximum uid value is 2^32 on Darwin, ie 4294967296.

I wonder why MS didn't use the guid that is associated with an OS X
account instead?

Cheers,

Chris
 
J

John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]

Hi Dave:

That looks interesting :)

But I do not understand: Under what circumstances would a user log in to the
server with a User ID the same as another user?

I can't imagine a network administrator setting things up that way. Am I
missing something here?

Cheers

Many people, but not all, have run into the Save to Server bug with OS
10.4 and servers. The solution has been identified and is somewhat
easily implemented.

The problem is explained here-

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302979

The local UID on the user's computer needs to be changed away from the
default 501 or 502.

If you open Terminal on their computer while they're logged in, and
type "id" without quotes, it should return something like this-

uid=1025(provine) gid=20(staff) groups=20(staff)

If the uid is 501 or 502, that's bad. Change it to something much
higher like 5263214. It can be a large number. It just has to be
Globally Unique.

This tip from
http://forums.macosxhints.com/archive/index.php/t-12077.html will help
you change the UID.

Changing UIDs in the terminal is a simple NetInfo property overwrite:
sudo niutil -createprop . /users/userName uid XXX
(replace userName as appropriate and XXX with the new UID number)

Finding and changing UIDs across the filesystem is a one-liner command:
sudo find / -user UID -exec chown userName {} \;
(replace UID with the old UID number and userName with the new user
name to associate file ownership.)


Again, it's the LOCAL UID on the user's computer that is the problem.
That's why it's somewhat random as to who gets stricken by it, and why
users with Network Home Directories never have the problem. By default,
they will always have different UIDs.
Click to expand...

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410
 
C

Chris Ridd

Hi Dave:

That looks interesting :)

But I do not understand: Under what circumstances would a user log in to the
server with a User ID the same as another user?

I can't imagine a network administrator setting things up that way. Am I
missing something here?
Click to expand...

A more likely situation is where you're using the standard OS install
to set up a local user account for someone; that will get the uid of
501. Then you set the machine up with your file server... You can
immediately see that you'll get the same uid assigned to different
people pretty quickly.

NFS (ie Unix-y) networks require that uids are managed centrally, but
SMB networks will not, nor will (I suspect) AppleShare-based ones.

Cheers,

Chris
 
D

Dave Provine

Chris said:
A more likely situation is where you're using the standard OS install
to set up a local user account for someone; that will get the uid of
501. Then you set the machine up with your file server... You can
immediately see that you'll get the same uid assigned to different
people pretty quickly.

NFS (ie Unix-y) networks require that uids are managed centrally, but
SMB networks will not, nor will (I suspect) AppleShare-based ones.

Cheers,

Chris
Click to expand...

Yes, Chris, you are correct. The first local user on every OS X machine
is UID 501. So unless everyone is using network logins, which is quite
uncommon in smaller places, the problem comes up. It never, ever
happens where network logins are used or where everyone auths against
AD, since their UID is based on the server, and therefore must be
unique.

John, the users are NOT logging into the server with their local UID.
They login with their server UID, but since they logged into their
personal Mac with a local account, their UID as far as Word understands
is 501, and that's the UID it uses to name the temp files directory.
Does that clear it up for you?
 
J

John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]

Hi Dave:

Got it! Thanks :)

Sorry, I'm a PC user who got lost in here. PCs won't easily let you do that
-- they attempt to pass the local machine login back to the server, and if
it's not unique they get spat out at that point.

So Beth: Yes, I would add this to our growing saga on the website, and
include the extra information Dave just provided, for the ignorant like me!

{Writes 100 lines} I *will* learn UNIX. I *will* learn UNIX....

Cheers

Yes, Chris, you are correct. The first local user on every OS X machine
is UID 501. So unless everyone is using network logins, which is quite
uncommon in smaller places, the problem comes up. It never, ever
happens where network logins are used or where everyone auths against
AD, since their UID is based on the server, and therefore must be
unique.

John, the users are NOT logging into the server with their local UID.
They login with their server UID, but since they logged into their
personal Mac with a local account, their UID as far as Word understands
is 501, and that's the UID it uses to name the temp files directory.
Does that clear it up for you?
Click to expand...

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410
 
P

Paul Berkowitz

It's one of those issues (there are several) where Word Mac has not yet
adapted itself to the multi-user environment of OS X and still goes on as it
used to back in OS 8. (Having a single Templates folder by default in
/Applications instead of in the user's MUD folder or somewhere else in the
~/user sector is another.) I'm pretty sure this will get sorted out properly
in the next major version. But until then...

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.

From: "John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]" <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.mac.office.word
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 07:51:47 +1000
Conversation: Word "save to server" bug solved
Subject: Re: Word "save to server" bug solved

Hi Dave:

Got it! Thanks :)

Sorry, I'm a PC user who got lost in here. PCs won't easily let you do that
-- they attempt to pass the local machine login back to the server, and if
it's not unique they get spat out at that point.

So Beth: Yes, I would add this to our growing saga on the website, and
include the extra information Dave just provided, for the ignorant like me!

{Writes 100 lines} I *will* learn UNIX. I *will* learn UNIX....

Cheers

Chris said:
On 2006-06-25 13:32:17 +0100, "John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word
Macintosh]" <[email protected]> said:

Hi Dave:

That looks interesting :)

But I do not understand: Under what circumstances would a user log in to
the
server with a User ID the same as another user?

I can't imagine a network administrator setting things up that way. Am I
missing something here?

A more likely situation is where you're using the standard OS install
to set up a local user account for someone; that will get the uid of
501. Then you set the machine up with your file server... You can
immediately see that you'll get the same uid assigned to different
people pretty quickly.

NFS (ie Unix-y) networks require that uids are managed centrally, but
SMB networks will not, nor will (I suspect) AppleShare-based ones.

Cheers,

Chris
Click to expand...

Yes, Chris, you are correct. The first local user on every OS X machine
is UID 501. So unless everyone is using network logins, which is quite
uncommon in smaller places, the problem comes up. It never, ever
happens where network logins are used or where everyone auths against
AD, since their UID is based on the server, and therefore must be
unique.

John, the users are NOT logging into the server with their local UID.
They login with their server UID, but since they logged into their
personal Mac with a local account, their UID as far as Word understands
is 501, and that's the UID it uses to name the temp files directory.
Does that clear it up for you?
Click to expand...

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410
Click to expand...
 
E

Elliott Roper

Paul Berkowitz said:
It's one of those issues (there are several) where Word Mac has not yet
adapted itself to the multi-user environment of OS X and still goes on as it
used to back in OS 8. (Having a single Templates folder by default in
/Applications instead of in the user's MUD folder or somewhere else in the
~/user sector is another.) I'm pretty sure this will get sorted out properly
in the next major version. But until then...
Click to expand...

I do agree. I'd like to add that "solved" appears to be used rather
loosely here.

"Worked-around" would be better.
 
C

Chris Ridd

I do agree. I'd like to add that "solved" appears to be used rather
loosely here.

"Worked-around" would be better.
Click to expand...

"Thought about" would be a good start!

Cheers,

Chris
 
P

Phillip M. Jones, CE.T.

Paul said:
It's one of those issues (there are several) where Word Mac has not yet
adapted itself to the multi-user environment of OS X and still goes on as it
used to back in OS 8. (Having a single Templates folder by default in
/Applications instead of in the user's MUD folder or somewhere else in the
~/user sector is another.) I'm pretty sure this will get sorted out properly
in the next major version. But until then...
Click to expand...

Yeah Righhhhht! Sure it will!!!!!! Maybe when the cow jumps over the
moon, that's mad out of Green cheese. ;-)

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto:p[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads

Word "save to server" bug solved 0
Word Hangs on Save to Server (not the known issue) 1

Top