Server2003/XP file locks

[Morphius143]

I hope someone can help as I am struggling to find solutions for this....

At work we are running a 2k3 R2 file server and 90% XP clients with some vista. We are noticing two problems as below which I am sure are linked...

Problem One: When opening a word/excel etc document from the shared drives it will say the file is open and locked for editing when it isnt. Closing the prompt then opening the file again causes it to open perfectly.

Problem Two: When opening a word/excel document from the shared drives it will say it is in use and read only (which on these occasions it is) but it will say the wrong name as the person who has it open (the name comes randomly from anyone who has opened it, not the author, owner or last saver)

Any ideas?

[Renesis13B]

Open up Computer Management on the server and open Shared Folders > Open Files. If they show open there then something is opening and locking them. Check to see if a backup is running or possibly an antivirus software.

I would double check the share and file system permissions as well even though it doesnt seem like that would be the problem. Check the licensing on the server as well.

[Morphius143]

Now I hadnt seen this problem until I started here... If a file is owned by userA, userB has the file open... when userA attempts to open the file it shows that userA (the owner) has the file open not userB who does...

Any Ideas? I have checked the open files window and it shows the user has it open there?

Is our fileserver truly going crazy?

[TechieSooner]

If a file is owned by userA, userB has the file open... when userA attempts to open the file it shows that userA (the owner) has the file open not userB who does...

What? Why would that make any sense?

If user A has it opened- it shows user A has it opened.
If user B has it opened- it shows user B has it opened.

Has nothing to do with the owner.


Now, I've seen cases where the name doesn't come across (so you have no idea who is in it), but I haven't cared enough to troubleshoot it before.

[Morphius143]

Tell me about it. I have never seen a server get so confused about which user has the file open as this one does... of course I have opted to take the Sys Admins way out..... Replace the server. (in my defence we have maxed out the capacity and so an upgrade was planned anyway).

If anyone at all has any suggestions on things to try they would be gratefully received.

We are not entirely convinced that the owner is always shown as having it open, but it seems to be that way most of the time and I am getting sick hearing about this fault from staff members. Would be nice if it was consistant, and the Open Files in COMPMGNT showed the same as the dialog box does, but open files is always correct but office is wrong!

[Nasty_Savage]

This sounds like a duplex problem on your switches. Check to see you are not getting excessive collisions. you should set everything to autodetec and full duplex. This error has a tendency when there's a duplex mismatch, i.e., your computer/server is hard set to auto detect the settings and the switch is half duplex.