I've installed Norton 360 3.0 a few days ago on two different computers and have regular virus scans and backups. The computers are almost always on and Outlook 2007 is running on them. On both computers once or twice per day I cannot access the messages anymore, when I select the inbox I only see the message:
The file xxxx.pst cannot be accessed because another workstation has modified it
I have to restart Outlook and then it works again. I've found googling the error that in the past this was caused by a bug in Symevnt, which was supposedly fixed in old versions of Norton Antivirus. Has the problem come back in N360?
Thanks!
Hi John,
Vista SP1 Ultimate and Vista SP1 Home Premium, 32 bits
Outlook 2007 SP1 with all patches and fixes received from Windows Update
The pst file is in the backup set, there are actually two of them. I have removed one of them from the backup set, I will tell you how it goes.
Thanks.
I've installed Norton 360 3.0 a few days ago on two different computers and have regular virus scans and backups. The computers are almost always on and Outlook 2007 is running on them. On both computers once or twice per day I cannot access the messages anymore, when I select the inbox I only see the message:
The file xxxx.pst cannot be accessed because another workstation has modified it
I have to restart Outlook and then it works again. I've found googling the error that in the past this was caused by a bug in Symevnt, which was supposedly fixed in old versions of Norton Antivirus. Has the problem come back in N360?
Thanks!
Hi again. After removing the pst file from the backup set, the problem has not occurred. I have put the file back in the backup set and so far I haven't seen the error, but now the backup overlay icon is a gray square instead of a green one. This is expected i guess, since the file was in use. Is this the normal behaviour?
Thanks!
I’ve closed Outlook and let the backup run automatically and also manually, but the overlay icon is always gray with a white slash. There is also an .OST file with the green icon with the tickmark, but it also has a double arrow on the right side. I’m not sure this file is being backed up.
Hi shinsenai -
My recommendation would be to check the Restore Files page to see if the file has been backed up. You should be able to click the category after navigating to the Restore Files page under the main Backup pillar and see if the file is there. Since we have locked files that may not be available I would rather exclude the possibility of explorer failing to properly get the correct state of the file due to it being locked.
If you could collect a few more pieces of information I think I may be able to resolve this issue for you.
First I would ask that you take a look at the services list in Vista. Please go to the Control Panel then to Administrative Tools and then to Services. Scroll down in the list until you get to the "Volume Shadow Copy" service and double click it. If you could let me know what is displayed under the Service status field. If this field is marked "Stopped" if you could click the Start button and try the test again.
Second if you ever get in the state again where you are having this issue if you could download Microsoft Process Explorer from the following website:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
When outlook fails to open the file, start up process explorer and go to the Find menu and click the Find Handle or DLL menu item.
From there enter the name of your outlook pst file in the search box and hit the Search button. If you could let me know the results of this search that would be very helpful in determining what is going on.
Thanks.
John
Hi John,
the PST file is in the restore set, but it's last backup date is March 27th, which is when I first removed from the backup set. Since then I haven't been able to put it back in the set. Everytime I navigate to that file in the backup set definition (the 'What' tab) I see the file is not checked, I check it, close the dialog, save, etc, but when I go back is unchecked. I've also tried to add it using the context menu, but the result is the same. The file is not being backed up. It doesn't matter whether Outlook is running or not.
The Volume Shadow Copy service is set on Manual and Stopped, but as far as I know this is normal, I've seen the same on all Windows Vista I could check in the past few days. I can start it of course, but first I need to find a way of convincing N360 to keep the PST file in the backup set. I've rebooted the computer, tried everything I could think of, but the file is always unchecked and not backed up. Next I will try to create a brand new backup set with just that file inside, let's see what happens.
Thanks.
If I create a new backup set, the file is backup correctly. I would delete all back up sets and start from scratch, unless you want to investigate the issue further. However, the locking problem is still open. For the moment I can start Outlook and verify if the original problem reoccurs
Hi shinsenai -
If possible could you temporarily start the Volume Shadow Copy service and see if the problem goes away?
Thanks.
John
Hi John,
I've started manually the Volume Shadow Copy service, but the problem still occurs at least once a day:
"Cannot display the folder. Microsoft Office Outlook cannot access the specified folder location. The file xxxx.pst cannot be accessed because another workstation has modified it. Close and then restart all mail-enabled applications. You might need to restart your computer."
Alberto
Hi shinsenai -
I will have someone contact you regarding collecting log files for your system so that we can debug the problem further. Thanks.
John
Hi Jon, do you have any news on this one. Nobody has contacted me and I keep having to restart Outlook everyday because my pst files are locked.
Thanks,
Alberto
Hi Shinsenai -
Apologies I thought someone was taking care of this issue. I have escalated the issue to support and they should be contacting you shortly.
John
Hi again,
any news on this? I still haven't got any reply from your support. Maybe it's ended up in the spam filter, but I check it regularly and haven't seen anything there. I tried to contact your online support myself and it took me half an hour just to explain the problem and then the support person asked me to take remote control of my machine in order to downgrade the software from N360 v3 to N360 v2 'to see what happens'. I refrain from commenting. For the moment I still have to restart Outlook at least once or twice a day on both my computers.
Sorry if that sounded a bit bitter on my part and thanks for your help.
I don’t know if they did or not but did they try and contact you by PM? Is the envelope in the upper right hand corner of the screen yellow? Could be there instead of email.
No, the envelope is still white, no messages there :-(
Thanks!
shinsenai wrote:
No, the envelope is still white, no messages there :-(
Thanks!
Sorry for the delay in response. I have sent you an email with some information on gathering logs. If you don't see the email, please check your SPAM or Junk folder. Thanks!