Problems with Outlook and Office Files

[Andy Jenkinson]

I operate a small office network with a desktop and laptop both running Vista
Business. The network includes a DNS-323 NAS drive connected via a Netgear
DGFV338 router. The NAs is configured in RAID1 format with two identical
Seagate hard drives.
The network was set up in September 2007 and ran fine until mid December
2009 when I began to have problems accessing files on the NAS drive. When
trying to open a Word, Excel or saved email file I get the "File In Use"
message saying the files is locked for editing by "another user" even though
it is not open elsewhere. See the screen shots in the attached file for the exact messages.

Saving a newly created file to the NAS drive is fine but if I then edit it
and try to save the changes I get a similar message just saying that the file
is currenlty in use. Try again later.

It is slightly different when I try to open an email that I have saved in
Outlook Message Format â Unicode which is: "cannot open file - may not exist
- may not have permission - or may be open in another program" The
propoerties show I do have permission and it is not open elsewhere.

The same problems also arise when trying to access a shared folder on the
desktop pc on the network.

I donâ t have problems opening jpg or pdf files it only seems to be Office
file formats that are affected.

[Jon Finley]

First, make sure that your Router firmware is up to current.

http://kb.netgear.com/app/products/model/a_id/2333

Same for the NAS device:
http://www.dlink.com/products/default.aspx?pid=DNS-323&tab=3

ftp://ftp.dlink.com/Multimedia/dns323/Firmware/dns323_firmware_107.zip

The problem may be more of a Vista problem than an Office problem.

I had to purchase a newer WAP in order for Vista 64 to be able to access the network (my older router that worked fine with XP and so so for Vista 32 couldn't handle vista 64bit).

Jon

[Andy Jenkinson]

Jon,

Thanks for your reply and your questions. The firmware on the NAS is up to date. Probably not onthe router, but to check if that was the problem I replaced it with a different router and the problem continued. Just for info my Vista is 32 not 64but