Unable to save MS Excel spreadsheets to a Windows Server 2008 network share

Yesterday I had an end user call me from one of our branch offices, she said that they store their spreadsheets on a network share;  \\server_name\folder_name

They have this network share mapped as a network drive, so they open the folder location then open a spreadsheet they want to edit, when they try to save it by clicking on the SAVE icon for file > save, the blue saving progress bar gets stuck half way and freezes, it never saves the document, then you can no longer edit the file or save it. You need to either log off or reboot your computer to access the file again.

After some extensive troubleshooting on the server, network, application level, windows patching. The issue still remained. I did fine some tech forums which suggested some registry fixes on the client and server side to fix this issue. Below is what the end user was experiencing:

1.    User is working with an Office file opened from a mapped network drive location

2.    User has full access permission to the folder and correspondingly to the particular file

3.    User can usually save changes to the file

4.    User attempts to save ongoing changes either by choosing file – save or by clicking the save icon

5.    Office application starts the saving process, green process bar is running up to 30% or 50% approximately

6.    Office application is not responding anymore, client system freezes so that only hard reset using power button is possible

7.    After the system reset there is an XXXXXXXX.tmp file created in the mapped drive where XXXXXXXX represents a hex number

8.    User can open the original file he was working with, changes are not being saved.

9.    Next attempt to save any changes to the file leads to the sharing violation message (file is in use)

On the client side you want to create two DWORD Values NetworkResiliency & PivotTableNetworkResiliency here is how:

Go to Start > type Regedit > OK and go to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Office > 12.0 > Excel

1. In the left pane, click the Options folder.
2. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
3. Type NetworkResiliency, and then press ENTER.
4. Double-click the NetworkResiliency icon.
5. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
6. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
7. Type PivotTableNetworkResiliency, and then press ENTER.
8. Double-click the PivotTableNetworkResiliency icon.
9. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.

These changes take effect the next time that you start Excel. For both registry keys, setting the key to 0 turns the setting off and 1 turns the setting on.

On the Windows Server 2008 machine you want to disable the SMB (Server Message Block) 2.0 protocol.

1.  Disable SMB 2.0 using the description here

a. Run “regedit” on Windows Server 2008 based computer.

b. Expand and locate the sub tree as follows.

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters

c. Add a new REG_DWORD key with the name of “Smb2” (without quotation mark)

Value name: Smb2

Value type: REG_DWORD

0 = disabled

1 = enabled

d. Set the value to 0 to disable SMB 2.0

e. Reboot the server.

2. Download and install newest driver for the server’s network interface controller (Only do this step if you notice the NIC drop packets)