MSOffice not responding when saving on mapped drive

[Derude]

Someone please help I’ve been having a issue lately with a mapped drive on our sever, what happens is that people have been reporting that ms word and ms excel have been not responding while accessing it through a mapped network drive connected to a 2008 server. Once they open it over the mapped drive the file continuously hangs and when they create a file locally and try and save it to the mapped drive it freezes with no response the second they try to save as. I’ve looked everywhere over the internet and have tried so much with no luck whatsoever, but I have discovered that the only way of fixing this issue temporarily is to create a shortcut on the desktop to the server’s files.. Besides that all I can do is reformat the PC and not even that permanently fixes it since the PC did the issue all over again.

What to know:
-Word is still not responsive in safe mode
-It only happened to 5 – 10 people on a network of 50 or so
-It only happened on Windows 7 Professional
-Running office 2007 professional and standard
-Also happens on 2003
-Mapped drive is connected to 2008 server
-Anti virus is WebRoot Secure Anywhere
-It happens on Pc’s that have not yet been updated (Windows and Office updates)
-Creating shortcuts to drive on desktop fixes it
-Fresh install fixes it (temporarily)
-All other files work ex: JPEG,PDF…

What I’ve done so far:
-Tried windows 2003 instead of 2007
-Tried not installing Webroot after a fresh install
-Disconected and reconnected mapped drive
-removed all add-ins in word
-Did a repair on word and on windows
-Uninstalled word and re-installed it
-Viewed logs and all it said is application did not respond and had no further details
-Tried different drivers for the network Nic
-Uninstalled Compatibility pack for office
-Uninstalled
-Made sure I tried updates Via internet and not only WSUS
- Prevented word from validating by creating registry keys
-disabled windows indexing on PC

Please feel free to ask me any questions and I will try respond with as much detail as possible, anything will help. This problem has been driving me crazy and I need to find a solution fast.

 

[fabs]

Hi,
network issues often come from name resolving problems. If the network drive is mapped using the server's name instead of its IP address, you should look at the DNS configuration or the local hosts file if there is no DNS server in the company.

Another idea : faulty network cables or switch. What happens if you move one of those computers to an office where it works ?

 

[Derude]

Hey Fabs

The network is spread out between a total of 5 network closets, and these issues happen randomly not everyone in the same area experiences the issue. And in one particulate instance I took a PC experiencing the issue back to my office where our main hub is and it was still experiencing the issue.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Hey Fabs

The network is spread out between a total of 5 network closets, and these issues happen randomly not everyone in the same area experiences the issue. And in one particulate instance I took a PC experiencing the issue back to my office where our main hub is and it was still experiencing the issue.

But it is still on the same total network hardware and serviced by the same DNS servers when at your office correct?

 

[Derude]

Correct

 

[fabs]

Is there any disconnected network drive ? If so, unmapping them could solve the problem. Also, if there are active wired and wireless network connections, that can be good to switch off the wireless adapter

 

[Derude]

No there aren't any disconnected drives, I also tried disconnecting all drives and the problem was still there when I reconnect the one that the user was using.

 

[fabs]

No active Wi-Fi connections ?

 

[nlinecomputers]

Have you checked the event logs of the workstations AND your server providing DNS. I agree with FABS. This appears to be a name resolution problem. Like for example not getting DNS from your local AD/DNS servers. You can see this problem frequently if you don't use the server for local DNS.

 

[Mainstay]

Do the files themselves have any linked references to other sheets?

Does this happen on a blank, perfectly empty file?

Can you set your network location to be a "trusted source" (in Word / Excel)?

In Internet Options, have you set your security >> local intranet to include that server name / ip address?

If using network names, try using static IP address (I agree, there could be a reverse dns lookup issue).

Are there ANY other network devices that may be failing to respond when explorer goes to use it's save-as? (Word >> save as >> does a lookup in explorer, and failing devices there (or non-responding devices) will slow the speed down.

When you say "took it back to your office" do you mean a separate location?

How does it behave in a different environment?

 

[Derude]

when I look at the event logs what type of things should I look for to see if its a DNS problem ?

 

[nlinecomputers]

ANY errors. It may not be DNS but likely SOMETHING is being logged.

Properly working systems should have clean event logs. So anytime you have any problem you should be checking event logs. I am constantly amazed at how many techs fail to do this.

 

[HCHTech]

+1 on event log review. We do it on every machine - you'd be surprised at the amount of problems we've found because of stray errors in the logs that don't present otherwise. Just the other day, there was some damned HP service that was trying to call home every 30 seconds. All HP printers had been uninstalled ages ago. No visual clue at all, just an internet connection that wasn't acting quite right, just felt a little slow. No wonder.

 

[MobileTechie]

I remember an SBS 2008 client of mine having this problem a year or two ago and that one was related to SMB 2.0 which I had to turn off. That one only happened on certain Win7 machines for some reason.

http://www.axon-it.com/blog/2010/11...ork-share-on-sbs-2008-from-windows-7-clients/

And I had another one which turned out to be down to ESET which, as I remember, I had to stop from scanning certain folders.

 

[marley1]

DNS - probably not if the client is logging in fine probably not this

Webroot - is it scanning all touched files in Active Protection? I know with Vipre you turn this down

File Permissions - what type of permissions are on the share?

If it works in other programs do these users have any addon in the program?

You say fresh install fixes it temporarily, do you not have AV installed right away? Pings to server are fine?