Disk Locked or Full.....

[Guest]

Just since yesterday one of my three networked computers refuses to let me
copy from or pase to a public folder. All three of my colmputers have a
folder called "Public_X" where "X" is the drive letter. I made each one of
them available through the Firewall (ZoneAlarm) and for the last year or so,
I have been able to freely move files around from one computer to another. I
have also been able to RUN files residing on one computer on the other two.
This is how I update Zonealarm and the like. But, just yesterday, I have
been getting (on the RECEIVING computer) "Windows cannot access the specified
device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to
access the item." When I try to Copy/Paste the file, I get this: "Cannot
copy <.....> : Access is denied. Make sure the disk is not full or
write-protected and that the file is not currently in use." I just cannot
get the file FROM the affected computer. What is wierd is that I can "push"
the file from the affected computer over to any of the other two computers
and run/edit/whatever it there. From any other computer I can also view any
directory/subdirectory on the affected computer -- I just cannot move/edit or
run it.

Windows XP Professional SP2 on all three - LAN is all DHCP through firewall
router and they are all in the same workgroup.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

If this is a truly a network problem I may not be able to help but here
are some suggestions.

You need to check most of this out on all three computers.

Your objective should be to achieve15% to 20% free space on each and
every drive / partition! The more the better. However, remember
that further Windows Updates will bring that down again.

To investigate how you are using hard disk space you need to make sure
that you can see all files. Go to Start, Control Panel, Folder
Options, View, Advanced Settings and verify that the box before "Show
hidden files and folders" is checked and "Hide protected operating
system files " is unchecked. You may need to scroll down to see the
second item. You should also make certain that the box before "Hide
extensions for known file types" is not checked. Next in Windows
Explorer make sure View, Details is selected and then select View,
Choose Details and check before Name, Type, Total Size, and Free Space.

You still will not see the System Volume Information folder and Norton
Protected Storage ( if you have it? ).
How to Gain Access to the System Volume Information Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309531

Download Dirsize.dll plug-in and place the file in Windows\System32
folder. Select Start, Run and type "regsvr32 dirsize.dll" without the
quotes and hit ENTER. Next in Windows Explorer open a folder and set it
to Detail view. From the View menu, click Choose Details. Put a
checkmark near Folder Size, and click OK. Use CTRL and + key ( Numeric
Keypad ) combination to resize the column width, so that the Folder Size
column is displayed correctly. To apply this setting for all the
folders, click Tools, Folder Options. In the View tab and click Apply to
all folders. You can download Dirsize from:
http://markd.mvps.org/

You can most likely create extra free space by a number of measures.

You can limit the disk space used by System Restore. Right click on the
My Computer icon on your Desktop and select, Properties, System Restore,
Settings. This will give you the amount of Disk Space allocated to
System Restore in terms of % of size of Drive and megabytes or
gigabytes. The default maximum is 12%, which is often excessive. You can
move the slider to the left to reduce the size of the allocation. If you
give me the drive / partition size and free space for each partition in
which Windows XP resides to I can suggest allocations. Once the
allocated space is fully taken the oldest restore point is removed when
a new restore point is created ( or it should be ).

System Restore only needs to monitor the Windows XP partitions on each
machine ( if any machine has another version of Windows installed e.g.
Windows you need to say so that I can check out the implication for that
operating system. If you have System Restore monitoring removable drives
they should not be monitored.

Try Start, All Programmes, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp to
Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Delete all
but the most recent Restore Point ( Start, Programs, Accessories, System
Tools, Disk Cleanup, More options). Run Disk Defragmenter by selecting
Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter.

How are drives formatted -FAT32 or NTFS? To get this information whilst
in Windows Explorer place the cursor on the C drive, right click
and select Properties? More opportunities here depending on the answer.

Are you using any Norton software?

Given the nature of the problem you need to review the last few days of
the System and Application logs looking for Event Types "Error" and
"Warning. Most of these are difficult to interpret and so I suggest you
post copies here,

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Administrative Tools,
Event Viewer. When researching the meaning of the error, information
regarding Event ID, Source and Description are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;enus;308427&Product=winxp

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double
click on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a
button resembling two pages. Double click the button and close Event
Viewer. Now start your message(email) and do a paste into the body of
the message. This will paste the info from the Event Viewer Error Report
complete with links into the message. Make sure this is the first paste
after exiting from Event Viewer.

There are a number of areas which might be checked but there's more than
to start you off.


Hope this helps.

Gerry
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--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
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[Guest]

Sorry - I meant to add that one of the affected computer's drives is FAT32
and the other is NTFS. Both behave the same.

 

[Guest]

Disk space is not a problem. All of them have better than 37% free space.
One of them on the affected computer has over 85% free and still won't allow
me to copy from or paste to a shared folder. It's got to be something else.
The space availabel on the problem computer is not a factor when you try to
RUN an executable on the affected computer from another computer.

It will do this if I try to use shared folders, or as a mapped drive. By
that I mean that I mapped the C:\Public_C folder as drive M:\ on another
computer. I can browse the entire folder and it's sub-folders, but any
attempt to copy FROM or paste TO the mapped folder results in the same
errors. And, as I said, this just started yesterday -- before that I could
roam from computer to computer in my "Network Neighborhood" from any computer
to any other.

Bill

 

[Gerry Cornell]

What you are saying relates specifically to networking.

You might do better posting to one or both the following:
microsoft.public.windows.networking.wireless
microsoft.public.windowsxp.network_web

You give no details of any Event Viewer Error / Warning Report. Now
those we may be able to help with.

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
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Stourport, Worcs, England
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[Guest]

I also forgot to mention that there were no events in the Event Viewer other
than the normal "info" events - no warnings or errors.

Early this morning, on the affected computer, I created a new shared folder
and was completely able to move files from/to this folder. Attempts to do
the same thing with the old, original, folder failed as mentioned above. All
the attributes I could find for both folders appeared exactly the same
throughout. I "moved" all the files and subdirs from the old folder to the
newly created folder and my problem was gone. I was unable to delete one
file in the old folder as it was "still in use by another program". I
haven't a clue as to what program as nothing was running and the file was
only a .txt file. I think, somehow, this was the root cause of the problem -
a "hung" file.

I've been in this business for over 40 years and nothing surprises me any
more. Thanks, Gerry, for your help.

Bill