# SMB Shared Files Locking



## JohnKoroberi (Jun 30, 2005)

I posted this question to this website yesterday, but i thought i would share it with the entire forum if anyone can shed some light on what seems to be a fairly widespread problem...



We are working in a Windows 2003 server mixed environment with about 15 Windows XP machines and 5 or 6 OS X panther machines, and experiencing several problems with the macintoshes.


The problem is with this "._" file locking issue. Mac users cannot rename directories etc. and the PC users cannot rename directories commonly accessed by mac users, everyone recieves the "File is in use and cannot be renamed" message. As the network admin, everytime anyone wants to rename anything or move a folder, i have to go into the domain controller where the files are being served (via SMB) and manually close the mac users' connections to the duplicate "._" files (which i assume are generated by file forking, or whatever that apple file sharing deal is). These files never seem to get closed automatically, much to the users dismay--and to my dismay-- as they have to come tell me everytime they want to move or rename anything, and then i have to drop connections and then tell them they can do what they were trying to do previously. sometimes the mac users will have up to 30 or 40 open connections, when they have no open files on their machines.

Additionally, i sometimes notice "[filename]:AFP_AfpInfo" corruption problems in the event viewer on the domain controller.

I was wondering if there is any resolution to this file locking problem, other than purchasing something like ExtremeZ-IP... or even if upgrading to Tiger would resolve these issues (i cant seem to find any information about the SMB updates in 10.4 or 10.4.1)

Any information would help greatly. Thank you!


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## JohnKoroberi (Jul 11, 2005)

no suggestions on this at all?


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Jul 11, 2005)

Have you tried having the Mac users connect via a different protocol -- instead of AFP, can you try having them connect via SMB to the shares -- or vice versa?

Perhaps the file locking has something specific to do with the protocol... just a shot in the dark.


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## JohnKoroberi (Jul 12, 2005)

yes they were originally connected through afp, but that seemed to cause even more problems, as they were getting dropped off the server every 10 minutes or so... but i guess its worth another shot...


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## Sidewinder01 (Aug 3, 2010)

Try looking at the files/folders on your SMB Server. Check for a space at the end of the folder name or file names. This is a very common problem. There are two ways to fix this. Ask the original creator of said file or folder to rename it from their mac, or rename it yourself using 8.3 file/folder names using command prompt on the win server.

Simply just do a DIR /X /A  to see the short folder names, then use RMDIR /Q /S [drive:]path With Path being the 8.3  name, eg:

G:\DIR /X/A showed me G:\OLDIT~1

RMDIR /Q /S G:\OLDIT~1  (Or use Ren to rename)

Hope this helps


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## DeltaMac (Aug 3, 2010)

I hope the OP hasn't been waiting more than 5 years for an answer.


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## Sidewinder01 (Aug 3, 2010)

LOL, Missed that! It took me 3 years to figure it out


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