Canot save Word 2007 files to server. WordReports " *.doc is busy. Try again later. "

[Naughty_Nigel]

I am not too sure if I have posted this in the right forum, but the problem concerns a 2008 R2 server, so here goes:

 

We are currently having problems saving Word 2007 files onto our Windows 2008 R2 Standard server. Excel files sometimes cause the same problem. This has happened in the past and then resolved itself after an hour or so, but this time it hasn't gone away.

 

The Word files open normally, although sometimes much slower than you would expect for a 150 to 500 KB file.

 

However, when we come to save the files everything seems to come to a halt. If we use 'Save', Word stops responding for a few moments before resuming.

 

Next there is a bar graph display showing progress, (usually only seen when saving much larger files). This process can take anything up to about thirty seconds for a typical 150 KB letter file.

 

Finally, Word displays an error message saying "X:\folder\sub folder\letter.doc is currently in use. Try again later."

 

If we try to save the file with a new file name exactly the same thing happens, (with the 'Save As' dialogue box not responding for a few seconds before resuming).

 

Sometimes we can save the file with a new name once, but cannot save it again unless we also change the file name again.

 

There seem to be several common factors here:

 

Firstly; this applies to all clients on the network, and all Word (and Excel) files kept on it.

 

Secondly, the files (or their file names) are saved, but with zero file length. (If we open these files there is just a blank page; which is very worrying!)

 

Thirdly, it doesn't seem to matter which network drive we use on the 2008 R2 server, or which folder.

 

Fourthly, we can save files to a local drive, and then copy them to the original folder on network drive without any problems at all, (even when using the same file name).

 

As an experiment, I have also been able to save the files to a test server (a spare W7 x64 workstation) that I set up for the purpose.

 

Finally; this only seems to affect MS Office files. Other files, such as Adobe Photoshop and In Design files, which are much, much bigger, are unaffected.

 

Having searched various online forums this seems to be a very common problem, affecting several generations of MS Office and MS Server, but nobody seems to have found any solutions.

 

Does anyone here have any ideas, as I have the feeling I might be spending the weekend with a stack of installation disks, and I would far rather know what the problem is first?

 

 

Best regards,

 

Nigel.

[VeryPC_Tom_M]

Hi Nigel,

 

Have you read this thread on TechNet? Unable Save Office Files to Network

 

One fix seems to be disabling SMB, however some problems are related to be 3rd Party software.

 

Certainly seems like a good starting point however

[Naughty_Nigel]

Thanks Tom.

 

That sounds like a possible answer. I will try disabling SMB on the server first to see what happens, as our W7 test server seems to work perfectly well, so it seems the problem isn't in the workstations.

 

I wonder; is there a possibility that the SMB service could have been corrupted somehow, as it hasn't been as obstinate as this previously?

 

I do have a disk image of the server's OS drive somewhere, (created immediately after a fresh install), so I might just try restoring that.

 

Nigel.

[mac_shinobi]

Disabling SMB presumably means you Disbaling SMB Signing ( As per the petri link which is how to disable SMB Signing version 2 ) as apposed to how you would normally disable smb signing either via GPO or local security policies ?