Untangible » Microsoft

Long delay in Windows Explorer when opening files

EricPell — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:41:46 +0000

Over the past week my Windows desktop at work started acting up. When opening or right clicking any file that has a program associated to it I would experience up to a 30 second delay before the program launched or the right click menu opened. I scoured Google for an answer and all I found were others with the same problem. One person found that when they disabled their network card it would work fine. I tried that and had the same result. Checking the network properties I noticed that Virtual Machine Network Services was active on my network card.

This must be remains from a Virtual PC or VMWare install by the previous user. After un-checking the box everything is back to normal.

“File name or path doesn’t exist” Error While Saving in Excel

EricPell — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:24:29 +0000

Ran into a bit of a head scratcher this week in regards to network file permissions on an Excel spreadsheet. Department manager created a spreadsheet in a shared network folder that his employees had read access to. He wanted the employees to be able to update the spreadsheet so I gave their security group write level access to the file. The file would open for an employee okay but when the person tried to save the document the following error would trigger:

File name or path does not exist.
The file is being used by another program
The workbook you are trying to save has the same name as a currently open workbook.

I triple checked all the permissions to make sure I had everything correct. Checked the file server to see that the user did indeed have Read+Write access while they had the file open. Even checked the server logs to make sure there weren’t any security errors. Everything looked fine.

I then decided to look at the server log to see what it looked like when an admin opened and saved the file where I stumbled upon the answer. Excel is trying to create a .tmp file in the same folder the spreadsheet is in before it saves the spreadsheet. The user’s security group only had read access to the folder which resulted in the generic Excel save error.

I moved the spreadsheet to a subfolder and applied the same permissions to that folder and that did the trick.

Microsoft Releases Service Pack 2 Preview for Windows Vista and Server 2008

EricPell — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:05:32 +0000

UPDATE: SP2 is out

UPDATE: The evaluation period for Service Pack 2 has ended. Microsoft has a new page dedicated to SP2 which will be updated with download links to the update when it is officially released here.

If you’re a poor sap stuck on Windows Vista and would like first hand experience with the changes coming in Service Pack 2 it’s now available for public download. Microsoft has an open public preview available for the shared platform SP2 for Vista and Server 2008 and offer a few download options.

You can get it through Windows Update here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=18045534-BF27-4953-B907-764C4682714C&displaylang=en

Standalone downloads are also available.

ISO for Server 2008 x86/x64/ia64: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=0A3D7A63-46AF-4E04-AC8C-91B8BC476450

Self extracting EXEs:

x86 for Vista and Server 2008: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=DCA54ECC-362A-4B4D-B62B-22780E839A7E&displaylang=en

x64 for Vista and Server 2008: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=361D0CA3-4B2C-4F1C-8B3E-DE376FDB1DE8

IA64 for Server 2008: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9E77AE84-BB5A-4A3F-A481-68826B34C893

Microsoft warns that with these preview releases you may see “Evaluation Copy” on your desktop and at boot but this does not mean that your copy of Windows is no longer valid. You must also be running SP1 before installing this update.

Startup Script Batch File for Outlook Error "Can’t Create file: file.xxx. Right-click the folder….."

EricPell — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:16:00 +0000

Here is a very simple batch file that can be added to the network logon script in Active directory or simply in your startup folder in windows if you or your end users frequently run into this error:

@echo off ECHO Deleting Outlook 2003 temporary files cd %userprofile%/local settings/temporary internet files/olk* if errorlevel 1 goto end del *.* /s /f /q :end exit

Batch file available here. (right-click, save as)

This batch file will simply navigate to the current user’s temporary Outlook folder and delete all the files in the root and sub-folders. Just be careful you don’t miss the %userprofile% variable, otherwise that command will delete all the files that happen to be in the current folder which is probably just the root of the user profile.

Original post found here.

Update 1/6/2009: Big thanks to Mark suggesting some error handling to make sure you don’t accidentally wipe the current directory if the change directory command doesn’t take place. I’ve updated the code snippet and example batch file with his suggestions.

Free iTunes card with the purchase of a Zune?

EricPell — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:33:00 +0000

I found this in a Meijer ad. I don’t think anyone informed their marketing team that your DRM encoded iTunes songs won’t play in your new Microsoft Zune. Thanks for the offer but 1600 Microsoft Points would have been a much better fit.

Outlook Error – Out of memory or system resources.

EricPell — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:05:00 +0000

Today I came across a new error in Outlook 2003. I had a search result set pulled up in my inbox of 700+ items and then tried to move one folder into another. I was prompted with the following error: Can’t move the items. Out of memory or system resources. Close some windows or programs and try again.

Here is another vague Outlook message but at least with this one most people would try closing Outlook and opening it again and the move will then work. Or you can simply close your search results in Outlook and perform the move without error.

0×80070643 Error in Windows Update for Outlook 2003

EricPell — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 03:22:00 +0000

Do you have some Office related updates from Windows Update that just won’t install? Check your system log and see if it’s error 0×80070643.

This cryptic message is Window’s way of telling you it needs the installation source media. This happens if you choose to remove the installation temp files at the end of the Office 2003 installer. Just put the CD or DVD in your drive and run the updates again. They will now properly apply and you can get rid of that annoying yellow update notification in your task bar.

RROD Xbox 360 Spied at Wal-Mart

EricPell — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:59:00 +0000

Poor thing, just sitting there all alone, ignored by the Wal-Mart staff. Can someone please call Microsoft and get this lonely fella a new heart?

Exchange Extension 80004005 Error on Child Domain

EricPell — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:35:00 +0000

When trying to edit user profiles on an Active Directory child domain the action would cause the Users and Computers MMC interface to hang before displaying the following Exchange Extension error: “The operation failed. ID no: 80004005 Microsoft Active Directory – Exchange Extension”. Clicking OK then opens the profile without the Exchange tabs.

This is caused by the way the Exchange snap-in looks for the DC of the child domain. Instead of using the FQDN it’s trying to resolve the host name. For example if your parent domain is contoso.com and the child domain is sales.contoso.com with a Domain Controller of DC1.sales.contoso.com make sure you can resolve DC1 without the domain suffix. If you are using WINS then add it to your WINS server, if you are straight DNS then add a HOSTS entry on your local machine resolving to the IP of the child domain DC.