OL2000 "system cannot find the file specified" when sending attach

[Guest]

I get the error "System cannot find the file specified" when I try to send an
attachment through OL 2000 and XP system. I recently reformatted the HD for
some other problems and reinstalled everything.

The error is shown off and on - kind of seems like every other time. When it
doesn't happen a file gets sent but the file empty. For example I send a
complete ppt file but when it's received it's an empty ppt file. I don't know
what all files it happens with; at least xls and ppt files. I can attach
files from within Outlook or copy them in; both the same problem.

Sending via Outlook Express seems to work fine. I've done a "detect and
repair' in Outlook. I've scanned for viri.

Any ideas?
thanks, Kozmo

 

[Guest]

Kozmo here again. No resolution and getting more frustrated. Here are some
more clues:
The "System cannot find the file specified" error happens regardless of the
size or type of file I attache. Before I send, I can open the attachment in
the email and it is there and complete.

The error happens the first time I send an attachment. When I send again
the message is sent. When the message is received it is empty. The file is
attached to the received message with the correct name. I save it and it's
size is 0 bytes. I open a mailed xls file and it has the tabs but no data.

 

[F.H. Muffman]

The "System cannot find the file specified" error happens regardless
of the size or type of file I attache. Before I send, I can open the
attachment in the email and it is there and complete.

The error happens the first time I send an attachment. When I send
again the message is sent. When the message is received it is empty.
The file is attached to the received message with the correct name. I
save it and it's size is 0 bytes. I open a mailed xls file and it has
the tabs but no data.

Are you able to open the attachment that is sitting in your sent items?
Do you have any Outlook Add-ins installed?
What antivirus software(s) are you running?

 

[Brian Tillman]

I get the error "System cannot find the file specified" when I try to
send an attachment through OL 2000 and XP system. I recently
reformatted the HD for some other problems and reinstalled everything.

Sounds like a permissions issue to me.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your interest;
The attachment appears on the email in the sent items folder. I can open it
but it's empty. Something I hadn't noticed before; for mail that was received
at the other end, an xls file has just one tab but the tab is named the file
name rather than what it was named in the original file. There is no other
formatting or content. The item is complete when I open it before I send it.

For addins I have "Net Folders" (don't know what that is) and "itunes
outlook addin".
I deactivate both of those and there is no change.

I have McAfee Security Center on. I have temporarily shut off the firewall
and "scan outgoing emails" with no change.

 

[Guest]

I'm not sure what "permissions" means. Do you mean XP file and folder
permissons or is it something in Outlook? The files I'm trying to email are
in folders that have no special permissions set in XP. The folders are set to
share on my LAN.

thanks for any ideas.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I'm not sure what "permissions" means. Do you mean XP file and folder
permissons or is it something in Outlook?

The former.

The files I'm trying to
email are in folders that have no special permissions set in XP. The
folders are set to share on my LAN.

The symptoms you describe seem consistent to me with Outlook not being able
to access the attachments. Can you open them with their original
application?

 

[F.H. Muffman]

The former.


The symptoms you describe seem consistent to me with Outlook not
being able to access the attachments. Can you open them with their
original application?

And I'd add can you attach files that are in a different location, like,
say, your desktop?

 

[Guest]

F.H. and Brian; thanks for your help. Answers to your questions:

Yes, I can open these from the initial application. I can also open them by
clicking on them from within the email before it is sent, or by Windows
Explorer.

When it's received on the other end and saved, it's size is zero.

I copied files to my desktop and tried to send. No difference.

I've done a detect and repair of Office. Should I uninstall and reinstall
Office?

Kozmo

 

[Guest]

I just discovered that the problem also happens when I forward an email with
an attachment or an embedded image.

 

[F.H. Muffman]

I just discovered that the problem also happens when I forward an
email with an attachment or an embedded image.

Could you go to the
hkey_current_user\Software\Microsoft\Office\12\Outlook\Security key and see
what the value is for the OutlookSecureTempFolder key? Could you make sure
that directory exists, is on a drive with space and you have sufficient
permissions to that directory?

 

[Guest]

There is not a
hkey_current_user\Software\Microsoft\Office\12\Outlook\Security key registry
folder. There is no "12" folder, just
hkey_current_user\Software\Microsoft\Office\8, ...9, ...Access, ...Common,
....Outlook, and ...Word.

I search for "security key" "OutlookSecureTempFolder" and find nothing.

On another machine with similar setup (same versions XP and Office 2000) I
find OutlookSecureTempFolder key in
hkey_current_user\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook\Security. That and
about a dozen other registry folder do not exist on the machine with the
problem.

 

[F.H. Muffman]

There is not a
hkey_current_user\Software\Microsoft\Office\12\Outlook\Security key
registry folder. There is no "12" folder, just
hkey_current_user\Software\Microsoft\Office\8, ...9, ...Access,
...Common, ...Outlook, and ...Word.

Sorry, I was in Outlook 2007 mode, forgot it was Outlook 2000.

I search for "security key" "OutlookSecureTempFolder" and find
nothing.

On another machine with similar setup (same versions XP and Office
2000) I find OutlookSecureTempFolder key in
hkey_current_user\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook\Security.
That and about a dozen other registry folder do not exist on the
machine with the problem.

Detect and Repair. That should replace the registry entries, but unless you
know what might have removed them, it could concievably happen again. Did
you do any form of XP System Restore or restore from a backup that might
have over-written the registry?

 

[Guest]

F.H., Good call on the XP restore and backup recovery. I did a restore before
I reformatted the HD and then did a backup recovery of Outlook settings after
I reinstalled Office. No go on the Detect and Repair though. I ran it, it
said it was successful, but there is still no security folder in the registry
as the other machine has.

Any reason to not to an uninstall and reinstall at this point?

 

[F.H. Muffman]

F.H., Good call on the XP restore and backup recovery. I did a
restore before I reformatted the HD and then did a backup recovery of
Outlook settings after I reinstalled Office. No go on the Detect and
Repair though. I ran it, it said it was successful, but there is
still no security folder in the registry as the other machine has.

Any reason to not to an uninstall and reinstall at this point?

Might as well.

 

[Kozmo]

I did an uninstall and reinstall. Still no go. I don't get it (obviously). I
wonder if the reinstall is refusing to correct the registry folders because
it sees they are already there, even if they aren't right. I wonder if I can
do something like uninstall - registry clean - reinstall or just create the
registries manually (that's scary).

 

[Kozmo]

I've done some more work on this to no avail - I still need help. The
original thread has scrolled off my headers so I'll start a new thread
titled "Can't send attachments - 'The system cannot find the file specified"
or something like that depending on how long the subject can be.

Kozmo

I did an uninstall and reinstall. Still no go. I don't get it (obviously).
I wonder if the reinstall is refusing to correct the registry folders
because it sees they are already there, even if they aren't right. I wonder
if I can do something like uninstall - registry clean - reinstall or just
create the registries manually (that's scary).