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December 2004Dec. 30Virex fingered as cause of Excel file saving problems. December 30, 2004 -- We've had more reports of the problem of saving Office files on Windows 2003 Server from Mac OS X, specifically Excel files. Michael Burdett, a reader who reported the problem earlier this month, said that Virex was the culprit: Well it looks like we may have found the problem. We opened Virex 7.5 preferences and unchecked active virus detection. If you've tried this Chris Hollidge sees the problem with a Unix SMB server: We are presently experiencing the same problem on a UNIX Server System called Netmanager. Netmanager uses SMB to connect to it's client's which all have static IP addresses assigned so I know the problem is not to do with DHCP leases. As everyone has stated the original user can edit/save the created file but other users cannot and Microsoft have accepted this Article ID 833613. Bruce Elliott refers to a potential fix from Microsoft, Knowledge Base article 833613 described on our Windows 2003 Server page: We are having exactly the same problem as delineated by Claudio Tolli except that we are connecting via SMB to a Windows 2003 Server. I've been looking at the *attrib* DOS command, applying it to the Excel file at the server... but to no avail. More workarounds for broken SMB aliases in Panther. December 30, 2004 -- Mike Pryer describes how he deals with the problem of broken aliases to SMB shares. I have the broken alias issue come up while running 10.3.5 connecting to a Windows 2003 server. Like other's reports, this problem is random. Jack Stoller offers another workaround: I'm not sure why one would need to create a script. What I do for my users is type the following into TextEdit (or anyplace else where you can select and drag text): We've also had more reports. Salvador Manzo had some interesting observations: I've run into this problem as well with 10.3.6. The odd thing is, when I get the error, the remote volume IS mounted and is accessible via Terminal.app, but Finder can't do a thing with it. Ed Stanisz faults the error message for being misleading: The error The alias 'xxx' could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found." Is because the OS thinks the drive is already mounted or because it still is just not on desktop. Tip: Reclaiming disk space in the VPC 7 virtual disk image. December 30, 2004 -- Steve Maser forwarded a procedure to shrink the size of the Virtual PC 7 disk image file in order to reclaim the space on his hard drive: I was looking for a way to erase the "free space" on a VPC 7 hard disk so that you can use VPC's "reclaim lost space" option to reduce the size of hard disk file. I found this using Google. It worked for me: |
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TIP: OS X on Win networks, .local DNS vs normal DNS. December 27, 2004 -- Dave Provine found some information on DNS issues with Mac OS X 10.3 on Windows networks:
I found a great article on Microsoft's blog site about connecting Panther to Small Business Server 2003. The important part is the instructions on how to overcome a .local addressing scheme, which Panther treats as multicast DNS (Rendezvous) instead of regular DNS. There's a link to download a Word doc with the instructions.While Apple has Knowledge Base article 107800 on this, it's not nearly as complete.
Suggestions for Miscellaneous SMB problems. December 27, 2004 -- Martijn Stegink of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, passed along suggestions for the SMB problems reported last week by a reader:
We've had all of this too. We did use a Windows 2000 server with OS X 10.3.x clients. Since 10.3.4 or something there are some problems but some of yours are caused by other things.1. Photoshop Thumbnails and the preview images in InDesign are not updating correctly.
M: This is because of the SMB protocol. If you would activate SFM (Services for Macintosh) on the server and connect to AFP it would be solved but possibly only for new files saved on the server. SMB does not allow for resource forks that OS X uses.
2. In the process of saving a file to the server it will occasionally give an error that the connection is broken. Choosing ignore on the error will allow the save to continue.
M: try the Microsoft Knowledgebase article linked to at this MacWindows report on the Mac disconnection problem.
3. We also had problems with files getting corrupted on the Win 2003 Server although we haven't been able to recreate that today. Try using SFM and AFP. Be aware of the 64.000 files per volume limit though. You could try ExtremeZ-IP as a replacement for SFM. We do and it works fine.
Only be aware of the MacWindows article "Group Logic on slow icon drawing with Windows AFP servers."
4. There is also a problem of files saying that they are in use and can't be saved or deleted when they are not open or in use. Same thing.
We finally decided to move to a complete Mac solution: Xserve raid and managed Mac environment.
However, a reader called Matthew offered an explanation of the forth problem:
Problem: Files on an SMB share cannot be saved. Error indicates they are open, or in use, when no application has them open.Reason: The Finder in Mac OS X creates "._xxx" files that correspond to real files on non-forked file systems as a way of associating thumbnails and other information. Whenever the Finder traverses a directory, it rapidly opens and closes these ._ files several times. It does this so rapidly that the kernel cannot keep up with the calls; the kernel inevitably drops a close call, thus leaving a file open, so far as the SMB server is concerned.
You can prove this by running simultaneous fs_usage and tcpdump captures while traversing a directory on an SMB share. You will see a rapid sequence of open/close calls to the "._" files. All the file system calls go to the kernel, as seen in the fs_usage capture, but they do not all make it out the door as NetBIOS calls, as seen in the tcpdump.
The fix for this problem will require changes to the Finder or the kernel.
Please do not publish my email address.
Advice for upgrading from VPC 5 to VPC 7. December 27, 2004 -- Paul Reitz describes how he overcame a problem using the Virtual PC 7 Upgrade (7.0.1) on Virtual PC 5.0.4 (Windows XP Home):
The problem was that after inserting the VPC CD and waiting for the display window, double-clicking the "Install Virtual PC" icon did nothing, no matter how often I tried. I removed and reinserted the CD, logged out and back in, verified I was Administrator, restarted; still, no response from the installer. There were no error messages or errors recorded in any logs contained in Console to provide any clues...After checking the Microsoft support site and finding nothing useful, I figured there was nothing to lose by trying a few things. I managed to install it and it's now running decently. What worked, although not likely the optimum solution, was this:
1) Control-click on the "Install Virtual PC" icon from the CD Finder window, and select Show Package Contents.
2) Open Contents -> Resources, and control-click on "Install Virtual PC.mpkg", selecting Show Package Contents.
3) Double-click on "VirtualPCAppBundle.pkg", which ran an installer without error.
At this point, there was a new (Virtual PC 7) application in the Applications folder.
4) Ran the new VPC 7, (which found the installation incomplete, and presented a series of installer actions, which I followed). IIRC, at the conclusion of this step, there was an "optimization". After this, the installer required restarting the computer.
5) After restart, re-ran VPC 7, which picked up at Section 2, "Create a Virtual Machine".
From there it was relatively straightforward.
Even so, the Help instructions for upgrading from VPC 5.x are misleading at best. It says to import a virtual machine, but apparently only want the user to select a valid hard disk image. VPC 5.x didn't use Virtual Machine terminology, and has only "configuration files" (that the instructions say VPC 7 would not use) and which the procedure did not recognize as acceptable files. It did import a VPC 5.x disk image, with the expected warning that it would then be unusable in VPC 5. Running the virtual machine was initially painfully slow until the new Virtual PC Additions was installed.
The machine it was being installed on is a PowerBook G4 Titanium 800/512 MB/60 GB running 10.3.6 with the latest security update, repaired privileges and no Disk Utility errors.
More on broken aliases on SMB shares. December 23, 2004 -- Nancy Jaquith Kneiss reports success with Todd Miller's December 7 AppleScript workaround for the problem of broken aliases to SMB shares.
My OS X connections to our Win server here would work fine one day, then not at all on other days. Completely unpredictable, and it only happened with some of the servers and not others. Same thing with the aliases on the desktop.I ran the AppleScript as suggested for the workaround and it went off without a hitch. I've never written an AppleScript before in my life but it was a piece of cake with ScriptEditor (built into Panther). Not the most convenient solution every time, but at least it works!
A reader who did not want to be identified also had success with the AppleScript, and sent some additional information:
The AppleScript solution you posted works fine for me (as it should, since it's just a wrapper around the Command-K method in the Finder).As an additional note, using this AppleScript, or Command-K in the Finder, you don't have to store the password in cleartext in the address. Keychain will store it for you, at least if the username is part of the address. And for those who aren't aware of it, you can access hidden shares (shares that will not show up in browsing mode, 'even' when browsing from a Windows machine) by adding a '$' behind the sharename.
However, the fix didn't work for Kris Nybakken, but something else did:
The workaround didn't seem to work for me. But what DID work is turning AppleTalk on on the Windows 2000 machines. SMB shouldn't require it, and it did not require it before, but it seems to work. If I have to make a choice, I choose to know it works rather than know why!Dan Nigrin also had no success with the AppleScript:
The AppleScript workaround posted by Todd Miller is also not working for me. I keep getting error type -36 when trying that approach. This is also the error I get when trying to connect via previously created aliases.When I browse the network, I can "see" all the machines I used to be able to connect to, but when I double-click them, I get "Alias couldn't be opened, because the original item couldn't be found" errors.
The Windows servers in question are Win 2003 Servers, and I'm on OS X 10.3.7.
Problems with the icon file problem with Win clients. December 23, 2004 -- Patrick Sibenale reports this problem with Windows PCs accessing a Mac OS X desktop:
When enabling Mac OS X's Windows sharing (in fact the Samba server) and copying folders from the Win machine off the Mac, the copy process will give an error when encountering the custom ICON files created by Mac OS X. They pop up with a special non-ASCII character in front of the name (xICON) and cannot be copied because of that.I found quite a couple of people that encountered this problem, none of them having the proper solution for it.
If you've seen this problem
Miscellaneous SMB problems: Photoshop thumbs, broken connections. December 23, 2004 -- Jay Holden reports several problems with Mac OS X 10.3 and Windows 2003 SMB file servers:
My department has two Mac OS X machines on a Windows 2003 network of 150+ PC's and lots of servers. We are wanting these two Mac OS X clients to work off a dedicated Win 2003 server only using SMB, saving all the files solely to it. We are encountering some issues:1. Photoshop Thumbnails and the preview images in InDesign are not updating correctly. (Doesn't happen on OS X local drives)
2. In the process of saving a file to the server it will occasionally give an error that the connection is broken. Choosing ignore on the error will allow the save to continue.
3. We also had problems with files getting corrupted on the Win 2003 Server although we haven't been able to recreate that today.
4. There is also a problem of files saying that they are in use and can't be saved or deleted when they are not open or in use.
If you've seen any of these symptoms
Update for Mac Explorer, Windows-style file browser. December 23, 2004 -- On Tuesday Rage Software shipped Macintosh Explorer 4.2.1 ($16), a free bug-fix update to the hierarchical file browser modeled after Windows Explorer. Macintosh Explorer also contains filter-based file browsing as well as tabbed browsing.
Mac OS X 10.3.7 client, server claim network, AD improvement. December 21, 2004 -- On December 15,Apple released Mac OS X Update 10.3.7, Mac OS X Combined Update 10.3.7, and Mac OS X Server Update 10.3.7 and Mac OS X Server Combined Update 10.3.7.
The client update promises "improved AFP support for saving documents with long file names." The Server update offered several cross-platform improvements, including:
MacInTouch, however, reports problems with networking.
Mac OS X 10.3.7 Server doesn't help Win clients. December 21, 2004 -- Steve Maser reports he still sees the problem Windows clients authentication problems with Mac OS X Server even with the 10.3.7 update.
I run an OS X Server (10.3.7) to host files for my Mac and Windows clients. There are no "home directories" on the server. It's strictly a file repository.Recently (like in the past month), some -- but nowhere near a significant minority -- of my Windows clients have been able to *authenticate* to my server (the standard login/password prompt), they see the share points, but when they go to open a share point that the login allows, they are getting an "Access Is Denied" message and can't open the share point.
I'm not seeing any commonality on the Windows computers that can not do this. It seems like it affects Win 2000 machines more than XP machines, but I have some XP machines showing this.
The oddity is -- on one affected Win 2000 machine I have to play with here, if I create a new account on the machine that is an "administrator" account -- I can not access the share point. If I change it to a "standard user" account (same account name/password on the 2000 machine, but different than the login/password on the server), then I can open the share point! Which makes no sense at all.
Our Mac OS X Server page includes several reader suggestions for this problem.
A VPC Serial/USB connector that works. December 21, 2004 -- Matthew Pinto reports that there is at least one USB/Serial adapter that works with Virtual PC 7:
I read this report of problems with USB/Serial adapters and VPC7. I don't have a fix but I can report that I have not had problems with the Prolific Adapter with VPC 7, Windows XP SP2 on a Power Mac G5.I have both the Mac OS X driver and XP driver installed for the Prolific so that both sides see it. I enable USB in VPC and put the check mark in the Prolific adapter and it communicates perfectly with my "CarChip" program and adapter.
Several readers have previously reported that VPC 7 won't communicate with Serial/USB adapters.
Can't save files on Windows Server 2003 with Mac OS X. December 21, 2004 -- Michael Burdett is another reader reporting problems saving files on Windows Server 2003. He also has problems with Excel files:
I am having the same issues with Windows 2003 server, Mac OS X, and Excel.We are using CIFS shares and occasionally the file save will work in Excel. Other times, the file save will stall for a bit, then show a dialog saying that the save failed. The original file gets renamed with a random character file name (I believe it is part of the temp file name). Normally to get around it, I will open the saved filed, save it to my desktop, then copy that version to the proper location on the share.
We initially thought the problem had to do with longer file names, or long folder names but the problem occurs with short folder and file names also.
Another source of old VPC updaters. December 15, 2004 -- Steve Adams has posted updates to old versions of Virtual PC, from version 3 to version 5. The complete list:
(Adams is not providing any kind of support.)
Another way to get VPC 7 to connect via a DSL link. December 15, 2004 -- Eric Westby sent in another solution for getting Virtual PC to connect to the Internet over a DSL connection. He has an alternative:
I actually ran across an even easier fix, one that enables me to continue to use shared networking: just change the MTU within the virtual machine to 1492. This is easily accomplished within a program such as Dr. TCP, available at http://www.dslreports.com/front/DRTCP021.zipSuggestions for VPC and Serial/USB converter. December 15, 2004 -- Several readers commented on last month's report that VPC 7 doesn't work with a USB adapter that worked with previous versions. John Lockwood of the U.K. off this suggestion:
I recently upgraded my boss from VPC 6.1.1 to VPC 7.0. He is also using a Keyspan USB to Serial adapter (USA-19H) with version 1.8 of the Keyspan driver. Initially trying a setting of Not a modem and no custom flow control it failed part way through a transfer each time.Ticking the DTR option allowed it to work but he had to quit the Windows application using the serial port between file transfers.
This was not the case under previous VPC. However other changes had been made at the same time, including moving from a PowerBook G4 to a PowerMac G5, and changing from Windows 2000 Pro to Windows XP Pro.
The important thing is we managed to get it to work.
We had Virtual PC configured to map the Keyspan to COM1, rather than trying to get Windows to directly access the Keyspan as a USB device. I personally have never been able to successfully get VPC to allow Windows to use USB devices.
How to Palm sync with VPC 7. December 15, 2004 -- Matt Wildbore reports having the previouly reported problem with USB and PalmOne devices:
I also cannot sync my T5 with VPC 7. When the HotSync initiates the USB activity initiates ( at the bottom of the VPC window) and the Windows arrow briefly changes to a small hourglass and then it does not connect.Bruce Miller offers a method of successful syncing:
I have been enjoying both USB Active Sync and USB Hot Sync 100 percent reliable results inside all versions of Windows (98 SE, 2000, XP Home) running from VPC 5, 6 and now 7.I have been helping others achieve the same results following extremely simple, but very specific sequences of tips and procedure I have archived here:
The tips refer specifically to USB Active syncing, but as noted within, all the tips and sequences of USB cable plugging are identical for Palm Hot Sync for successful results. Not following all the tips will eventually cause syncing to fail or never work properly.
Also, its essential to install both Palm Desktop and Active Sync software in Windows EXACTLY as instructed and to NOT plug in the USB cradle until prompted to do so for proper and trouble-free driver installation. Its so critical, that I suggest reinstalling Windows entirely if that wasn't originally followed.
More on fixes for Windows XP SP2 printer sharing. December 10, 2004 -- We have a few more notes on fixes for Mac OS X 10.3.6 problems accessing Win XP Service Pack 2 printers.
Rob Mason sent us a new fix:
The solution I found was to use the "advanced add printers" option on Mac OS X (hold down Option key when you click add printer) and then choose the SMB printer sharing option and enter the printer URL and model.That solved the problem for me in a mixed XP/OS X environment with Windows XP serving the printer.
Jason Fortune verified one of the previously reported suggestions:
I too have had the same problems as everyone else getting my Macs to print to my XP printer. Rahul Mangaldas's solution worked great for me.Explanation of OS X 10.3.6 "breaking" Citrix web client. December 10, 2004 -- David Merzel offers an explanation of the problem with Mac OS X 10.3.6 upgrade "breaking" the Citrix web client for Mac:
A sympathetic IT staffer figured out the problem as it affected both Mac and Linux. As noted in his memo below, Verisign changed their SSL certificates affecting Mac and Linux. Whether the blame is with Versign for not writing code for the Mac/Linux users or with programmers for Apple and Linux not "keeping up" is anybody's guess.This problem was due to an SSL certificate that we have purchased from Verisign. We recently had been reissued the certificate from Verisign, and from that time on, no Mac or Linux clients have been able to access the portal site. Verisign has changed the way that certificates are formatted and Macs and Linux do not agree with the new format. We are currently testing a fix that involves us issuing our own certificates so that we no longer have to rely on Verisign.I tested it from home last night from my Linux client, and I was able to connect with the portal. We still have a little testing to do before we can role it out...The good news is that Mac and Linux are pretty close.
Fixes for Citrix/Word 2004 bug; problem also affects Excel. December 10, 2004 -- A number of readers responded to our report earlier this week about the Citrix client crashing with Microsoft Word 2004 is open, often when copying text. Some readers sent in fixes, others report that the problem also occurs with Excel.
Jamie Marshall sent us a link to a workaround he posted at on the Citrix forums.
Steve Maser describes his fix:
The problem exists as a conflict with Word 2004 and Citrix 6.3 *and* 7.0. Citrix has given us (shh) a bug fix release for 7.0 that fixes this crash. However, we still have other issues that prohibit us from rolling this out.Fortunately, there are two workarounds:
1) Revert back to "Word v.X" -- that doesn't generate the crash.
2) Disable the ability to copy/paste between Mac OS X apps and Citrix in the Citrix prefs. Which isn't really a viable workaround if you need this.
We also have issues with the app not (sometimes) being able to read files from the TEMP folder that are more than 32 characters in name. Sometimes. Citrix apparently can't reproduce *that* bug, but we can here.
Several people report that the problem also occurs with Excel. Beat Rubischon of Zurich:
We have here a similar problem as described at MacWindows. When copying some data in Excel 2004 to Clipboard, the ICA Client 6.30.An anonymous reader gives some more specifics about the Excel problem:
I can verify that this problem exists, and is not limited to MS Word. Any macro operation (cut/paste/save/print/[formula]/merge) in any Office 2004 application (e.g. Excel) on a Mac (10.3.6 here, but had the problem all the way back to 10.3.1) can abruptly quit any open Citrix (up to and including version 7) clients. There is no workaround that I'm aware of, other than to not open MS documents when you have an open Citrix client connection.Orion Smith says the problem occurs with all Offices applications, and offers an explanation:
What seems to be happening is when you copy something from Word, and move over to Citrix, the clipboard has trouble making the switch and Citrix crashes. Apparently Word 2004 puts some extra info in the clipboard (related to Unicode?) that Citrix can't parse (even if you don't paste) and Citrix crashes. Apparently this happens with all Office 2004 apps.I'm very frustrated that Citrix has not dealt with this yet. It's not easy to use TextEdit as my copy/paste board, as even if I copy something in Word with Citrix in the background, it still crashes.
We have more reports of the problem on our Citrix Reports page.
Thank you to everyone else who reported having this problem.
VPC 7 problem with USB/Serial adapters verified. December 10, 2004 -- Steve Unruh has seen the perviously reported problem where VPC 7 won't talk to Serial/USB converters:
I have both a Keyspan and Iconcepts USB-to-serial adapters. I am using VPC 7.0.1 and cannot get either to work. I have tried it with "Enable USB" both on and off. With it on and the adapter selected, I get a message that the com port is unavailable. When it is off, the adapter still shows up in the selection popup of the com port, and you get no error message when you select it, but it still does not work. Both of these adapters work with VPC 6.I am using a 12" PowerBook with 10.3.6.
We haven't heard of a fix yet, but if you have one,
Entourage Email Archive X 1.9.2 maintenance update. December 10, 2004 -- Softhing has released Email Archive X 1.9.2, and update to the utility for archiving email and attachments received or sent using Microsoft Entourage X. The update includes some performance gains, fixes minor bugs, and has been tested for use with the Microsoft Office X 10.1.6 and Office 2004 11.1.0 updates.
Solution for VPC/DSL connection. December 7, 2004 -- We've discovered a method of getting a Virtual PC to connect to the Internet over a DSL connection. The secret is to use Virtual PC's Virtual Switch setting instead of Shared Networking. Then set up Windows to connect directly to the DSL ISP using PPPoE. Windows calls DSL a "broadband modem." Here's how with Virtual PC 7 and Windows XP:
Citrix ICA client problem with MS Word. December 7, 2004 -- David Morgenstern reports that Word is causing problems with the Citrix client for Mac:
I haven't experienced any serious problem connecting with the Citrix ICA Version 7.00.400, both before or after installing the 10.3.6 update. However, I do notice that the client will crash when I have MS Word 2004 open (this was true before the system update). Or when I try to use Word, the Citrix client dies.Thankfully, TextEdit can open Word files with OS X 10.3 and later.
If you've seen this problem,
Workaround to SMB alias to NT Server not working. December 7, 2004 -- Todd Miller suggested a workaround for the problem of broken aliases to SMB shares we reported last week. He created a simple AppleScript:
I have seen the problem mentioned in the Nov 29th edition of MacWindows with broken aliases to SMB shares. The server we have problems connecting to is also NT 4.I do not have a fix for this problem, but do have a workaround. You can make an AppleScript to mount the share.
tell application "Finder"mount volume "smb://username:password@machinename.local/sharename"
end tell
The "username:password@" is optional. If omitted, the user will be prompted. This works great every time.
Several other readers reported the problem;
Kris Nybakken notes that the problem is not limited to Windows NT:
ALL of my smb shares, including browsing from the "network" tab, produce that alias error. I can't log into ANY of my Windows 2000 servers. Yikes!Erasmus Schneider:
I also have the problem that when I do a network browse: I can see the alias to the Win machine, but when I try to connect I get the same error message of ""The alias 'xxx' could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found." I can mount the PC just fine if I know either its name or IP address and connect directly.I am using 10.3.6, but can't tell when exactly the problem first appeared.
Jordi Parera of Barcelona, Spain, doesn't have the problem with SMB:
I tried to connect to our Windows Server via SMB instead of AFP. It's really much faster. But then aliases created with my previous AFP connection don't work with the SMB connection. On the other hand, 'new' aliases that I can create with the SMB connection seem work OK.HELIOS offers new server bundle. December 7, 2004 -- Helios is offering the Helios Server Bundle (US $4990) a new bundle of EtherShare, PCShare, and WebShare, file server software supporting Mac and Windows clients. The server software is available for Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and several commercial Unix platforms. EtherShare is an AFP file server; PCShare is an SMB/CIFS file server; WebShare enables remote users to access files via HTTP and HTTPS.
Citrix Client for Mac Version 7 is available. December 1, 2004 --Citrix has released version 7.0 of their its Mac client. Chris Erickson describes it:
This is a long awaited upgrade. While the new feature list is not very long, the amount of bug fixes are numerous. And once again, no announcement from Citrix that there even exists a new Mac client, but you will find it on their download page.Citrix/ OS X 10.3.6 problem linked to web-based client. December 1, 2004 -- A number of readers responded to Monday's report of the Mac OS X 10.3.6 upgrade "breaking" the Citrix client for Mac. From the number of reports, it appears that the problem appears to occur only with the browser-based client. There was also a suggestion that the problem occurs with Safari, but not Internet Explorer.
Jon Posin describes the problem:
I too lost my Citrix functionality after the update. I can log into my Citrix server through Safari, get to my applications page, click on the application, then once the Citrix tool is downloaded and launches Citrix on my Mac, I get an error message that the link was broken.Michael Wilmar agrees with the web/Safari theory, and offers a workaround:
Citrix works fine for me either via my firm's VPN or via browser with OS 10.3.6 and the latest Citrix client (which by the way, has some cool improvements). And the browser may be the issue. If David is using a browser, I assume he has been using some kind of certificate and not a VPN, which doesn't need a browser. If he is using a browser, Safari won't work, only Firefox or Internet Explorer. Further, I had to have my IT people email me a certificate; it wouldn't work automatically. Then I had to manually put the certificate in the cacerts folder in the Citrix keystore folder. I also had to change the suffix from whatever it was (.cer) to .crt. After that, it worked fine.John Schumacher also offered suggestions:
My Citrix Client loses its configuration settings frequently, but re-entering them via the client editor fixes this. Moments ago I established contact with a Win2K server as a test of 10.3.6. After re-entering the connect information, Citrix started up without a hitch under Mac OS X 10.3.6.Part of my problem is site specific; the Citrix servers that I access (infrequently) are replicated on 4 different 2K servers. The client connects to an "application" on a user specified server. If the particular server is down/offline, the user must open the client editor to configure the client to connect to one of the other 2K servers -- I have had to do this on several occasions.
Robin Jackson was one of many users who said that the 10.3.6 upgraded did not affect the non-browser client:
I have never used the new browser based Citrix client but I can report that the old Citrix ICA Client does still work fine under 10.3.6.Several readers report that the newest version of the Citrix client is not affected by the 10.3.6 update:
Mark Matuschak:
Saw the report about 10.3.6 breaking Citrix. Using the old Citrix client, 6.20.139, this was true - the Citrix application just quit shortly after the splash screen.However, the new Citrix client, 7.00.400, works great for me. In fact, it finally has full-screen and resizable screen capability and is finally native OS X. What a big improvement!
I am using 10.3.6 on a PowerBook G4 (15").
Stefan Kirchanski:
I experienced a "broken connection" with Citrix after I updated to 10.3.6. Problem disappeared when I downloaded the latest ICA client. Don't recall how old my former client was. Things work fine with new client so problem must be the precise Citrix set up in question. The default runs with our Citrix server. Probably more difficult if the server is configured differently.However, other readers reported having no problems with the 6.3.x client, presumably the non-browser versions.
Thanks to the many other readers who wrote in about this problem. Your reports helped us zero in on this apparent cause of the problem.
Windows XP SP2 printing fix verified.December 1, 2004 -- Godehard Oepen reported success with the workaround provided by Asger Jensen for the problem of Mac OS X 10.3.6 unable to access Win XP Service Pack 2 printers. The same was true for Ethan Allen, who said "workgroup;username@machine/printer works great!"
Equinux releases VPN Tracker maintenance update. December 1, 2004 -- Equinux has releasedVPN Tracker 3.0.4, a free update to the virtual private network client for Mac OS X. The company said that the update "prevents a potential privilege escalation exploit in conjunction with the VPN Tracker actions directory." Equinux recommends the update for all users.
Suggestions for Win XP SP2 printer sharing. November 29, 2004 -- Several readers have sent in procedures they used to get around the problem of Mac OS X 10.3.6 unable to access Win XP Service Pack 2 printers.
Asger Jensen:
I've managed to get printer sharing on Win XP SP2 to work. It's not a very elegant solutions but it works! This is what you do on the Mac OS X 10.3.6.In "Print and Fax"->"Set up printers" you click "add" while holding the "option" key. This will give you the "advanced" option in the drop down menu. Here you choose "windows printing via Samba" Name the printer and fill out the empty space after SMB:// with either:
username:password@workgroup/machine/printer
or
workgroup;username@machine/printer
Rahul Mangaldas:
I ran into this problem, and I believe I have the solution. Here are the things to check:1. The Mac and the Windows PC have to be in the same workgroup (usually, it's WORKGROUP; you can change the workgroup on the Mac in the Directory Services app; on Windows, you change it under Control Panel >System > Computer Name)
2. An exception should be made in the Windows firewall for File and Printer Sharing; if you're running Zone Alarm, make sure your LAN is in the Trusted Zone and your Trusted Zone firewall setting is medium or low.
3. Windows XP does not use NetBIOS over TCP/IP (ports 137, 139) by default, instead, it uses direct SMB over TCP/IP (port 445), so enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP in the Windows TCP/IP advanced settings.
4. Enable "Simple File and Printer Sharing" in Windows Explorer >Tools > Folder Options > View (only for Windows XP Pro)
5. If you still can't get it to work, try this (this is the part that I discovered): on the Mac, hold down the Option key when clicking the Add button in Printing Center. Now, in the Add Printer dialog, you'll have an Advanced option at the end of the connection dropdown box. Select that, then select the SMB Printer option, and then, in the URI field, enter the path to the printer as follows: SMB://user:password@win_ip/printer, where user and password are the username and password, separated by a colon, of the Windows user, IP is the IP address of the Windows PC, and printer is the share name of the printer.
Paul Walmsley:
I've had the same printer sharing problems myself OS X (10.3.5/6). I had SP2 installed on Win XP before I acquired a Mac, so I don't know whether the following is attributable to OS X 10.3.x or SP2.There are two problems here. One is the inability to browse the available Windows printers, and the second is the NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED message you get if you try to print to a printer that you already had set up. The following solution worked for me -- it involves shell-prompt hackery:
1. Start a terminal window and become root with:
*> sudo bash --login*2. Change to the directory with the CUPS config files:
*> cd /etc/cups*3. The file *printers.conf* contains the configuration information for the printers on your system. The '*DeviceURI*' line is the important one here. It looks like the Printer Setup Utility gets the format of this wrong. I previously had the following line in mine:
*DeviceURI SMB://WHAMSNET/WHAMS/HP970*Whereas what is really required is the username and password (haven't tried this with the guest account):
*DeviceURI SMB://WHAMSNET/username:passwd@WHAMS/HP970*So you need to fix this in your own file (if the file is empty then copy my one, shown below)
4. You now have to restart the CUPS daemon:
*> ps -x | grep cupsd *
> 338 ?? Ss 0:04.0 /usr/sbin/cupsd
*> kill -HUP 338*5. Now open the printer setup utility and you should see the printer there -- DON'T CHANGE THE CONNECTION SETTINGS
6. Try printing from an application. This now worked for me.
I enclose below the contents of my printers.conf in case you have to create one from scratch:
# Printer configuration file for CUPS v1.1.20rc1
# Written by cupsd on Wed Nov 24 19:26:08 2004
<DefaultPrinter HP970>
Info HP970
Location WHAMSNET
DeviceURI SMB://WHAMSNET/user:password@WHAMS/HP970
State Idle
JobSheets none none
QuotaPeriod 0
PageLimit 0
KLimit 0
</Printer>
Several readers wrote to say that the problem is on the Mac OS X update, not the Win XP update. Mike Everatt:
I'm not sure if the problem is Windows SP2. I have an iBook that accessed the shared HP printer on my Windows XP SP2 box, right up until I upgraded the iBook from 10.3.5 to 10.3.6. I noticed the printing problem right away, and made sure that I didn't install the 10.3.6 update on my eMac -- and the eMac can still see the shared Windows printer! So the problem is definitely a 10.3.6 update problem.So in summary -- on my eMac with 10.3.5, I can still see shared printers on my Windows XP SP2 box. On my iBook, with 10.3.6, I cannot.
Bryce Steiner:
I tried using browsing for printers from OS X 10.3.6 and I too had the problem. It wouldn't let me type in the SMB://computer/printer name. I tried then having it browse my Linux/SMB computer for it's shared printers and it couldn't find the printers on Linux either.I then tried using Windows XP SP2 to view the printers on Linux and it worked just fine. I'm beginning to think that maybe it's not Win XP SP2 at all, but maybe the new 10.3.6.
Mac OS X 10.3.6 breaks Citrix client. November 29, 2004 -- David Merzel reports that installing the Mac OS X 10.3.6 update "broke" the Citrix client. Reinstalling the latest client didn't change things:
Since upgrading to OS X 10.3.6, Citrix access stopped working after a year of no problems. Now I get the following: "SSL Error 0: The remote SSL peer sent a bad MAC alert. Error number: 183". I deleted the Citrix client and downloaded their latest client for Macintosh but no change. Network guys at work and Mac users all stumped. I even tried using IE, Firefox, Camino, and Netscape from my G5 and PowerBook G4 but always the same message as above. The problem seems to be with Panther and not the browser. Can't work out of office, productivity down. Any help appreciated.If you've seen this problem,
Can't create aliases to SMB Win Server. November 29, 2004 -- A reader reports a problem with aliases to folders on a Windows SMB file server:
For the past few months, after one of the Mac OS X 10.3.x upgrades, I am no longer able to create a functioning alias to a Windows NT server mounted via the SMB protocol. It doesn't matter whether I mount the share via Command-K or by browsing. The mounting itself works flawlessly.But every alias created by either command-L or by dragging the window title of the share opened in the Finder gives me the message when trying to open it: "The alias 'xxx' could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found."
Interestingly, I still have two older aliases to shares on the same server which still work (they are not real Finder aliases since they were created by dragging a mounted share into a Drop Drawers drawer). When using them, the share mounts in /Volumes as it does when using Command-K.
However, with Command-K the share name appears in small letters, using my old 'alias', the name appears in capital letters.
And, creating an alias from a share on a different server mounted via AFP still works.
If you've seen this problem,
Fix for Entourage synchronizing when set up not to. November 29, 2004 -- Several readers responded to our report of the issue of Entourage synchronizing when set up not to do so. Kelly Johnson, who first reported the problem, found a solution:
We figured how to get around it. Simply create a new schedule to check for new mail at any interval and the update happens within Entourage's status bar rather than having the Progress bar pop-up. Amazing that simple things like that can actually work!Craig Edmond offers a suggestion:
I have noticed similar issues with an older version of Office, Entourage version 10.1.6. There are another set of synch options for each account under the "Tools > Schedules" menu. Double click on the schedule for the account. Next to each account listed there should be a button for "Click here for account options". You can select the folders you wish to synch and how you want to synch them, Headers Only, New Messages or All Messages. I have mine set to "Headers only" and I don't see much of a slow down.I'm not entirely sure if this will fix the problem mentioned here but it's worth a look.
Gracion updates DigiTunnel VPN client for Mac OS X. November 29, 2004 -- Gracion Software released DigiTunnel 1.4, a free upgrade to the virtual private network (PPTP) client for Mac OS X. The new version adds support for supports Mac OS X (Panther) Fast User Switching, allowing you to switch users while connected. There's a more reliable installer/uninstaller are faster, and bug fixes.
DigiTunnel includes features not found in the built-in Mac OS X's VPN client, including a split-routing feature for direct connection to all Internet sites while on the VPN.
Group Logic on slow icon drawing with Windows AFP servers. November 23, 2004 -- Michael Curtis asked Group Logic, makers of ExtremeZ-IP, about the problem of slow AFP access to Windows Servers due to "icon caching" on a server running Group Logic's ExtremeZ-IP. Reid Lewis of Group Logic replied with a discussion of the cause:
MC: I have tested ExtremeZ-IP and it is wonderful. Why when using 10.3.x sharing to a Windows 2000 or 2003 server is it so slow the first time you go to a folder that contains lots of files/folders? It's even worse when those files are making thumb nails. Is their anything that can be done? What is happening?RL (Group Logic): Yes, we are aware of this behavior and we think that we understand it. We think that its the result of a slow process of icon and preview generation. The problem affects all file servers but appears to be worse with AFP v2.2 than with AFP v3.1 [used in EZ-IP].
There are two cases, the Finder and other applications, such as Quark. In the case of the Finder, when you are browsing in column view, the Finder can _optionally_ show an icon and a preview. Generating the icon and the preview are the slow activity. If you go to the View menu, and choose View Options CMD-J, and disable Show Icon and Show Preview, the slowness will disappear along with the icon and the preview.
Under an application, such as Quark, you may not be able to disable the icon and preview and are therefore stuck with the performance.
In either case, having the latest version of ExtremeZ-IP supporting the latest AppleShare protocol, AFP v3.1, will likely give you the experience closest to Xserve, which also uses AFP v3.1. The Windows File Services for Macintosh, SFM, uses the older AFP v2.2
Suggestion for Mac disconnection problem. November 23, 2004 -- Joseph Senak has a suggestion for the problem of Windows Server 2003/OS X disconnections, which is similar to disconnection of Windows clients:
The timeout problem sounds very much like Knowledge Base article Q297684. I applied that fix for Macs and a Windows 2000 Server share which seemed to work just fine.Has this worked for you?
Fix for Entourage continually asking for password. November 23, 2004 -- Several readers responded to yesterday's report of Entourage constantly asking for a password. Michael White offered a fix:
This is because the Mac OS X Keychain is in the user keychain setting and not the login. The fix is to copy the password in the user keychain to the login keychain. 3 failed logins will disable the account with exchangeIf you've tried this fix,
Meanwhile, other readers report having the problem.Doug Brown said "Yes, I also get this message. It doesn't happen every day, more like every 4-6 weeks."
Michael Vander Sande reports "I've been experiencing similar symptoms for several weeks now. Mac OS X 10.3.5, Entourage Version 11.0.0 (040405).
A theory on Panther problem deleting or moving folders on SMB servers. November 23, 2004 -- Jamie Kettlewell believes that it is double-logons that cause the problem of "._" files on SMB locking up the real files, in which users can't delete or move folders.
I can confirm that I get occasional issues with any one of my three Mac OS X clients being unable to delete or move folders on the Windows 2003 server.From what I can ascertain, the problem occurs when one of the OS X clients gets a double login or login session. This generally means that one of the sessions gets read locks on the '._' files and then subsequently these files cannot be moved or deleted until I close the open file lock.
This does seem to ONLY happen with MAC logins that get 2 login sessions. As I write this, I am looking at the server and again, one of the MAC users has a double login; this will no doubt cause a phone call sometime this afternoon due to one of them being not able to move or delete a file or folder.
Either there is an intermittent bug in OS X which stops the double login or the double login IS the bug. Either way, the off shoot of this is that '._' files are left locked and subsequently stops folders being moved or deleted.
Reader problem: Mac OS X 10.3.6 "broke" file sharing. November 23, 2004 -- Esther Carney of Australia reports this problem:
I just upgraded my computers to Mac OS X 10.3.6 from an earlier 10.3 and now they won't talk to each other. I wanted to delete those little folders that appeared in the network folder as per Greg Noneman's Feb 4 suggestion. However they won't delete, and when I checked permissions even if I undo the padlock they are owned by the system and I have read only privileges.If you can help,
More on Win XP SP2 printer sharing woes. November 22, 2004 -- More readers are reporting problems accessing Windows XP Service Pack 2 printers.
Bryce Steiner asks a question about the problem:
I saw the problems with printer sharing and WinXP SP2. I just wanted asked if anybody can access it by typing in the address or cannot access it at all. I am able to print to an SMB shared printer on a Win XP SP2 printer from Linux just fine.Jay Tsao
I've had the same experience as others on your page such as Mickey Hancharenko about being unable to print to a printer connected to a PC running XP SP2. The printer was working after I had originally upgraded from SP1 to SP2. The printer was installed to my PowerBook running Mac OSX 10.3.6 while the XP machine was running SP1.After upgrading to SP2, it was still working. However, I recently had to remove the printer from the Mac OSX printer setup. When I went back to add the printer back, it does not find it on the network. It does find all the computers on my network but it doesn't see the printer.
Other XP machines on the network are able to see the printer. Windows SMB filesharing works fine.
JR Powers-Luhn
Not too much to add here, but I, too, can't access my printer. It's an HP Deskjet 5740 connected to my Windows XP SP2 machine. Windows claims that it's shared, but my Printer Setup Utility on my G4 12" PowerBook can't see it.Richard Lotsch
I have read the many comments and suggested fixes for problems with the Mac not able to see Printers installed on a Networked Windows XP Home PC after running Service Pack 2. I have tried all the fixes without success.My network consists of 3 PCs running XP Home SP2 and a Powerbook 1.33 with 1Gig of RAM running OS X ver 10.3.6 all connected via a Wireless G Router. There are 2 printers installed on local USB ports of 2 different PCs. All the PCs can access each of these printers. Windows firewall is turned off.
I can access the shared files on all the computers without problems but cannot find any of the PC printers when I try to install a new printer on the Mac. I can see the Workgroup and each of the computers, but there are no printers visible. Even turning on Printer Services for UNIX in XP did not fix the problem.........perhaps because I don't know how to find the correct Printer Address or Queue Name or because my printer (Canon ImageClass D780) is not listed in the dropdown list of Printers.
I even spoke with the "Geniuses" at the Apple Store........they were stumped.
It seems your website may be getting close to an answer. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
If you have a suggestion
VPC problem with DSL Internet connection. November 22, 2004 -- Joe Simon can't get Virtual PC 7 to connect to the web over his DSL line:
No matter what I do, I can't connect to the Internet from Virtual PC 7 using my DSL connection (PPPoE) connected to my Mac's Ethernet port (Mac OS X Panther). My Mac is the only computer.Internet Explorer says that it found the web page, but then the web page never loads and times out.
I've done everything that VPC help suggests, and have Shared Networking. (I tried Virtual Switch, but it was even worse -- Internet Explorer could not find the page at all.) I have tried the suggestions at Microsoft's VPC Internet Troubleshooting page. I've tried different network settings in Windows XP, including automatic IP and typing in the Mac's DNS server address. I've tried it with the Mac OS X firewall on and off, and with the Windows XP Firewall off. Nothing works.
If you've seen this problem,
Reader has VPC 7 problem with modem. November 22, 2004 -- Daryl Elliff can't get Virtual PC 7 to dial the Internet:
I live in the boonies and my only option is "dial-up"(not willing to pay the "upfront" costs for satellite). I'm not very knowledgeable of Windows.My new iMac G5 with Mac OS X and VPC 7 both seem to work fine with one exception. I want to use a Windows database accounting/reporting application that requires a dial up connection into the "state of ID" EDS computer. It does work fine on the Pentium II that I would dearly love to get rid of.
I cannot get the internal iMac modem to "initialize" in VPC7. I have tried all of the "modem" settings, with the "Network Sharing" options both on and off.
If you've seen this problem,
Mediafour offers free Windows XPlay Photo Browser for iPod. November 22, 2004 --Last week, Mediafour released XPlay Photo Browser, free software for Windows XP SP1 or Win 2000 SP4 that enables users to browse and save photos and view slideshows on iPod Photo. XPlay Photo Browser works with iPods formatted for PC and iPods for Macs. When used with iPods for Mac, XPlay Photo Browser requires Mediafour's XPlay or MacDrive running in Windows.
Entourage synchronizing when set up not to. November 22, 2004 -- Kelly Johnson reports that Entourage is synchronizing even though it is set not to:
I'm in OS X 10.3.6 and running Entourage 2004. In my Account Settings,under Advanced I have "Do not synchronize items to server" checked and have tried various combinations of other settings but to no avail.Periodically throughout the day I get those annoying "Progress" windows that popup and say Updating the Inbox, or junk mail, or saved folders.
The problem is that sometimes it slows down my machine and I have to either click off the box (not "Cancel" which is grayed, the box) or wait a few seconds. Being in design/publishing where time is precious it all adds up to very annoying.
Our IT guys are 'looking into it,' but I fear as usual the well-trained computer people have no idea about anything other than Windows.
We are running an Exchange server but that's all I know at this point. Every one of the five people who are using Entourage 2004 get these little popups no matter the settings in the Account Settings tab.
We are not using POP/POP3. We are IMAP.
If you've seen this problem,
Entourage logon problems. November 22, 2004 -- Chris Myers reports that Entourage 2004 repeatedly asks for logon:
At random times throughout the day, Entourage 2004 keeps asking me to re-enter my password for my Exchange account, sometimes doing it three or four times in a row.I get this error message:
Mail could not be received at this time.The server for account "Exchange Server" returned the error "Logon failure: unknown user name or bad password." Your username/password or security settings may be incorrect. Would you like to try re-entering your password?
If you've seen this problem,
Thursby releases Dave 5.1 update. November 18, 2004 -- Yesterday, Thursby Software Systems released of DAVE 5.1 (free upgrade for 5.x users), the cross-platform file and print sharing software for Macintosh computers. Enhancements include:
Workaround for Win XP SP2 Printer Sharing problem. November 18, 2004 -- Mickey Hancharenko offered a workaround to Monday's report about a problem with Macs accessing print sharing on Win XP Service Pack 2 clients. (Other readers reported problems with file sharing.) Hancharenko reports:
I ran into the same problem Mr. Holmes has. My setup is a Windows XP Home system /w SP2, sharing an Epson Stylus C80. It was connecting just fine while the Windows box was still running SP1. After the SP2 upgrade, I no longer can see the printer when trying to reconnect the printer through the Apple Printer Setup Utility.It was working just fine with SP2 as long as I did not remove the printer from the Setup Utility when upgrading from SP1 to SP2. Windows Firewall is off; it doesn't seem to make a difference.
I've discovered that turning on Print Services for UNIX allows LPR printing from the Mac. I guess this can serve as a temporary fix for those that really need to get printing operational. Access to SMB shared printers Windows boxes running SP2 still doesn't seem to be working.
Dennis Palmer also has the printing problem:
I have this problem. I have a new Mac dual G5 on a local network with one other XP SP2 machine. I can no longer see the printer that is connected to the XP machine. Blah.Christos Efstathiou has the problem with file sharing:
I have 3 PCs (2 running Win 2000, one Win XP SP2) and a PowerBook running 10.3.6 and I get an "alias not found" error when I go to connect in the XP shares.With 10.3.6 I have no problems connecting to older Samba versions (2.2.8a) in my lab. I found a related article at apple.com that suggests opening some ports but I haven't tried opening them yet. In the past, I could easily connect to XP shares but it seems to have become worse lately.
Dave Leary refutes the previous suggestion of this being a firewall problem:
I can not connect at all. I have tried turning off the Windows Firewall completely , but OS X 10.3.6 times out before it will connect. I can ping the Windows machine, so I know the network is OK.PocketMac Lite syncs Macs and Pocket PCs. November 18, 2004 -- Information Appliance Associates released PocketMac Lite (US $15), a new, smaller version of the software for syncing Macs with Pocket PCs with Mac OS X's iSync, Address Book, and iCal calendars and to-do's. (PocketMac Pro is the full version.) PocketMac Lite works over Bluetooth and AirPort (802.11b) connections, as well as USB. PocketMac Lite can laso mount the Pocket PC's memory and/or any of the Pocket PC's storage cards on the Mac desktop.
Fix for disconnection of Mac clients from Win servers. November 15, 2004 -- Julian Poyntz offered a fix for the issue of Mac OS X disconnecting from Windows Server 2003. It involves a change to the Windows server:
I gleaned this off of another Mac site. It seems to have worked here.
- Go to the Start Menu
- Select Programs
- Select Administrative Tools
- Select Local Security Policy
- Choose Local Policies
- Select Security Options
- Change Amount of idle time required before disconnecting session to 0
If you've tried this fix
Mac problems accessing Win XP SP2 related to firewall. November 15, 2004 -- Several readers wrote wrote to say that firewalls may be the problem with Macs that can't access Win XP Service Pack 2 clients.
Kalani Patterson:
I ran into the same thing. Turning off the firewall fixed the issue. Ideal? No. Does it work? Yup. I would only do this on machines behind a hardware firewall, however (such as a router). Make sure it is back on if you connect from anywhere else, or anywhere public.Steve Maser agrees, but refines the solution so that you can keep the firewall on:
If he set the default settings for SP2 -- this turns on the Windows Firewall by default.You have to make the "File and Print Sharing" Service an exception in the firewall to get into the PC from something else after that.
However, a Mr. Holmes said it didn't work with print sharing:
I've been having problems with printer sharing on SP2. My Mac can't connect at all anymore. I've even disabled the Windows' firewall. It doesn't work.If you've seen this problem
PocketMac iCalPrinter, Entourage-style list printing from iCal. November 15, 2004 -- Information Appliance Associates has released a new product, PocketMac iCalPrinter (US $10), the first tool that enables Mac OS X's iCal to print calendars in the Entourage-style list format (without grids).
Mediafour releases XPlay 2.0.11 update to Win iPod utility. November 15, 2004 -- Mediafour has released XPlay 2 (US $30), an update to the Windows software for connecting to Mac and PC iPods. In addition to working with Windows the only retail product that makes iPods compatible with Windows XP and 2000, XPlay is the only software to work with Windows 98SE and Me.
The update plus supports updating and restoring all iPods with the latest iPod software releases, works with the new iTunes 4.7, and adds compatibliey with Windows Media Player 10. XPlay works with MP3, AAC and Audible files, and provides automatic WMA-to-MP3 conversion. Unlike iTunes, XPlay allows users to move music from iPod to a PC, as well as moving music into an iPod.
A Ziff-Davis Media review gives XPlay 2 a score of 5 out of 5.
Mac OS X Update 10.3.6 fixes some cross-platform problems. November 10, 2004 -- Last Friday, Apple released Mac OS X Update 10.3.6, also available via Software Update. Apple said that the update provides "improved file sharing for Mac (AFP), UNIX (NFS) and PC (SMB/CIFS) networks" as well as "more reliable network automounts and launch of network applications."
Henrik Ahlberg of Sweden reports that 10.3.6 fixed the problem of Mac users not being able to empty the Trash while connected to Active Directory.
If you can verify that 10.3.6 fixes the trash/AD problem, or that it fixes other cross-platform problems
MS releases Virtual PC 7.0.1, more VPC bundles, and Microsoft AutoUpdate 1.1.2. November 10, 2004 -- Yesterday, Microsoft issued a trio of releases for Virtual PC.
One of these was Virtual PC for Mac Version 7.0.1, an update designed to fix a bug that prevented VPC 7 from running on Macs with more than 2 GB of memory. Microsoft also said that the update "improves the overall stability of Virtual PC." The update is available in five languages.
Reader Joseph McBride told us that he experienced the memory problem, saying "If you have a G5 with more than 2 GB of memory, VPC 7 will not install or boot up." (McBride also had a workaround, which we've posted on the MacWindows Virtual PC 7 Reports page.) If you can verify or disprove the efficacy of the 7.0.1 update in fixing this memory problem
Microsoft also announced that four bundles Virtual PC 7 will be available in December. The first three have been released to manufacturing; the four will be released to manufacturing later this month. The new bundles:
Currently, Virtual PC 7 with Windows XP Professional ($249) is the only bundle shipping.
The third Microsoft announcement was the release of Microsoft AutoUpdate 1.1.2 for Office 2004. The company described the update to us:
"The update will correct errors in French, Swedish and Spanish versions of Microsoft Auto Update. All customers, however, should download the update in order to be completely current.VPC 7 won't talk to Serial/USB converter. November 10, 2004 -- Spero Leon reports that VPC 7 doesn't work with a USB adapter that worked with previous versions:
Since the upgraded to VPC 7 from VPC 6.1 I cannot use Keyspan Serial-to-USB Adapter. It seems that the port gets hung up or is busy.If you've seen this problem
VPN Tracker 3.0.3 supports NETASQ. November 10, 2004 -- Equinux has release VPN Tracker 3.0.3, and update to the IPsec VPN client for Mac OS X. The new version adds support for NETASQ VPN devices. Equinux offers a how-to manual regarding NETASQ VPN devices at its supported VPN gateways page.
PC-Mac-Net FileShare v4.0 simplifies setup, supports multiple languages. November 10, 2004 -- Lava Software is now shipping PC-Mac-Net FileShare v4.0, peer-to-peer file sharing software for Windows and Macs for local networks and the Internet.
The 4.0 version includes several new features:
PC-Mac-Net FileShare v4.0 is available in two paid versions and free Lite Edition, which is limited to 10 MB file size and up to 3 users. The Standard Edition (US $25) and Professional Edition (US $40, $300 site license) have no file size limits and support large workgroups. The Professional Edition can also encrypt file data during file transfer. Lava Software is now offering a free license for each license ordered. (See also the press release.)
Suggestion for Address Book crash in AD binding in OS X 10.3.5. November 10, 2004 -- John Sanders offered a suggestion for Monday's report Address Book problems with Active Directory:
I haven't seen this problem in 10.3.5, but I suspect I know why Steve Dockery is having trouble. In Directory Access, when you bind to Active Directory, you also have to explicitly add AD to the Authorization list and you can also add them to the Contacts list (you absolutely don't have to for the authorization part to work fine). This is basically a list of the places the Mac will search for contact information, or where the Address Book will look when someone is using it. It may be that this part doesn't work so well, or doesn't work in his environment. I would recommend NOT using the Contact part of the equation, particularly if you aren't really using it.Use column view for slow "icon caching" problem with file servers. November 10, 2004 -- A number of readers on both sides of the Atlantic have verified the problem of slow access to Windows Servers due to "icon caching."
John Gettlers has a workaround for Panther: use column view and turn off icons:
In response to Michael Curtis's email. I have found what may be the solution or work around, tested on OS X 10.3.2. When browsing folders in OS X stored locally, but especially on servers, the speed it fills in the list has been slower than on OS 9. The speed of actually copying / opening / saving files is not the problem. It has been the Finder file browsing that has been slow. The more items in a folder, the longer it will take to display.Workaround:
You must be in column view, not list or icon view, and turn off Show icons. (View menu, select Show View Options.) This will dramatically speed up the display when in column view. This appears to a user-wide setting. There appears to be no way to turn off the icons in list view.
There appears to be no big speed lag caused by the 'Show preview column' being left on, so you might as well leave it on.
So if you mainly browse in column view, you can wiz through folders full of files very fast. Of course, the bad part is that you wont see the icons which can sometimes be helpful. In general you can turn this option on and off on the fly, when needed either way.
Unfortunately, this setting does not affect the column view of the Open and Save dialog boxes, which are still slow due to the drawing of the icons. If anyone knows of a hack to set this flag, for the list view in the Finder, and also for the open and save dialog boxes, that would be great.
If you know of such a hack
Michael Curtis, who first reported the problem,
I've also seen the problem on both ExtremeZ-IP and Mac OS X Server, BUT, it won't stop you working. You can see the dim folders, but at least you can scroll. You can't scroll the view while it is "caching." It does it when connecting to Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 servers.The Finder only seems to "cache' the files that are in the view, so it seems you have to scroll the window to get the other folders cached.
Jaap van den Dries of the Netherlands thinks the problem may have to do with an old version of the Apple File Protocol (AFP):
It's terribly slow, especially with 10.3; 10.2 was somewhat better. On several places on the Internet there are threads about this problem, but until now there's no clear solution. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Microsoft doesn't supports AFP 3.x but sticks to 2.x (without support for long filenames, another very annoying problem).Darrin Pertschi agrees with van den Dries on the cause:
Yes, I can absolutely second Michael Curtis experience. Folders on a MS 2000/2003 server, with more than a couple dozen files and folders within, take a lot longer to scroll through, in list view, than on OS 9 booted machines. The folders appear properly immediately as expected, but the Finder produces a 'ghost image' of file icons briefly and then it snaps into the full color of the proper creator app. icon.And yes, once you scroll fully through the folder and it's drawn properly; you can go in and out of the folder and experience hesitation free scrolling. Once you disconnect from the server and reconnect, your back to slow icon redraw the first time in any given folder. I see this on multiple machines running 10.3.4.
I suspect it's the AFP version mismatch; desktop-v3.1, server-v2.2.
Jordi Parera of Barcelona, Spain, describes more symptoms:
We have exactly the same slow access to our W2000 Server that Michael Curtis reports when we try to access the first time to a directory. I feel it's due to the 'intelligent redrawing' the Mac OS X is making of the different icons; for example, when the files are locked for the user, the icon appears with a specific icon, and it seems W2000 it's serving this information quite slow.In Excel (Mac OS X), when you try to open a file from your W2000 server, it takes a longtime to show the files in a directory (as long as 5-6 seconds in our case). When you page-scroll in the open dialog box, you have to wait also at each 'page-down'. If you quit Excel, reopen it and try to open a file in the same W2000 directory, speed improves a lot (without being impressive anyhow).
Jonathan Tillick describes the versions of Mac OS X that exhibit the problem:
We're definitely having this problem and it's a real pain. It takes a second or two or longer for large lists of files, and is noticeable even on short lists. We're Running 10.3.5 and 10.3.6 clients connecting through AFP to a straightforward Windows 2000 fileserver. It seems to have happened since upgrading to 10.3.x from 10.2. Still a problem in 10.3.6If you're in column view you notice that it's slow and even seems to only load the files that are visible - you can leave it a few seconds to "catch up", but even then when you scroll down it's still slow. It doesn't seem smart enough to preload the rest of the folders files until you scroll down.
Fabienne Tierce of France:
We're seeing very low speed between a shared folder on Windows Server 2003 and Mac OX 10.3.6 (G4) computers. To open the window of the folder "IMAGES" (on server NAS) and copy the pictures in EPS on the desktop of the G4, it takes an abnormal amount of time.How to use Open Source Network Administration Tools. November 8, 2004 -- Mark Duling has posted a page describing his top open source picks for network administration with links to his pages describing how to use them. Duling told us about his site:
Here is a set of Mac OS X how-to's I did for some really useful open source software for network administrators. A Jaguar version of the RANCID how-to was listed on your site some time ago, but the rest are original. I think they make a nice open source suite of apps for Panther.MS Technet describes Macs and AD, SMB, SFM. November 8, 2004 -- A Microsoft's new Technet Magazine includes an article called Secure Your Mac On A Windows Network. The story covers Services for Macintosh,SMB, Active Directory and the Apple OS X Active Directory Client. (Thanks to Tony Euser for this tip.)
Problems with Active Directory passwords and OS X Address Book. November 8, 2004 -- Steve Dockery is running into problems with Active Directory with Mac passwords and with Mac OS X Address Book:
I've bound our Mac OS X 10.3.5 Macs to our Active Directory server, so you can log into a machine and it will create a new user for you on the spot. I've been creating mobile users, so they will persist. In some cases, the user was already on the machine before binding. Here's what I've found:1. If the user is already on the machine, Active Directory does not override the local user's password, even though the exact same (short) user name exists in AD. Perhaps it is because it doesn't match in all particulars. The only was I can get the AD server to do the authentication for a user is if the user was created by logging in as an AD user that did not already have a local user. I believe this behavior is the same in Windows.
2. If a user was created by logging in and set up as a mobile account, they can't alter their OS X Address Book. Any attempt to edit or add an address causes the Address Book to lock up with a spinning beach ball. Local users can edit their Address Books at will. Fixing permissions doesn't solve the problem, neither does giving them local admin privileges.
If I can't solve the Address Book issue, I can't use AD for user authentication, I need people to be able to add contacts to their Address Books.
If you've seen this problem
Reader report: Slow access to Windows Server. November 8, 2004 -- Michael Curtis reports a performance problem with the first Mac OS X access to a Windows server, which he thinks seems to be some sort of caching behavior:
Mac sharing to a Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 server is so slow the first time you go to a folder that contains lots of files/folders and is even worse when those files are making thumb nails.It does not happen to Mac OS X Server or with ExtremeZ-IP. It seems that Mac OS X is doing caching of Windows Server items. Is there any way to turn this off? You can tell when it is doing it, as all the icons are lighter while they are "cached."
When you return to that folder, access will be quick. But once you log out the "cache" seems to be lost.
If you've seen this problem
Mac can't access Win XP Service Pack 2. November 8, 2004 -- Stephen Power reports that his Mac can no longer access his Windows XP machine after he updated it with Service Pack 2:
I, too, have recently upgraded my Windows XP laptop to Service Pack 2. My Mac "sees" the computer, but I cannot connect. I can, however, log onto the Mac from my PC, but have lost the ability to network print via the Mac.We've had several reports of the opposite problem with SP2: Windows XP SP 2 machines can't access Mac OS X Server.
If you've seen this problem
Mac Word 2004 and SMB problems. November 8, 2004 -- Michael Pearson sees the problem saving files to Windows 2003 Server, specifically with Word files:
At our University we are having the same problem saving Word files on a Win 2003 server. Our magazine labs is using G5s running 10.3.5. Many times Word files on the server can not be saved under the same name, it gives the error that the file is in use or the network share has been closed, neither of which is true. I gave everyone full control for the temporary items folder but we are still having the problem.Suggestions for syncing Palm devices with VPC 6 and 7. November 4, 2004 -- Responding to reports of problems synching PalmOne devices with Virtual PC, several readers said that they are able to sync with VPC versions 6 and 7.
A reader identified as Unseelie thought a problem if Palm Desktop for Mac was open:
I sync Palm devices with VPC 7.0 daily with my Tungsten T to a Windows XP (now updated to SP2) VM under 10.3.5 and it works just fine. I did, initially, see some problems if the Mac Palm Desktop was enabled. It appeared as if the Mac Palm Desktop would grab the device before Palm Desktop within the VM could do so. Since then, I have always disabled the Mac Palm Desktop before syncing within Windows and it works like a charm.John Holmes describes how he gets it to work:
I am able to do the hot synch just fine. If I am in the VPC window and click on it, then when I push the hot synch button on my Palm, it does the hot synch in the Windows Palm Desktop, if I don't then it will hot synch in the Mac Palm Desktop.The best method I could find is from within VPC Windows, with the mouse changed to a white arrow. On the Palm device, tap the Hot Synch application in the applications (not the Hot Synch button on the cradle).
Jim Breashears describes how he syncs with Virtual PC 6
I've never (knock on wood) had a problem syncing VPC 6 with Palm Devices using USB. I don't know it this is relevant to the discussion, but my set up is: PowerBook 1.25 w/ 1.25 GB Ram & PowerBook 667 w/ 1 GB Ram, both machines set to allot 512 MB to VPC 6. Both machines have VPC 6 and Win 2000 Pro.VPC Menu Bar > Edit > Settings > USB > Enable > select "USB Device from Apple Computer"
My Palm device is a Kyocera 7135 Smartphone. I used to use the Keyspan serial- to-USB because I thought that was the only way to get it to work. One day I got a wild hair and tried plugging in straight to USB and it worked. I think I got the idea off of MacFixIt, but can't remember for sure.
More on Windows Server 2003/OS X disconnections. November 4, 2004 -- Reid Lewis of Group Logic commented that the problem of Mac OS X disconnecting from Windows Server 2003 would not occur with his company's product, ExtremeZ-IP. He says the reason is AFP 3.1:
If the problem is the Mac OS X client, then ExtremeZ-IP should be mask the problem with the automatic reconnect feature of AFP 3.1. ExtremeZ-IP supports automatic reconnect and AFP 3.1. Services for Mac (SFM) does not because SFM relies on the older AFP 2.2 protocol that does not auto-reconnect.Derek Smith sent in a clarification to his previous report on Mac OS X disconnecting from Windows Server 2003:
I mentioned ADmitMac only because it is the method we use to automount volumes at user login. The unexpected dismount is very rare, (three reports - I've only seen it once with my own eyes,) and I have no evidence ADmitMac is responsible. Once the volume is mounted, I believe the OS is responsible for maintaining the connection on the client end, not ADmitMac. The disconnects could very likely come from the server, or perhaps they are even network related. The jury is still out on this one.Tracking down random Mac disconnects from Win 2003. November 1, 2004 -- Several readers responded to a previous report of Macs randomly disconnecting from Windows 2003 Server. Donald Harkin has also seen the problem:
It happens with us, too. We are using a grading program which resides on a Windows 2003 box. All of our iBooks run Panther. Disconnects happen randomly at any given time.Ronald McCafferty offers some advice on tracking down and fixing the problem:
I have seen this many times, and in many cases have needed to look further into network hardware settings, such as DHCP lease options, router/firewall rules, as in trusted addresses, which contain the hardware (MAC) addresses of each NIC (Ethernet card). Try using the Microsoft User Authentication Module for the OS X machines as well. However, my guess is that something is not configured properly on one of your routers or firewalls.To prove this, try using an unassigned static IP address in the same subnet as your DHCP scope. See if that machine stays connected. If so, then look at your DHCP settings for the problem. Delete all active leases, set the default lease for a shorter time, then refresh each computer to test.
There is nothing wrong with Windows 2003 Services for Mac, other than it is not the total answer to file services for the Mac.
Derek Smith reports seeing the problem with AdmitMac on the network:
I've seen it sporadically here as well. We use ADmitMac to authenticate and automount two volumes at user login. In our case one of the volumes will dismount with the 'puff-of-smoke' animated icon. The volume cannot be remounted during the same session, and on one occasion could not be remounted until after 3 reboots. On one occurrence, both mounted volumes dismounted. ADmitMac automounts using SMB (CIFS). In general, the volume on which the users' files resides is the volume which is dismounted. For our PC users, this volume holds home folders specified in the users' profiles. On our OS X machines, I have ADmitMac use a local user folder.If you've seen this problem or used this solution
Note that our Windows 2003 Server Reports page has a number of suggestions under the title of Getting any Mac to work with Win 2003 File Server.
More on Win XP Pro SP2 logon to Mac OS X Server. November 1, 2004 -- Artur Kruus has the same problem we reported Friday with Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Mac OS X Server 10.2.8:
We're also having trouble logging into existing accounts on Mac OS X Server 10.2.8 with Win XP SP2. I've a customer that had two Dell boxes working beautifully with XP Pro SP1 that now cannot get to the server (no changes there) after the update.Disabling the Firewall completely doesn't seem to restore functionality. They both get either network path doesn't exist or authentication failed errors.
If you've seen this problem
More reports of VPC 7 problems with Palm HotSync. November 1, 2004 -- We have more reports of an incompatibility with Virtual PC 7 and USB PalmOne devices:
Peter Walker:
I have the same problem. I've installed Palm Desktop, but can't hotsync with Windows using VPC 7.Loren Olson:
If you are using Virtual PC 6 or 7 under OS X syncing Palm devices is next to useless. The only fix I have seen is running Virtual PC under OS 9, which of course you can not do with Virtual PC 7.If you've seen this problem
Fixes: Files added to a Win shared folder don't appear on Mac. October 29, 2004 -- Victoria Walker reported a problem she's seen with files added to a Windows shared folder not appearing in the Finder. The reason is that the Finder doesn't update frequently enough. Walker pointed to an Apple article that explained it and offered a workaround.
She also provide a few other fixes:
This Version Tracker page includes a script to make a Finder "refresh" key. It also says that this is a BSD issue that may be fixed in Tiger.A MacOS X Hints page reports that a Nudge contextual menu item is a simple workaround that requires just two clicks to refresh the Finder contents.
Reader report: Good performance with VPC 7 with XP Pro. October 29, 2004 -- Roy Houston found Virtual PC 7 significantly faster than previous versions:
We upgraded to the a Power Mac G5 2 MP with 4 GB of RAM last week.Previously, we had used VPC 6.1. With Virtual PC 7, we can edit and render Flash seamlessly, even while other programs are open in Virtual PC, and while other Mac software was running. In fact, we found Windows running faster then on our Toshiba P4 1.8, and that is no exaggeration.
We mentioned this to the Apple guy at our local CompUSA and he was amazed because he's seen the frustrations we've had with VPC 4.0, 5.0 and finally, 6.0, which was light years better then the older versions, but we still had to depend on a Windows based machine for our work. Now it appears we can soon put the Toshiba to rest. We can say with confidence (using both OS regularly) that this is the best version made.
We remind readers that according to Microsoft, Virtual PC 7 can only use the bandwidth of one processor in a dual-processor Mac.
VPC 7 problem with USB and PalmOne devices. October 29, 2004 -- A reader named Kevin reports a problem with syncing PalmOne devices in Virtual PC:
The problems started cropping up with USB and PalmOne devices as early as VPC 6.1.1. In VPC 6.1.1 it would take forever for the installer to complete its process of installing, and then when you tired to Sync, it look like Hotsync would initiate, but it would never take off, just time out. Well, in VPC 7 the installation process has been greatly improved, but once again, you can't sync to PalmOne devices such as the T3, and T5.If you've seen this problem
Limitation with RDC/time zone workaround. October 29, 2004 -- Daniel Foshee points out a limitation to a previously reported workaround to the Microsoft Remote Desktop Client problem with time zones:
Brian's workaround to change the time zone each time they log in would presuppose that the users would have that ability; any such control panels are locked out for our users."Failed to stat homedir" Active Directory problem. October 29, 2004 -- Andrew Cunningham is another reader with a problem using the -localhome disable and -mountstyle SMB arguments to dsconfigad:
You asked that if anyone else had seen errors regarding "failure to stat homedir" that they should contact you. I have made an effort to document my woes with this issue here.And while we have managed to reduce the occurrence of this, we do still see it on a daily basis. I have managed to create a few scripts that allow me to recover from it, but it certainly is a nuisance!
If you've seen this problem
Windows Server 2003/OS X disconnections. October 29, 2004 -- Paul Kneipp has a problem with Windows 2003 Server disconnection Macs running Panther:
Since upgrading to Windows 2003 Server at our school, OS X clients (10.3) are being disconnected randomly, sometimes even whilst being used. I contacted Microsoft; they couldn't even say if there was a time out setting for the Win 2000 clients, let alone Macs. Under Win 2000 Server, it seemed to be OK.The problem is, teachers are leaving FileMaker open and then teaching for 5 or 10 minutes; the time it waits before disconnecting seems random. We are going nuts about this.
Most clients are connecting via IP address and they are all authorized users. This problem doesn't seem to happen on the PC clients.
If you've seen this problem
Win XP SP2 can't connect to Mac Server 10.2.8. October 29, 2004 -- Paul Vail has a problem with Windows XP Service Pack 2 connecting to Mac OS X Server:
Wondering what you have discovered about Windows XP Pro SP2 clients having trouble logging into existing accounts on Mac OS X Server 10.2.8? I've a customer that had two Dell boxes working beautifully with XP Pro SP1 that now cannot get to the server (no changes there) after the update.Disabling the Firewall completely doesn't seem to restore functionality. They both get either network path doesn't exist or authentication failed errors.
If you've seen this problem
MacWindows Virtual PC 7 page is now up. October 27, 2004 -- We've collected our coverage of Virtual PC for Mac Version 7 and put it on a new Virtual PC 7 Notes and Reports page.
Do you find Virtual PC 7 to be faster than VPC 6? Does is solve your performance problems? Is Windows XP now usable? We want to
VPC 7 and Norton Antivirus conflict same as w/VPC 6. October 27, 2004 -- A pair of readers confirmed that Norton Antivirus causes Virtual PC 7 slowdowns. We have previously reported many instances of performance slowdowns with Virtual PC 6 and NAV. As with VPC 6, the fix is to turn off the Auto-protect preference setting in Mac Norton Antivirus. The fix with either version is to turn off the Auto-protect preference setting in Mac Norton Antivirus.
Mr. Richardson updated his previous report:
The Save PC State slowdown I had in VPC 7 was solved by turning off the Auto-protect preference setting in Mac Norton Antivirus....John Warren has seen the problem with Norton AntiVirus:
I can confirm what Mr. Richardson has seen with fast save when Norton AV is running.I currently have cases in with both Microsoft and Symantec on this issue. In both cases the issue is already past the Level 2 techs.
I also have both Microsoft and Symantec talking to each other. I will be posting more information about this later once I get more information back from MS and Symantec.
OS X 10.3.5 "forgetting" AD binding affects the Antarctic. October 27, 2004 -- Some problems with Mac clients and Windows servers are universal in nature, but there is at least one issue this is truly global. Holly Troy of McMurdo Station, Antarctica, reports seeing this problem of Mac OS X 10.3.4, 10.3.5 "forgetting" its binding to Microsoft Active Directory:
I have seen this issue down here at McMurdo Station Antarctica and its got me really ticked off because it was stable at 10.3.3, no issues. I am thinking they broke it with either a security update or .4 or .5 release.Also if you just do a reboot it fixes the problem 90 percent of the time and waiting for the AD services to register upon boot up.
Next, we discovered that this issue does not happen on our G5s but is pretty common on our G4s. Is that weird or what.
Apparently, the Apple is aware of the issue and is working on a fix for possibly 10.3.6.
If you're curious about what goes on in McMurdo Station, you'll find a short video here.
This is actually the second report we've received from Antarctica. The first was in 1999, from Dean Klein, who was an IT manager at Palmer Station.
OS X 10.3.4 effect on AD integration and case sensitivity. October 27, 2004 -- Nicolas Reichelt reports that a previously reported problem with Active Directory may be related to case sensitivity:
I had a similar problem with a customer and found that the patches of the Home directories are case sensitive. I.E. if USERONE has an entry //SERVER1/LOCALHOME/USERONE as the sharepoint in AD, and USERTWO has //server1/localhome/USERTWO as the entry, they cannot share the Homes on the same client Mac. The local mountpath is not deleted after logout of the first user, so the second gets problems.Solution: all entries in AD should be uppercase (or all lowercase, at least the same case).
PDF2Office 2.0 PDF-to-Office file converter adds Office X integration. October 27, 2004 -- Recosoft announced that in December 2004, it will ship PDF2Office v2.0 Professional Edition (US $129, upgrade $59), a new version of the the PDF document converter for Mac OS X. PDF2Office converts PDF files to Microsoft Word, RTF and Appleworks formats. A new feature allows you to open PDF documents directly from within Microsoft Word X and Word 2004. Amoung some of the other new features:
(See also this press release.)
Reader doesn't see Quark/RDC problem running under 10.3.2. October 27, 2004 -- John Gettler doesn't have a problem with Quark and MS RDC we mentioned a little while back:
I do not have the Quark/RDC problem running under my 10.3.2 system. I duplicated Brian Willett's description carefully, and see no problem mouse clicking in the RDC environment or the OSX environment, when I had text copied into the clipboard from the RDC environment. I had QuarkXPress running at the time.MS on problem saving files on Win Server 2003. October 25, 2004 -- Mark Kreitz found some Microsoft information regarding the problem of saving files on Windows 2003 Server from Mac OS X:
We've seen this problem using Mac OS X clients (10.3.5) and Windows 2003 Server and, after researching the issue, have found some information that may help others:1. This Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 833613 describes a situation:
... the original file is not removed quickly enough from the network share folder when Excel tries to replace the original file with your changed file. Therefore, you cannot save the replacement file by using the original file name.
The offending application in this KB article is MS Excel 2000 (Windows), but the problem appears very similar to the current Mac OS X problem.
MS mentions SFM as a contributing factor but, as we've seen, the problem also occurs on volumes that are not SFM-activated.
The article goes on to say that users should contact MS for a hot-fix for the above KB issue. We have not tried this yet.
Also, if the only problem was "slow file removal" then all users should be affected equally. This is not the case. The creator seems to be able to edit/save their server-based files without incident.
2. Regardless of the Windows server security privileges that are set for the file Mac OS X acts as if only the creator can make changes and save a file that is server-based. Others that are allowed access to the file (by Windows 2003 Server), can only read the file. Mac OS X appears to obeying UNIX permissions that the Windows server is not overriding.
Kreitz then described different symptoms with Word and Excel:
I've set up one folder on our Windows 2003 server to be shared by two Mac OS X (10.3.5) users. Each user has "Full Control" enabled under this shared folder's Security setting via the Windows server. However, only the originator of the Excel file can save changes to the file. If a subsequent user tries to save a change to the file then a error message is generated: "Save not completed. File rename failed." Then it renames the file with apparently random characters.In Word the error is different. It reads, "There has been a network or file permission error. The network connection may be lost." After clicking "OK" Word then prompts the user with the "Save as:" dialog box. If "Cancel" is selected Word repeats the same error message and then allows you to successfully cancel the save upon clicking "OK".
This is an extremely frustrating problem and a fundamental roadblock to simple file-sharing, one that I hope Apple, Microsoft or both work to resolve quickly.
GroupCal 2.0, access Exchange from iCal with 2-way sync. October 25, 2004 -- Snerdware has released GroupCal 2.0 (US $65, upgrade $5), software for Mac OS X 10.2.8 and later that enables iCal to access the calendaring features of Exchange Server. Version 2.0 adds two-way synchronization, letting you view the calendars of Outlook for Windows users, but now allowing other Outlook/Exchange users to view and sync calendars with your calendars. You can also send and receive meeting invites.
Reader Patrick Gilmore gives the new version thumbs up:
I used Version 1 and it was okay, but GroupCal 2.0 is amazing. I will not say it is perfect, but it is an absolute must have for anyone with a Mac who is forced to use Outlook / Exchange calendaring with other people.And although the product is not quite perfect, it is close, and Snerdware's support is perfect. I have never dealt with a more responsive support organization--including my own company's! I can't say enough about their support, and their product is absolutely top notch. Highest recommendation.
Snerdware also offers AddressX (US $25) which allows access to the Exchange Global Address List from the OS X Address Book. Addresses in the GAL appear in Address Book.
Integrating Mac OS X 10.3 and Novell eDirectory. October 25, 2004 -- MacEnterprise.org (formerly know as MacOSXLabs) has posted an article called Integrating Mac OS X 10.3 and Novell eDirectory. The site describes the article:
This document describes how information stored in Novell's eDirectory can be used to authenticate and manage Mac OS 10.3 users and provide these users with network based home directories and file services from a Netware 6 and 6.5 servers using the Apple Filing Protocol (AFP).Thursby releases ADmitMac 2.0.2. October 20, 2004 -- Thursby Software Systems released ADmitMac 2.0.2, a free maintenance update to the Mac software for joining Windows Active Directory networks. In addition to fixes for minor issues, version 2.0.2 adds some new features:
Group Logic announces Mac OS X print accounting solution. October 20, 2004 -- Group logic announced that later this year it will ship a new product called ExtremeZ-IP Print Accounting Add-on, an add-on to ExtremeZ-IP Print Server for managing enterprise-wide printing. (See also this white paper.) The new software will allow an organization to track, audit and allocate costs associated with printing, according to the company. ExtremeZ-IP Print Accounting Add-on will appear to users in the Mac OS X print dialog to ask for project or cost codes, which will be validated against a centralized list before printing occurs. The software supports TCP/IP and AppleTalk printing, including printers on Windows servers.
Netatalk 2.0 supports AFP 3.1, Kerberos. October 20, 2004 -- The Netatalk development team has released Netatalk 2.0, an Apple File Protocol (AFP) file/print server for Linux, BSD Unix, and SunOS/Solaris. The software is free under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
(More technically, "Netatalk is a daemon which provides POSIX-compliant *NIX/*BSD systems with the ability to share files and printers with Apple Macintosh computers.)
In addition to numerous bug fixes, Netatalk 2.0 provides new features including the following:
