Office Documents hanging after decomissioning a server

[Mark_W]

After decommissioning the file server where shared templates were stored we had to update the shared templates registry key on all client machines and Office is now working fine for new documents. When opening some old word documents word hangs and then either crashes completely or says the file is corrupt. If the decommissioned server is put back on the network these documents open up instantly with no problems! The actual shared drives on the server are no longer there so it's not as though Word is able to access the old templates at the old location.

I can't figure out what the link between the documents and the old server is and I haven't noticed anything these documents have in common. I'm not an Office expert and don't know how office documents may hold links to hostnames. A bit confused here, am I missing something?

Thanks

Edited January 9, 2009 by Mark_W

[Guest]

A long shot, but down the server and remove its entry from DNS or change the hostname to an alias of the current server if the file paths are the same as before?

[Garry]

Here's a wild guess.... If the server is online, it's able to tell Office that the template it's looking for doesn't exist and so loading continues. If it's offline then Office is waiting for a response.

I've seen something similar which involved pressing Escape when the document was hung - forcing it to cancel looking for the template.

I agree with ]SK['s resolution though.

[Mark_W]

Thanks for the response guys but this did not appear to solve the problem. I have used the following workaround for the time being.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823372/

1. Quit Word.

2. Click Start, and then click Run.

3. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.

4. Locate, and then click the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters.

5. With the key selected, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click DWORD.

6. Type ServerNotFoundCacheLifeTimeInSec, and then press ENTER.

7. Right-click ServerNotFoundCacheLifeTimeInSec, and then click Modify.

8. In the Edit DWORD Value dialog box, click Decimal.

9. In the Value data box, type the number of seconds that Windows should spend looking for the template, the folder, or the share that is missing, moved, or renamed. For example, type 180 for 180 seconds. Then, click OK.

10. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Registry Editor.