Notice: This website is an unofficial Microsoft Knowledge Base (hereinafter KB) archive and is intended to provide a reliable access to deleted content from Microsoft KB. All KB articles are owned by Microsoft Corporation. Read full disclaimer for more details.

SharePoint 2007 or 2010: Office Documents open ReadOnly from SharePoint site


Symptoms

Consider the following Scenario:

  • On Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 2008 systems with Office 2007 or Office 2010 installed and Internet Explorer 7 or Internet Explorer 8, you attempt to open files from a SharePoint site using a Fully Qualified Domain Name (a URL including ‘.’ in the site name).
  • SharePoint 2007 or 2010 is hosted on Windows 2008 or 2008 R2 Server with WebDav enabled.
  • The SharePoint 2007 or 2010 site is setup to use Windows Authentication.
  • Users of the SharePoint site are expecting Client Integration (being able to edit and save directly back to the server) to be functional.

In this scenario, a user may see one or more of the following symptoms:

  • The user is prompted unexpectedly to enter their credentials. 
  • The Office document will open in Read Only.  
  • When opening SharePoint Explorer View an error will occur showing the path to the Document Library and a message of "Not Implemented". 
  • When trying to save from Office back to a SharePoint site directly doing a Save As will not be an option.  The SharePoint directory will not populate in the Save As dialog box.
  • When opening the document read only and then clicking on the Edit Document button, the user may see this error: "A problem occurred while connecting to the server. If the problem continues, contact your administrator."

↑ Back to the top


Cause

This happens when Office detects that WebDAV is enabled on the server. If WebDAV is enabled then Microsoft Office also has to determine whether or not to open the document as ReadWrite or ReadOnly.  SharePoint acts as its own WebDAV Server.  Windows Server 2008's WebDAV Publishing role, if enabled, will interfere with SharePoint’s WebDAV functionality.  

↑ Back to the top


Resolution

WebDAV Publishing should not reside on a SharePoint Server if the server is Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2.  If the server is acting as a WebDAV Publishing server then SharePoint should be installed on its own server.

To remove WebDAV Publishing follow the below instructions:

Windows Server 2008:

  • Uninstall Microsoft WebDAV 7.5 For IIS 7.0 http://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=8A47D609-8D95-4E1A-B2F2-2303E7E10EDC&displaylang=en  component by going into Control Panel->Programs and Features and choosing Uninstall.
  • After removing the component then go into Server Manager Roles->Web Server IIS section->Remove Role Services->Uncheck WebDAV Publishing if it is checked.  This will require a reboot of the Server.


Windows Server 2008 R2:

  • In Server Manager go to Roles->Web Server IIS section->Remove Role Services->Uncheck WebDAV Publishing if it is checked.  This will require a reboot of the Server.

↑ Back to the top


Keywords: kb, vkball

↑ Back to the top

Article Info
Article ID : 2018958
Revision : 5
Created on : 8/20/2020
Published on : 8/20/2020
Exists online : False
Views : 100