Hi,

Scenario - Serveral Vista Ultimate users (IT Technicains) spread over Europe
who have a central repository for user account information, budgets, etc.
All excel files, all used frequently.

Technicains needs to have this information to hand 24/7 as are on call at
night.

With XP we simply set the folders to be available off line and let windows
manage the synchronisation. However with vista if we make the files
available off line on each laptop and the technicain is connected to the
network resource the machine is still using the cached copy of the files.
Thus if technicain A opens the file from the network and is modifying the
file, technician B can access the file also with change ability and we get
lots and lots of sync conflicts. (User B does not get the standard "this
file is in use by technicain A and so will be opened in a read only state")

Is this by design or can we force it to only use cached files when the
server is not avaiable? (Vista knows the server is available as under
offline status it is showing as Online. Also we have the "Work Offline"
option available).

Anyone else having this issue??

G

Hi,
If the files show up as online for both users, then the behavior should be
exactly the same as if offline files wasn't involved. It does seem like the
users might be going offline during the edits (which would cause conflicts -
as you mentioned in the blog comment.)
1. Is this a consistent repro for you? If that is the case, then we could
record useful information during the scenario to debug.
2. Are the technicians working over slow links? If so, do the machines have
Offline Files slow link policies enabled?
3. Is everything except the Vista clients same as your earlier XP scenario
(i.e. the same servers, the same xls files and the versions of MS Office)?

Thanks,
Shubhankar

"DaddyO" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Scenario - Serveral Vista Ultimate users (IT Technicains) spread over
Europe
who have a central repository for user account information, budgets, etc.
All excel files, all used frequently.

Technicains needs to have this information to hand 24/7 as are on call at
night.

With XP we simply set the folders to be available off line and let windows
manage the synchronisation. However with vista if we make the files
available off line on each laptop and the technicain is connected to the
network resource the machine is still using the cached copy of the files.
Thus if technicain A opens the file from the network and is modifying the
file, technician B can access the file also with change ability and we get
lots and lots of sync conflicts. (User B does not get the standard "this
file is in use by technicain A and so will be opened in a read only
state")

Is this by design or can we force it to only use cached files when the
server is not avaiable? (Vista knows the server is available as under
offline status it is showing as Online. Also we have the "Work Offline"
option available).

Anyone else having this issue??

G

Sounds like a possible slow-link issue. If they're all over Europe, it
seems likely that some of them have slow links, at least. Vista will, by
default, keep working from the local copy if the remote copy is slow.
Disable that in a GPO, and it should go over the link if the server is
available, even if it's slow.

"DaddyO" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Scenario - Serveral Vista Ultimate users (IT Technicains) spread over
Europe
who have a central repository for user account information, budgets, etc.
All excel files, all used frequently.

Technicains needs to have this information to hand 24/7 as are on call at
night.

With XP we simply set the folders to be available off line and let windows
manage the synchronisation. However with vista if we make the files
available off line on each laptop and the technicain is connected to the
network resource the machine is still using the cached copy of the files.
Thus if technicain A opens the file from the network and is modifying the
file, technician B can access the file also with change ability and we get
lots and lots of sync conflicts. (User B does not get the standard "this
file is in use by technicain A and so will be opened in a read only
state")

Is this by design or can we force it to only use cached files when the
server is not avaiable? (Vista knows the server is available as under
offline status it is showing as Online. Also we have the "Work Offline"
option available).

Anyone else having this issue??

G

Thanks for the pointers guys, heres more info...

1. We are testing vista in the same office, connected to a windows 2000
(advanced) file sever over a 100/1000 connection.
2. No infrastructure has changed, exactly the same servers, cabling, etc.
Only the two laptops have been upgraded to vista ultimate.
3. Replication of the issue is not a problem, it happens every time. Tests
we have run: (Laptop 1 and 2 are installed with Vista Ultimate, Laptop 3 is
a standard XP Professional machine fully patched)

i. We have a spreadsheet with users account data. Both laptops set this
folder to be made avaiable off line. Now if laptop 1 opens the document and
then we get laptop 2 to open the document. Laptop 2 opens the document
without any warning that it is in use.. Laptop 3 can also open the document
without any in use warnings.
ii. Laptop 3 opens the file. Again Laptops 1 and 2 can open the file also
without any warnings about bein in use.
iii. Laptop 2 removes the folder for "off line use". Laptop 3 opens the
file, laptop 2 opens the file but receives a warning about it being in use,
laptop 1 can open the file with no warnings.

(We have checked the "Allow chaching of files in this shared folder"
settings on the server and this is set to manual caching for documents)


The conclusion we are coming to is we are always using the cached files even
when explorer is working online. When a file which has been "Made available
offline" is opened its is always opening the cached file rather than the
server version...

Any help here would be appreciated..

See post replying to Michael Bishop.. Shows the steps we have taken and how
we can replicate this issue each time..

Many Thanks..

Hello,

I'm having the same problem as Daddy.
Did you find a solution for this problem?

Regards,

Pieter

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com

I also have the above described problems. Please, someone has a solution?

Many Thanks......

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com

As yet we have not found a resolution.

If you find something could you post a message here and I will do the same..

Sorry about the delay guys. I should have paid closer attention to your
original post. This is a known interop issue with Offline Files and xls
files.
..xls files are in something that Offline Files calls a "Sparse Exclusion
List." When such a file with an extension in the list is made available
offline and then opened simultaneously on two machines, it ends up going
offline on the first machine. This is why there is no sharing violation
message.
Unfortunately, the only remedies I can suggest are-
1. Don't make xls files available offline. The sharing semantics should work
fine if Offline Files is not involved.
2. Remove xls file from the sparse exclusion list. However this will mean
that in a sharing scenario, instead of going offline, the file will be
kicked out of the cache and will no longer be available offline.

Let me know if option 2 is something you want to try out and I can send you
instructions.

Thanks,
Shubhankar

"DaddyO" wrote in message
...
As yet we have not found a resolution.

If you find something could you post a message here and I will do the
same..

Many many thanks for the information Shubhankar,

This really is a show stopper for us as the majority of our shared
information within the IT team is kept in excel files. As a result we have
switched back to using windows XP for the meantime as this does not have this
issue.

Do you know if this is planned to be changed in any service packs or if the
same issue affects xlsx files also?

Best Regards

D