Samba server not handleding Powerpoint files correctly

Hi,

Has anyone had problems before opening Powerpoint files from windows PCs that are hosted on a Samba server? ( Centos 5.6 x86_64 , Samba version 3.5.4-0.83.el5_7.2 )

I do not have problems opening them from Linux PCs or OpenSources software like OpenOffice or LibreOffice, however, if someone opens the file from MS Powerpoint and then somebody else try to open it, they can't ( file already in use by another user ) and the last user that used it either. It looks like Powerpoint changes something on the Timestamp/owner of the file but I don't know what. If that file then is opened from OpenOffice, it can be opened but as read-only.

I have tried changing some parameters on the smb.conf ( dos filetimes = yes, oplocks = yes, level2 oplocks = yes ), but everything remains the same. I can not understand it as it only happens with powerpoint files opened from MS Powerpoint.

I hope it make sense. Any help would be really appreciated!

Many thanks,

Hi,

We have had problems with Word documents being opened from Samba, things we changed where the permissions on the folder where the documents are stored and also the biggie for us was that make sure when the powerpoint file is saved directly to the samba share rather than saved on a PC then copied accross.

So Open the ppt and save it directly to Samba, if you've already done this then check the permissions on the file and on the folder on Samba, also make sure the User Account which is accessing Samba has the right access and is in the right group.

Thank you for the reply.

I've checked the permissions and everything seems to be fine. Even having 777 permissions on that file or/and folder fails.

However, I found that using "smbstatus -u | grep filename", the file stays locked even when I close it from the client. If I kill this process, everything seems to be working again until I modify the file again and it gets locked for everyone ( including myself ).

29529 11170 DENY_NONE 0x82 WRONLY NONE "ShareFolder" "File"

When using Word or even other applications like LibreOffice or OO, everything works fine.

I can not understand it...

Well, to be more precise. It only happens when using MS PowerPoint 2003. Using 2007 works fine.

I have uninstalled MS Updates just in case, but without much luck.