Working without a Word work file - Word 2003 / Outlook 2003

[tehtechie]

I think I have stumbled across the solution - I have yet to completely
confirm with most people in my office due to the fact some are off on
Fridays...

All of the potential solutions that I've come across for this "word
working without a work file" issue all point to checking your "temp"
files location, to ensure you have rights. I know we've tried giving
full access to the users temp folders to no avail.

Well, after using process monitor on my own machine to see where word
was storing temp files, I discovered that it not only stores them in
your current "temp" or "tmp" variable, but ALSO in wherever your
"Temporary Internet Files" variable is, inside a subfolder called
"Content.Word".

So, after checking random registries of the users impacted, I was
consistently finding their cache pointing to "%systemroot%\Temporary
Internet Files". This explains why elevated privileges would
alleviate the problem.

This has yet to be tested, but if you have a few clients you can
remove Power User, and just move their temporary internet files
location to "c:\documents and settings\username\Local Settings
\Temporary Internet Files". That should be done within the IE ->
Tools ->Internet Options dialog.

If this doesn't work, then I invite you to to run process monitor on a
client machine currently experiencing the issue, in case there's
something else permission related that I missed... this will definitely
point it out.

 

[Paul C - Southampton UK]

Just a quick update on 'power user' rights - provided my user with these
elevated rights locally earlier today but they messaged me back a few hours
later to say they had managed to break the machine again - I'll see if I
can capture the failure whilst we are waiting on MS Premier Support to supply
a solution. Cheers

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Ahhh, using Word 2003 as the Email editor/reader for Outlook with HTML email?

Yes, in that case you may have Word Work Files (~WR...) related to using the IE engine in Content.MSO, Content.Outlook and
Content.Word folders in the Temporary Internet Explorer Cache, that aren't always cleared by either Disk Cleanup, or the IE setting
to delete Temporary Internet Files on exit. (In Office 2007 Outlook has its own Word 'clone' editor).
Word Work files (~WR... in Window)

The IE folder isn't listed in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/277867 for Office files, maybe because it was assumed those would be
set for IE already, but full access to those folders could clear it. By moving the location I'm guessing that had the same effect as
changing the specific permissions.

You can get also that message if your IE cache is full/near the max limit you've set for it, or (as mentioned in an Article
referenced earlier in the thread) if the Word registry controlled cache size is exceeded.

If you've already tried deleting the Word data key in the registry, and the permissions you may want to see if it makes a difference
by adding to the Registry a String Value (REF_SZ) named CacheSize set to 128 or larger
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Options
I thought this was now automatic in Word 2003 (default is 65KB), but...

============
I think I have stumbled across the solution - I have yet to completely
confirm with most people in my office due to the fact some are off on
Fridays...

All of the potential solutions that I've come across for this "word
working without a work file" issue all point to checking your "temp"
files location, to ensure you have rights. I know we've tried giving
full access to the users temp folders to no avail.

Well, after using process monitor on my own machine to see where word
was storing temp files, I discovered that it not only stores them in
your current "temp" or "tmp" variable, but ALSO in wherever your
"Temporary Internet Files" variable is, inside a subfolder called
"Content.Word".

So, after checking random registries of the users impacted, I was
consistently finding their cache pointing to "%systemroot%\Temporary
Internet Files". This explains why elevated privileges would
alleviate the problem.

This has yet to be tested, but if you have a few clients you can
remove Power User, and just move their temporary internet files
location to "c:\documents and settings\username\Local Settings
\Temporary Internet Files". That should be done within the IE ->
Tools ->Internet Options dialog.

If this doesn't work, then I invite you to to run process monitor on a
client machine currently experiencing the issue, in case there's
something else permission related that I missed... this will definitely
point it out. >>

--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[viridian.mythos]

Since I'm managing my users through Active Directory, going to each
computer and changing settings through IE is unfeasible, so I tried
something else. tehtechie pointed out that the directory being
utilized is "%SystemRoot%\Temporary Internet Files", so far I've been
unable to redirect the usage of this directory through AD or with
scripts. In the end, I decided to give the "Everyone" group "Modify"
access to "%SystemRoot%\Temporary Internet Files" and then use a batch
file to delete all files created in that directory when the user logs
off. This seems to have solved the issue.

 

[tehtechie]

As a followup, we are going to deploy a vbscript via group policy that
corrects this company wide. Surely, if you use AD, you can use Group
Policy to change it where you need it. Our environment consists of
well over 10,000 computers, and doing it any other way than group
policy would be madness.

It's been tested on a test OU we set up, and appears to resolve the
issue. It will remain a part of our computer startup scripts for the
foreseeable future.

And... no word from Microsoft Premier support on this yet...

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

He tehtechhie,

When you say 'corrects this' are you referring to the location or the permissions or ???

Do you have MS case number you're referring to for this one?

=============
As a followup, we are going to deploy a vbscript via group policy that
corrects this company wide. Surely, if you use AD, you can use Group
Policy to change it where you need it. Our environment consists of
well over 10,000 computers, and doing it any other way than group
policy would be madness.

It's been tested on a test OU we set up, and appears to resolve the
issue. It will remain a part of our computer startup scripts for the
foreseeable future.

And... no word from Microsoft Premier support on this yet... >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[tehtechie]

When I say corrects this, I am referring to the fact that our script
will reset a users TEMP, TMP environment variables to %userprofile%
\Local Settings\Temp and the temporary internet files to %userprofile%
\local settings\temporary internet files.

The root cause is permissions - and the fact that at one point we fell
outside Microsoft defaults for temp variables for some reason or
another. Keeping the temp variables within the profile alleviates the
problems with permissions.

 

[Eric]

Richard,
I am having an almost identical issue. I know it has been a while since your
last post. I was wondering if you were able to find a resolution to this
problem.
Thanks,
Eric

 

[Eric]

Scoobydoo,
I am having the same issue. Have you found any resolution?
Thanks,
Eric

 

[Paul C - Southampton UK]

Hi Eric - Below is one of the resolutions provided by MS ....I found one of
the reg keys missing - checked another machine and created the same ...it may
help - let me know, Cheers >>

After reviewing the case log, I understand this issue as follows:
You get the Error message- 'you are working without a Word work file and
memory is nearly full. Save your work'. You are using Word 2003 with Windows
XP.

This issue is generally caused if the user temp folders don't exist. There
we would try the following steps to check if the temp folders exist:

Warning: Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly
by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might
require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee
that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.



1. Close all the programs.

2. Click on Start. Click on Run.

3. Type- regedit. Click on ok.

4. This would open the registry editor.

5. Browse to -
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Folders.

6. In the right side window, you find a lot of values.

7. Double click on the each of the values. This would show a
particular location.

8. Copy this location and paste it into a run window. Check if this
location exists.

9. If the location exists, then please proceed to the next value in
the right side.

10. If no, then change the location to a some folder which is available on
the computer.

11. Repeat the steps for all the values.

12. Now Browse to
-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders.

13. Repeat the steps from STEP 6 to STEP 11.

14. Restart the computer and check for the results.



If you are facing the issue still, then please try to create a new windows
user account with administrator rights and check for the issue in the new
windows user account.