Offline Files

[Jeffrey S. Sparks]

I keep getting an error when trying to sync offline files. "The process
cannot access the file because it is being used by another process."

I have never been able to get offline files to work in Vista (business
edition) but it worked fine in XP pro? These are just documents from a
variety of different sources. I can see the files and folders listed
offline but can't actually open them offline.
They are stored on a windows 2003 SBS Server.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jeff

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

I'm checking on this for you with the Offline Files team.

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

The error you're seeing is self-explanatory--something is holding the file
open. What file is it?

When you say that you can't actually open files offline, do you get an
error? What happens exactly?

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

Does the server happen to be a NAS device?

 

[Jeffrey S. Sparks]

No, it's a server (asus tusl Motherboard, 1 gb ram, raid array, etc) running
Windows small business server 2003.

 

[Jeffrey S. Sparks]

The network share is on a server called alpha for which I have full control
of this folder:

\\alpha\home_folders$\jssparks

I mapped the share to my laptop as drive z:

I right clicked on documents, selected location and chose z: and elected to
move all of the files.

I then turned on offline files for that folder after which it says preparing
files so they are always available offline.

I get a TON of errors (like 543 errors) saying the same thing for every
single file. "The process cannot access the file because it is being used
by another process."

When I looked at the offline files control panel applet (control panel >
Networking > Offline files) It shows the correct amount of space being used.
When I'm offline I can see all the folders and files in explorer but when I
try to open one it says the file is currently unavailable for use on this
computer. I get the same error no matter which file i try to open while
offline. They are a variety of type of documents (word 2003, excel, pdf,
tif, gif files, etc...)

Jeff

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

I'm checking with the Offline Files team. I've seen reports of this error
for a NAS server but not SBS.

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows file and storage technologies? Visit our
team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

Here's what we think is happening. When you redirect your My Documents
folder, those files are automatically cached (made available offline).
Because you then try to mark them available as offline, we think these two
sync operations are fighting each other for access to the files. You
shouldn't need to mark them available as offline--just let folder
redirection complete. Normally the "always available offline" option in the
UI is disabled when the folder is pinned by Folder Redirection. If you were
able to select it we suspect that folder redirection hadn't yet pinned it
(race condition).

Let me know if this works for you.

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows file and storage technologies? Visit our
team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.

 

[Jeffrey S. Sparks]

Ok, i started out with the documents in my documents folder on my laptop. I
deleted the Mapped drive to the server folder and then told it to move the
documents folder to \\alpha\home_folders$\jssparks.

It moved them, synced and there were no errors. However, the files are
still not available offline. If I select "work offline" or just unplug the
network cable all of the icons for the files grey out and won't open.

Jeff

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

How long are you waiting following the redirection? It takes time for those
files to be added to the cache. The progress of that redirection sync is
not reported through Sync Center.

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows file and storage technologies? Visit our
team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.

 

[Jeffrey S. Sparks]

It's been a couple of hours now...

Jeff

How long are you waiting following the redirection? It takes time for
those files to be added to the cache. The progress of that redirection
sync is not reported through Sync Center.

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

Want to learn more about Windows file and storage technologies? Visit our
team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

OK, it's been a couple hours and I assume it's still not working, correct?


--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows file and storage technologies? Visit our
team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.

 

[Jeffrey S. Sparks]

Correct. I actually let it sit all afternoon and it still isn't working
correctly. Same as before just no errors in sync center now.

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

OK, I'll go back to the developers with this.

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows file and storage technologies? Visit our
team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

Jeffrey, are you running AV software? Try disabling it and seeing if that
makes a difference.

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows file and storage technologies? Visit our
team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

A couple more questions:

What edition of Vista are you running?

There is a Group Policy that keeps Folder Redirection from pinning (caching)
redirected folders. Do you have any way of checking whether this policy is
enabled?

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows file and storage technologies? Visit our
team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.

 

[Jeffrey S. Sparks]

What group policy are you referring too? I am the system administrator and
can check. I am trying to disable offline files and basically start over
from scratch to see if that works. I am using Avast Antivirus and will try
to start offline files with it disabled.

Jeff

 

[Jeffrey S. Sparks]

I tried starting from scratch and am getting the original error again "The
process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process."

I disabled offline file sharing, redirected the documents folder to the
"default location" (it asked me if i wanted to move the files I said no so
ended up with an empty documents folder) and rebooted. I then enabled
offline file sharing and rebooted again. I mapped a drive to the share on
the server and called it z: and then clicked make available offline on the
properties page of the share (z while it was syncing i noticed these
errors again. Avast antivirus was disabled immediately after rebooting.

jeff

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

Here's the group policy:

User Config -> Admin Templates -> System -> Folder Redirection -> Do not
automatically make redirected folders available offline


Note that this is a "global" switch applying to all redirected folders


Let me know whether this GP is enabled. I will also pass along your latest
findings.

 

[Jeffrey S. Sparks]

It says "Not Configured"

Jeff

Here's the group policy:

User Config -> Admin Templates -> System -> Folder Redirection -> Do not
automatically make redirected folders available offline


Note that this is a "global" switch applying to all redirected folders


Let me know whether this GP is enabled. I will also pass along your latest
findings.

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

Want to learn more about Windows file and storage technologies? Visit our
team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.