SMB for XP client on MacOS 9 server

[Ken Oates]

XP clients have trouble saving Word and Excel files to the MacOS9 server
with SMB enabled. The issue is:

a. Microsoft Word:

If working on a file created by Word on Mac, the PC appears to save the
file, but the application hangs, and the file is locked out to the user on
the Mac server. Requires user to unplug client PC network cable before able
to kill Word. If file has already been saved in Word for Windows (with .doc
extension) then the save appears to complete successfully, although Word
takes a while to close.

b. Microsoft Excel:

Similar issues to Word - generally cannot save, and even hangs when opening
a spreadsheet from the Mac server.

 

[Ken Oates]

Bill

The server runs MacOS 9.1 and ASIP 6.3.3.

The problem is not file name length, as the problem occurs with files
already saved by Mac clients, and therefore within the file name limits of
the Mac server.

I found the following posting at http://www.macwindows.com/ which seems
similar to our problem:

 

[William M. Smith]

Bill,

I had a similar problem which began when I installed SP3 on a Win2K PC, but
when I recently installed SP4 on the problem PC, Bingo! No more file saving
problems for Word or Excel.

Perhaps you could find out what they did in Win2K/SP4 to fix the SMB problem
for Word/Excel so that it can be replicated in WinXP?

Hi Ken!

Thank you for the followup. It led me to do some more searching and
eventually I found a similar problem responded to by another MVP, John
McGhie, in the microsoft.public.mac.office.word newsgroup.

Here's a Google Groups link:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=8vlp0voc89s
ludr99o72etv1io83d2f3i8%404ax.com.

In a nutshell, Microsoft acknowledges a problem with sp3 2000 and XP
machines working with servers running SMB (either Windows or Mac). The
problem was corrected in sp4 for 2000 (as you've already discovered).

The above link also points to KB article 329170, which has a download for a
patch.

Take a look at this and see if it can help you.

Good luck! bill