Word 2003 cannot save files to http://host/site/folder/file.doc

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Gemma M - 23 Feb 2006 13:42 GMT

Hi,

I have an Intranet Web site which generates an HTML document on the
server-side, and then, on the client-side, runs MS Word, which opens this
HTML document, adds some Word formatting, prints it, and then saves it (via
the http://host/site/folder/file.doc from which it was received).

Now, here's the problem. On all IIS servers, bar one, this process works.
On one server, it will not save Word documents using http url address file
names.

We have checked directory security, IIS Web site security; compared security
and IIS settings with a working machine; and we've tried
allowing/disallowing anonymous access. We've had no success. The file will
not save.

The error, on this one machine, which has no distinguishing features, when
attempting to save a Word document this way is

"Documents in this folder are not available. The folder may have been moved
or deleted, or network problems may be preventing a connection to the
server"

If someone can give me some pointers as to what I should look for. There
are so many places and things that have permissions and security (not to
mention inheritance), and we've compared all the ones we can think of
between the one duff machine and all the working machines.

Now I'm desparate!
Gem

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Tom Kaminski [MVP] - 23 Feb 2006 14:46 GMT

> Hi,
>
[quoted text clipped - 23 lines]
> mention inheritance), and we've compared all the ones we can think of
> between the one duff machine and all the working machines.

Is WebDAV enabled in the Web Services Extensions folder?

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Tom Kaminski IIS MVP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/community/centers/iis/
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
http://www.iistoolshed.com/ - tools, scripts, and utilities for running IIS

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Gemma M - 23 Feb 2006 15:30 GMT

Now, I'm glad you asked. I have done as was said in
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/241520/EN-US/ (basically added DisableWebDAV
to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W3SVC\Parameters),
which appears to be the only way to disable WebDAV. Shame there isn't a
proper switch in some software.

Is this enough, or is there a more efficacious way of disabling WebDAV?

Gem

>> Hi,
>>
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
>
> Is WebDAV enabled in the Web Services Extensions folder?

Reply to this Message

Ratatooie - 23 Feb 2006 15:54 GMT

> Now, I'm glad you asked. I have done as was said in
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/241520/EN-US/ (basically added
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> Gem

WebDav is the protocol used by the FrontPage server extensions, and MS Word
to save files.

You disabled WebDav, and now it doesnt work because MS Word requires it to
save to the web site.

Enable it and it will probably work.

Reply to this Message

Gemma M - 23 Feb 2006 16:36 GMT

Thanks for being patient with me.

Now, you see, an article on Microsoft
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304133/#XSLTH3129121125120121120120) told
me to disable it (admittedly, this talks of XP, and I'm using Office 2003 on
Windows 2003, but the priniciple is the same).

Are they barking up the wrong tree, or am I mis-interpreting their message?

Gem

>> Now, I'm glad you asked. I have done as was said in
>> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/241520/EN-US/ (basically added
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>
> Enable it and it will probably work.

Reply to this Message

Ken Schaefer - 24 Feb 2006 01:28 GMT

Hi,

I think you need to tell us exactly how you are saving this file back to the
server. Previous posters have made the assumption that you are using WebDAV,
but perhaps you aren't.

Normally, you can't just save a file back to a webserver (otherwise one
would be able to overwrite any old file out there on anyone's server). So,
you need to be using some kind of authoring technology: the two most popular
with IIS being either WebDAV -or- FPSE (Frontpage Server Extensions). Which
one are you using?

Cheers
Ken

: Thanks for being patient with me.
:
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
: >
: > Enable it and it will probably work.

Reply to this Message

Gemma M - 24 Feb 2006 07:47 GMT

Hi Ken,

My client-side script does the following :

Set objWord = CreateObject("Word.Application")
docPath = location.protocol + "//" + location.host + location.pathname +
"docname.doc"
Set masterDoc = objWord.Documents.Open(docPath, False, True, False)

Then it does some Word stuff, adding headers and footers, setting up the
page etc. And finally it does this :

Call masterDoc.SaveAs(newFileName, 0, , , False) ' 0 = wdWordFormat,
False = don't AddToRecentFiles

On EVERY PC in this building, bar one, this works. On one PC, it does not,
with the error given earlier. This is true whether the Web page is accessed
from another PC, or from the same PC. And in fact, it used to work on that
PC, until Active Reports was installed and then uninstalled, which suggests
to us that Active Reports poked its fingers into the IIS settings, and then
didn't pull them out again.

Thanks
Gem

> Hi,
>
[quoted text clipped - 54 lines]
> : >
> : > Enable it and it will probably work.

Reply to this Message

Ken Schaefer - 24 Feb 2006 09:04 GMT

This says nothing about what you are using to connect to the backend server.

Cheers
Ken

: Hi Ken,
:
[quoted text clipped - 79 lines]
: > : >
: > : > Enable it and it will probably work.

Reply to this Message

Gemma M - 24 Feb 2006 14:17 GMT

This is where we find a flaw, or possibly a blind-spot, in my knowledge. I
don't know how to answer this question. A curse on my blonde hair.

Let me describe the process, and maybe you could tell me the technical
terminology for the method of connection.

* I have a page, on which is a button, in the "onclick" (client-side) event
of which is code which does a window.open(url.asp...)
* On the server side of url.asp a file is created which is MSWord
compatible.
* On the client side of url.asp is the code, a fragment of which is given
below (i.e. lauches MSWord using a URL address for the document to open,
manipulate and then save).

The client-side of this relationship is Internet Explorer and VBScript, with
a little bit of MSWord. The server-side is ASP running in IIS under a
flavour of MSWindows.

How would you define that type of connection.

Yours blondely!
Gem

> This says nothing about what you are using to connect to the backend
> server.
[quoted text clipped - 98 lines]
> : > : >
> : > : > Enable it and it will probably work.

Reply to this Message

Gemma M - 24 Feb 2006 08:58 GMT

Hi All,

You see before you someone with a greate weight lifted.

'Tis true, it was wrong to disable WebDAV. Thanks to those who suggested
such.

The prime suspect of causing my problem was Active Reports. After
installing it for evaluation, my problem emerged. After uninstalling it, my
problem remained. Very suspicious.

The only way to remove the suspected Active Reports grubby paw prints was to
uninstall and re-install IIS. Now, it works again.

Gem

> Hi,
>
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
> Now I'm desparate!
> Gem

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