Program opens a file as read-only or returns a sharing violation or "access denied" message when opening from or saving to a network folder (328170)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional
This article was previously published under Q328170

SYMPTOMS

If you open a network folder in Windows Explorer and then try to open a file from or save a file to that folder, the associated program may report a sharing violation, return an "access denied" message, or open the document as read-only. Typically, this problem occurs when you open a network folder and then double-click to open a Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel file. The document opens as read-only.

CAUSE

This problem may occur when the Microsoft Windows XP Shell Column Handler reads the contents of the file in the network folder to obtain additional information, such as author or subject, at the same time that the associated program tries to open or save the file.

RESOLUTION

Service pack information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Windows XP. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322389 How to obtain the latest Windows XP service pack

Hotfix information

A supported fix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Apply it only to computers that are experiencing this specific problem. This fix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Windows XP service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

NOTE: In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The typical support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

The English version of this fix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.
   Date         Time   Version        Size       File name
   -------------------------------------------------------------------------
   15-Jan-2003  13:00  6.0.2800.1157  8,240,128  Shell32.dll

Note This is a client-side fix that must be installed on the computer that accesses the remote share.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, do the following:
  1. In Windows Explorer, open the network folder that contains the file that you are trying to open or save.
  2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
  3. Click Use Windows classic folders, and then click OK.
For testing purposes, you can rename the following registry key. This prevents the shell from opening the file and extracting the optional column information. Change the key from this key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\Shellex\ColumnHandlers\{24F14F01-7B1C-11d1-838f-0000F80461CF}

Use the following key instead:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\Shellex\ColumnHandlers\{24F14F01-7B1C-11d1-838f-0000F80461CF}-disable

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section. This problem was first corrected in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2.

MORE INFORMATION

By default, after the hotfix is installed, the Windows XP shell will no longer try to read the whole file to extract file attributes if the file is located on a UNC share, but the whole file may still be read if the data is on a mapped drive. The pop-up descriptions for folder and desktop items will show only the type, size, and date modified for files that are located on the network.

To display the additional column information, follow these steps:
  1. On the View menu, click Details.
  2. Right-click the column header, and then click to put a check mark next to the additional attributes that you want to appear.
If additional columns are displayed, there is a chance that problem that is described in this article may occur if the program tries to open the file exclusively at the same time that Windows Explorer is extracting the column data. To prevent the problem, do not display additional column information.

This hotfix also addresses issues with slow network performance on a wide area network (WAN) or saturated network. Because Explorer no longer opens the file remotely, network traffic is substantially reduced.

For additional information about how to resolve this problem on mapped drives, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

816627 TCP/IP Port Printing May Be Slow on Windows 2000

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/11/2005
Keywords:kbHotfixServer kbQFE kbQFE kbWinXPsp2fix kbenv kbbug kbfix kbWinXPpreSP2fix KB328170
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