Excel file in DFS mapped drive renamed as XXXXX.tmp when saving

Question

Hi,

We have a DFS setup of two servers for keeping two copies of user data.
We map a drive for all users to one of the two nodes.

One of our users has reported that every time they save a particular Excel document, regardless of whether they have actually made any edits, they get a message saying the file could not be saved.
When checking the folder, it is stored in, it has been renamed to something like XXXXX.tmp

Renaming the file back to its original file name.xlsx restores the document, but we can't determine why this is happening.
Trying myself in the exact same way it works fine.

Anyone have any suggestions on what might cause this behaviour?

Thanks
James

EDIT: here is the message the user gets when saving:

Answer 1

@James Edmonds

> save a particular Excel document, regardless of whether they have actually made any edits,

Does this issue occur with other Excel workbooks? I would suggest you create a new blank workbook to check this issue.

• Please use "Save As" function to save this file with other file format or other file name.
• I also suggest you use "Move or Copy" function to move some sheet to the new created workbook.

Excel will create a temp file on the network drive when you open it from a network location and then when you try to save the document it uses this temp file to overwrite the original copy.

• Make sure these users have sufficient permissions on this file, such as read, write, modify, and delete.
• Please check the network to ensure these users did not lose this network connection after opening this file.
• If users copy this file to the local, then modify and save it and put it back on the DFS mapped drive to check whether it is successful.
• If any AV software is enabled, it's recommended to temporarily exit for a test.

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Answer 2

Hi there,

A workaround for this issue will be disabling indexing for TMP files
Go to Control Panel -> Indexing Options -> Advanced Options -> Select the “File Types” tab
Add TMP to the extension list and then uncheck the check box to turn off the indexing of TMP files.

Temporary files do not synchronize correctly to a non-DFS share on a server from a client computer
Update your PC to the latest hotfix.

Here is a thread as well which discusses the same issue and you can try out some troubleshooting steps from this and see if that helps you to sort the Issue.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/73484373-65bf-41e8-a2ab-0a4fdd615e92/redirected-folders-excel-creates-tmp-files-while-word-renames-them?forum=winserverfiles

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/office-2007-creates-xxxxxxxxtmp-files-in-same/eb7ee34d-3a02-4fe7-a1f3-9a208439d84a

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Answer 3

Hello,

make sure the drive mapping is using \DFSNamespace and not \UNCpath.

Cheers,
Miguel Fra
https://www.falconitservices.com