Word and Excel show locked for editing by 'another user' when opened from File Explorer
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Wednesday, May 30, 2012 7:47 PM
Some of our users are having an issue where word and excel documents claim to be locked for editing when opened. The files are on a 2003 windows server and the server shows no open sessions to the file. The clients are running Windows 7 Pro with Office 2007 and Microsoft FEP for client protection. The problem is well described in this thread that seems abandoned:
If the user opens word or excel, they can use file/open to open the documents without issue. Anyone have an idea what might be causing this?
All Replies
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Thursday, May 31, 2012 3:11 AMModerator
Check if this will help:
"Unexpected File Lock by <user>" saving or opening shared workbooks on network location
Sincerely,Max Meng
Forum Support
Come back and mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.
If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tnmff@microsoft.com.- Edited by Max MengMicrosoft Contingent Staff, Moderator Thursday, May 31, 2012 3:13 AM
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Thursday, May 31, 2012 1:15 PMThanks for the reply Max. I viewed the post and the suggested fixes in 3 and 4 do not apply to our environment. I added a comment to that post.
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Monday, June 04, 2012 4:40 AMModeratorI'll try to involve someone familiar with this topic to further look at this issue.
Max Meng
TechNet Community Support
- Proposed As Answer by Max MengMicrosoft Contingent Staff, Moderator Wednesday, June 06, 2012 4:39 AM
- Unproposed As Answer by Max MengMicrosoft Contingent Staff, Moderator Wednesday, June 06, 2012 4:39 AM
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Wednesday, June 06, 2012 4:41 AMModerator
Quote:
There is a public blog on file locking issues (http://blogs.technet.com/b/the_microsoft_excel_support_team_blog/archive/2012/05/14/the-definitive-locked-file-post.aspx). I would suggest the following:
If you are seeing problems where the file is locked when double clicking from Windows Explorer, but the files open up correctly when opened in Excel or Word, do the following:
Turn off the Preview Pane, Details Pane and pop ups that show information about file and desktop itemsThis is a problem that has been reported to affect Windows 7 clients only, not Windows XP. The problem here may have something to do with the Windows Explorer in Windows 7. We are currently investigating this further and will post more information as it is available.
In a Windows Explorer window, do the following:1. Right click on the Start Button.
2. Click 'Open Windows Explorer'.
3. At the top left click Organize > Layout
4. Uncheck Details Pane and Preview Pane.5. On a Windows menu, click on Tools > Folder Options. In the box that opens up, click on the View tab. Scroll down the list to “Show pop-up description for folder and desktop items” and clear the checkbox and then click OK.
If you are seeing issues where the wrong user name is showing up, there is a known bug on that and a fix:In cases where the wrong user name is displayed in the file lock dialog
Sometimes where it says 'another user' it has the name of someone that didn't open the file or it has no name at all. Just a big ' ' where a name ought to be. Fear not, there is a fix for this problem. The flavor depends on whether you have Excel 2010 or Excel 2007. The below KB Articles contain hotfixes that address several issues, not just the file locked issue. But in the dialog of the article you will see this as one of the problem descriptions:
Assume that you have an .xls file that is protected by Information Rights Management (IRM) on a network share. When you open the file in Excel 2007, a File In Use dialog box appears. However, the dialog box does not display the correct name of the user who locked the file. Therefore, you cannot edit the file.
Understand that these fixes don't make the File in Use dialog go away, they just correct the problem of showing bogus user name information on the dialog itself.
Excel 2007 - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2598133
Excel 2010 - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2598143
Will Buffington
Microsoft Excel SupportMax Meng
TechNet Community Support
- Marked As Answer by bhstang65 Friday, June 08, 2012 9:35 PM
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Thursday, June 07, 2012 8:22 AMModerator
Hi,
Have you read my last reply?
Max Meng
TechNet Community Support
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Friday, June 08, 2012 9:37 PM
Turning off Preview and Details pane did the trick. I will be interested in the permenant fix when available.
Thanks for the info.
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Thursday, December 13, 2012 12:54 PM
Turning off Preview and Details pane did the trick. I will be interested in the permenant fix when available.
Thanks for the info.
Nice, same here! Thanks for the tip. -
Monday, December 17, 2012 4:32 PM
I needed to turn off Preview and Details Pane, as well as turning off "Show pop-up description for folder and desktop items", and that then allows these files to be opened with out the file locked message.
This is a workaround though; not a fix.
It's a bit of a pain this problem as I'm reluctant to deploy any more Windows 7 PCs until this is fixed properly. The affected Win7 PCs are fully patched, so I look forward to a fix for this problem very soon.
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Monday, March 18, 2013 9:37 PM
I had the same issue. I was able to fix it after coming across this:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2007-excel/weird-file-in-use-error-opening-excel-2007-files/887e002d-1158-4a0b-9de8-931e473469d8
I ran the registry fix from that forum and it is fixing all of the issues we have had with the same error. From what the forum says I think the user is locking the file for editing with the fist click, and when you try to open it with the second click you get the error.(a bug with Windows explorer/ Excel)
I hope it works for you too.
Jason
Here is the regedit:Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"ShowInfoTip"=dword:00000000
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Modules\GlobalSettings\Sizer]
"PreviewPaneSizer"=hex:35,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,bd,02,00,00
"ReadingPaneSizer"=hex:04,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,64,02,00,00- Proposed As Answer by Under Zero Monday, March 18, 2013 9:37 PM
- Edited by Under Zero Monday, March 18, 2013 9:39 PM
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