OT: File compatibility issues with LAN drive
Joerg
message "Not a ZIP File". When clicking an *.XLS file on the LAN drive I
get the Windows error "Not a valid Win32 application". Well, I know it's
not an application. Harumph. Grumble.
Everything else works. Also when I copy those files over to a local PC
it's ok. The drive is a Western Digital MyBook and AFAIK the little PC
in this one runs Linux. Did anyone else have that happen with a Linux
file server? Any fixes? It's not a huge problem at all, just curious.
--
Regards, Joerg
Martin Riddle
"Joerg" <notthis...@removethispacbell.net> wrote in message news:ygm3j.21507$4V6....@newssvr14.news.prodigy.net...
Are you using a URL? or is the drive mapped?
Cheers
Joerg
It's just mapped.
Jim Thompson
I was just sent an "xlsx" file. Google says it's some MicroShit
perversion of XML and ZIP. My Excel 97 won't open it. Is there a way
to make it Excel 97 compatible and should I just send it back,
"Refused, Return to Sender" ?:-)
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave
Joerg
> On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:50:06 GMT, Joerg
> <notthis...@removethispacbell.net> wrote:
>
>> A puzzler: When trying to unzip files on my LAN drive I get the error
>> message "Not a ZIP File". When clicking an *.XLS file on the LAN drive I
>> get the Windows error "Not a valid Win32 application". Well, I know it's
>> not an application. Harumph. Grumble.
>>
>> Everything else works. Also when I copy those files over to a local PC
>> it's ok. The drive is a Western Digital MyBook and AFAIK the little PC
>> in this one runs Linux. Did anyone else have that happen with a Linux
>> file server? Any fixes? It's not a huge problem at all, just curious.
>
> I was just sent an "xlsx" file. Google says it's some MicroShit
> perversion of XML and ZIP. My Excel 97 won't open it. Is there a way
> to make it Excel 97 compatible and should I just send it back,
> "Refused, Return to Sender" ?:-)
>
You could try renaming it "xls" and then open. Might work if they didn't
use some fancy new (and usually unnecessary) features.
Spehro Pefhany
<To-Email-Use-Th...@My-Web-Site.com> wrote:
>On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:50:06 GMT, Joerg
><notthis...@removethispacbell.net> wrote:
>
>>A puzzler: When trying to unzip files on my LAN drive I get the error
>>message "Not a ZIP File". When clicking an *.XLS file on the LAN drive I
>>get the Windows error "Not a valid Win32 application". Well, I know it's
>>not an application. Harumph. Grumble.
>>
>>Everything else works. Also when I copy those files over to a local PC
>>it's ok. The drive is a Western Digital MyBook and AFAIK the little PC
>>in this one runs Linux. Did anyone else have that happen with a Linux
>>file server? Any fixes? It's not a huge problem at all, just curious.
>
>I was just sent an "xlsx" file. Google says it's some MicroShit
>perversion of XML and ZIP. My Excel 97 won't open it. Is there a way
>to make it Excel 97 compatible and should I just send it back,
>"Refused, Return to Sender" ?:-)
>
> ...Jim Thompson
http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/10/open-xlsx-spreadsheet-files-without.html
Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
sp...@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com
Joel Koltner
> You could try renaming it "xls" and then open. Might work if they didn't use
> some fancy new (and usually unnecessary) features.
Not if it's XML inside like Jim believes -- completely different file
structure from traditional Excel .XLS files. (XML is generally ASCII
readable; it's just a somewhat more generic markup language than, e.g.,
HTML...)
Eric Tappert
Jim,
Try the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and
Powerpoint 2007 file formats. Available on MS download center
(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads). Look at Office downloads. It is
rather popular these days and a freeby...
Eric Tappert
PS - I know it works as some of my students have more recent software
than I do...
Joerg
Thanks. Download stalled so I'll try again later. Do you think it's
clean, no nasty add-ons in there?
Joerg
> On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:20:29 -0700, the renowned Jim Thompson
> <To-Email-Use-Th...@My-Web-Site.com> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:50:06 GMT, Joerg
>> <notthis...@removethispacbell.net> wrote:
>>
>>> A puzzler: When trying to unzip files on my LAN drive I get the error
>>> message "Not a ZIP File". When clicking an *.XLS file on the LAN drive I
>>> get the Windows error "Not a valid Win32 application". Well, I know it's
>>> not an application. Harumph. Grumble.
>>>
>>> Everything else works. Also when I copy those files over to a local PC
>>> it's ok. The drive is a Western Digital MyBook and AFAIK the little PC
>>> in this one runs Linux. Did anyone else have that happen with a Linux
>>> file server? Any fixes? It's not a huge problem at all, just curious.
>> I was just sent an "xlsx" file. Google says it's some MicroShit
>> perversion of XML and ZIP. My Excel 97 won't open it. Is there a way
>> to make it Excel 97 compatible and should I just send it back,
>> "Refused, Return to Sender" ?:-)
>>
>> ...Jim Thompson
>
> http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/10/open-xlsx-spreadsheet-files-without.html
>
>
Aha! Seems to require people to have MS-Office and _not_ OpenOffice. Why
am I not surprised?
Jim Thompson
<notthis...@removethispacbell.net> wrote:
Tried that first thing... didn't work :-(
Paul Hovnanian P.E.
>
> On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:50:06 GMT, Joerg
> <notthis...@removethispacbell.net> wrote:
>
> >A puzzler: When trying to unzip files on my LAN drive I get the error
> >message "Not a ZIP File". When clicking an *.XLS file on the LAN drive I
> >get the Windows error "Not a valid Win32 application". Well, I know it's
> >not an application. Harumph. Grumble.
> >
> >Everything else works. Also when I copy those files over to a local PC
> >it's ok. The drive is a Western Digital MyBook and AFAIK the little PC
> >in this one runs Linux. Did anyone else have that happen with a Linux
> >file server? Any fixes? It's not a huge problem at all, just curious.
>
> I was just sent an "xlsx" file. Google says it's some MicroShit
> perversion of XML and ZIP. My Excel 97 won't open it. Is there a way
> to make it Excel 97 compatible and should I just send it back,
> "Refused, Return to Sender" ?:-)
That format postdates Excel 97. Its Micosoft's 'Open XML' format (an
attempt to unseat Open Office formats) and probably isn't supported by
anything other than the latest Office (per)version.
--
Paul Hovnanian mailto:Pa...@Hovnanian.com
------------------------------------------------------------------
In theory, practice and theory are the same, but in practice they
are different -- Larry McVoy
Martin Brown
Web-Site.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 15:28:41 -0800, Joerg
>
> >Jim Thompson wrote:
> >> On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:50:06 GMT, Joerg
> >> <notthisjoerg...@removethispacbell.net> wrote:
>
> >>> A puzzler: When trying to unzip files on my LAN drive I get the error
> >>> message "Not a ZIP File". When clicking an *.XLS file on the LAN drive I
> >>> get the Windows error "Not a valid Win32 application". Well, I know it's
> >>> not an application. Harumph. Grumble.
>
> >>> Everything else works. Also when I copy those files over to a local PC
> >>> it's ok. The drive is a Western Digital MyBook and AFAIK the little PC
> >>> in this one runs Linux. Did anyone else have that happen with a Linux
> >>> file server? Any fixes? It's not a huge problem at all, just curious.
>
> >> I was just sent an "xlsx" file. Google says it's some MicroShit
> >> perversion of XML and ZIP. My Excel 97 won't open it. Is there a way
> >> to make it Excel 97 compatible and should I just send it back,
> >> "Refused, Return to Sender" ?:-)
>
> >You could try renaming it "xls" and then open. Might work if they didn't
> >use some fancy new (and usually unnecessary) features.
>
> Tried that first thing... didn't work :-(
XL97 is a bit long in the tooth. Buy a copy of XL2003 while you still
can and at a good price. Last good version.
XL2007 is a crock of overpriced sh*t. Graph charting for even modest
amounts of data 10x slower than 2003.
Various third parties have readers that will convert XL2007 format
files XLSX etc (incidentally this has compiled XL VBA macros in it -
assume hostile intent unless you really trust the sender). MS doesn't
do a stand alone reader for it, but has a backwards compatibility kit
for more recents XLs to open it.
Try for example Google with XLSX and one of eg
http://www.file-extensions.org/xlsx-file-extension
Don't let any macros run though just in case.
Regards,
Martin Brown
Frithiof Andreas Jensen
"Joerg" <notthis...@removethispacbell.net> skrev i en meddelelse
news:ygm3j.21507$4V6....@newssvr14.news.prodigy.net...
If you use NFS you probably have a corruption problem i.e. Network Failure
System operating as designed ;-).
If it is SMB/Samba - the drive appears as it would do in windows maybe one
of the network ports inbetween is flipping between 10 & 100 MB because
autodetect does not work. Again corrupting data. SMB generally works on a
good network - WiFi is *crap* BTW.
In general it is not a good idea to pull files over the network, unzip and
push back per file (or compile). At work we hit periods of strange behaviour
doing that so we pull the entire build tree using scp, uncompress, build,
compress, push back to file server.
Joerg
> "Joerg" <notthis...@removethispacbell.net> skrev i en meddelelse
> news:ygm3j.21507$4V6....@newssvr14.news.prodigy.net...
>> A puzzler: When trying to unzip files on my LAN drive I get the error
>> message "Not a ZIP File". When clicking an *.XLS file on the LAN drive I
>> get the Windows error "Not a valid Win32 application". Well, I know it's
>> not an application. Harumph. Grumble.
>>
>> Everything else works. Also when I copy those files over to a local PC
>> it's ok. The drive is a Western Digital MyBook and AFAIK the little PC in
>> this one runs Linux. Did anyone else have that happen with a Linux file
>> server? Any fixes? It's not a huge problem at all, just curious.
>
> If you use NFS you probably have a corruption problem i.e. Network Failure
> System operating as designed ;-).
>
Thanks, that could be. To be honest I don't know which file system it
uses. I was hoping not NTFS. Oh well.
> If it is SMB/Samba - the drive appears as it would do in windows maybe one
> of the network ports inbetween is flipping between 10 & 100 MB because
> autodetect does not work. Again corrupting data. SMB generally works on a
> good network - WiFi is *crap* BTW.
>
Data doesn't get corrupted. Even super-large files are perfectly ok.
It's just that the PC wants to start them as an application while it
treats local files with same extension as data files and launches them
correctly into (and not as) an application.
> In general it is not a good idea to pull files over the network, unzip and
> push back per file (or compile). At work we hit periods of strange behaviour
> doing that so we pull the entire build tree using scp, uncompress, build,
> compress, push back to file server.
>
I usually don't either. But if you have an xls file with, say, a math
calculation on the LAN drive and you want to take a quick look it does
get old to always have to pull it.
Paul Hovnanian P.E.
>
> Frithiof Andreas Jensen wrote:
> > "Joerg" <notthis...@removethispacbell.net> skrev i en meddelelse
> > news:ygm3j.21507$4V6....@newssvr14.news.prodigy.net...
> >> A puzzler: When trying to unzip files on my LAN drive I get the error
> >> message "Not a ZIP File". When clicking an *.XLS file on the LAN drive I
> >> get the Windows error "Not a valid Win32 application". Well, I know it's
> >> not an application. Harumph. Grumble.
> >>
> >> Everything else works. Also when I copy those files over to a local PC
> >> it's ok. The drive is a Western Digital MyBook and AFAIK the little PC in
> >> this one runs Linux. Did anyone else have that happen with a Linux file
> >> server? Any fixes? It's not a huge problem at all, just curious.
> >
> > If you use NFS you probably have a corruption problem i.e. Network Failure
> > System operating as designed ;-).
> >
>
> Thanks, that could be. To be honest I don't know which file system it
> uses. I was hoping not NTFS. Oh well.
>
> > If it is SMB/Samba - the drive appears as it would do in windows maybe one
> > of the network ports inbetween is flipping between 10 & 100 MB because
> > autodetect does not work. Again corrupting data. SMB generally works on a
> > good network - WiFi is *crap* BTW.
> >
>
> Data doesn't get corrupted. Even super-large files are perfectly ok.
> It's just that the PC wants to start them as an application while it
> treats local files with same extension as data files and launches them
> correctly into (and not as) an application.
It sounds like a problem with 'name mangling' in the Samba configuration
of the server. There are numerous settings in a Samba configuration that
control how file names (and permission bits) are mapped between the
Linux file system and Windows.
If your server is a 'network appliance' there may be nothing you can do,
but if you can play around with the Samba configuration files (shell
root access), you might be able to change this behavior.
--
Paul Hovnanian pa...@hovnanian.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Procrastinators: The leaders for tomorrow.
Greg Neill
> Data doesn't get corrupted. Even super-large files are perfectly ok.
> It's just that the PC wants to start them as an application while it
> treats local files with same extension as data files and launches them
> correctly into (and not as) an application.
Maybe it's a file name length issue with the NFS
implementation. If the path + filename length
is greater than a user defined or default length
(255 characters I believe), then perhaps it's
getting truncated or otherwise mucked up, or the
error is not being handled correctly.
Can you try copying or renaming one of the suspect
files to a short length name and placing it in
a top level directory on the drive?
Joerg
Guess I'll have to live with it then. Western Digital allows users
precious little access :-(
Joerg
I bought some CAD software here:
http://store.purplus.net/microsoftstore.html
> XL2007 is a crock of overpriced sh*t. Graph charting for even modest
> amounts of data 10x slower than 2003.
>
> Various third parties have readers that will convert XL2007 format
> files XLSX etc (incidentally this has compiled XL VBA macros in it -
> assume hostile intent unless you really trust the sender). MS doesn't
> do a stand alone reader for it, but has a backwards compatibility kit
> for more recents XLs to open it.
>
> Try for example Google with XLSX and one of eg
>
> http://www.file-extensions.org/xlsx-file-extension
>
> Don't let any macros run though just in case.
>
--
Regards, Joerg
Joerg
Didn't work :-(
When calling the file from within an application everything is fine.
When clicking the files it errors, the local PC fails to launch the
application registered for that file extension.
John Devereux
I seem to recall an issue with samba interoperation with
linux. Windows did not have a file "executable" flag, whereas linux
does. So samba would default to setting the flag when writing a file
to disc, making all files "executable". Now this would normally not
make any difference from the point of view of windows. But perhaps
windows has smartened up and is now interpreting this flag somehow?
--
John Devereux
Joerg
Making _all_ files executable? Somehow that doesn't strike me as a
particularly smart move ... But yeah, this could indeed be the problem
because Windows always wants to start them as executables. Doesn't
explain the unzip problem though. Winzip refuses a file on the LAN
drive. Once moved to a local drive it accepts it.
Thanks for the hint.
Paul Hovnanian P.E.
There's one other thing you might want to check: See which 'Zone'
Windows thinks this server is in and whether the appropriate application
launch permissions are set.
This is a long shot, since (as I understand your OP) Windows is trying
to execute this as a command. That's a lower security threshold than
opening it in an installed application.
--
Paul Hovnanian mailto:Pa...@Hovnanian.com
------------------------------------------------------------------
Broken pipe. Command flooded basement.
Joerg
Any idea where to check that? Tried under properties, admin etc. Nada.
> This is a long shot, since (as I understand your OP) Windows is trying
> to execute this as a command. That's a lower security threshold than
> opening it in an installed application.
>
Here is the real puzzler: Windows 2000 Pro on another PC do not have
that problem! Thou shalt never upgrade to a "new and improved" Windows
unless you absolutely have to. And I had to since Dell only allowed to
go back to XP (so I could dodge the Vista bullet) but they said no to
Win2K :-(
Nobody
>>> When calling the file from within an application everything is
>>> fine. When clicking the files it errors, the local PC fails to launch
>>> the application registered for that file extension.
>>
>> I seem to recall an issue with samba interoperation with
>> linux. Windows did not have a file "executable" flag, whereas linux
>> does. So samba would default to setting the flag when writing a file
>> to disc, making all files "executable". Now this would normally not
>> make any difference from the point of view of windows. But perhaps
>> windows has smartened up and is now interpreting this flag somehow?
>
> Making _all_ files executable? Somehow that doesn't strike me as a
> particularly smart move ... But yeah, this could indeed be the problem
I doubt it. The executable bit only affects what happens if you try to
execute the file on the Unix system on which the Samba server is running.
It isn't visible to a Windows system.
> because Windows always wants to start them as executables.
Are you sure?
Earlier, you wrote:
>>> When clicking the files it errors, the local PC fails to launch
>>> the application registered for that file extension.
That isn't the same thing as treating it as an executable.
Also, try examining the Security tab in the file's Properties dialog. You
might need to disable the "Simple File Sharing" option in the Explorer
preferences to get that tab to appear. It may be that the LAN drive is
trying to provide NTFS-style ACLs and getting it wrong.
ISTR that permission to "execute" a file (i.e. double-clicking on it
icon in explorer) can be restricted separately from trying to read a file
(e.g. File->Open within in the application).
krw
notthis...@removethispacbell.net says...
recent ThinkPads. No SMP though.
--
Keith
JosephKK
sci.electronics.design:
There are some really wild differences between *nix file permissions
systems and NFTS file system permissions. The default Samba install
does not remap these very well. Typically setting all permissions to
yes.
Joerg
Where is that security tab? In properties all it said is open with a
spreadsheet program. The XP system barfs on that, the Win2K system opens
it properly.
> ISTR that permission to "execute" a file (i.e. double-clicking on it
> icon in explorer) can be restricted separately from trying to read a file
> (e.g. File->Open within in the application).
>
Maybe. But it sure doesn't make any sense to me. What good does that do
if you can circumvent it by simply opening from within the app?
Joerg
All the more reason to stay away from Linux and all that. It'll just
create more non-productive debug work, and I've got enough productive
work right now.
I'll just do regular mirror copies onto the XP machine which "fixes" it.
Paul Hovnanian P.E.
Nope I've seen something about 'Zones', probably under firewall stuff,
when attempting to help some poor slob with their Windows boxes. But I
don't have one myself.
Joerg
Ok, the firewall is hardware here and all this is behind it. This
firewall has two zones: The one on the inside is treated as friendly
territory, the one towards the WAN is treated like the Bronx at 2:00am.
Nobody
>> Also, try examining the Security tab in the file's Properties dialog. You
>> might need to disable the "Simple File Sharing" option in the Explorer
>> preferences to get that tab to appear. It may be that the LAN drive is
>> trying to provide NTFS-style ACLs and getting it wrong.
>>
>
> Where is that security tab? In properties all it said is open with a
> spreadsheet program. The XP system barfs on that, the Win2K system opens
> it properly.
For files on my local (NTFS) disks, the properties dialog has three tabs:
General, Security, and Summary. For files on a Samba share, the Summary
tab is missing.
If the Security tab isn't shown, it can be enabled by disabling the option:
Tools
-> Folder Options ...
-> View (tab)
-> Use simple file sharing (Recommended)
>> ISTR that permission to "execute" a file (i.e. double-clicking on it
>> icon in explorer) can be restricted separately from trying to read a file
>> (e.g. File->Open within in the application).
>
> Maybe. But it sure doesn't make any sense to me. What good does that do
> if you can circumvent it by simply opening from within the app?
I presume that it's intended mainly for binary executables.
JosephKK
Each to their own, at home Linux is my production environment. The
workplace has MSwin user boxes and Unix servers. Each system is fine
by itself, it is mixing them that causes the headaches.
Paul Hovnanian P.E.
Each system runs (assuming its not disabled) its own software firewall.
Permissions are asigned to various functions depending on what 'Zone'
the data and/or executable is in.
Its possible to configure the system to 'see' the local LAN as a more
trustworthy zone and then assign it permissions similar to the local
hard drive.
Don't ask me how. It takes me a fair amount of time to find this stuff
each time some poor unfortunate (aka Windows user) asks me for
assistance.
JeffM
>>>I was just sent an "xlsx" file.
>>>Google says it's some MicroShit perversion of XML and ZIP.
>>>
"their own" (per)version[1] of OpenDocument Format (ODF).
Spehro Pefhany wrote:
>>http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/10/open-xlsx-spreadsheet-files-without.html
>>
Joerg wrote:
>Aha! Seems to require people to have MS-Office
>
The LATEST M$ Office.
>and _not_ OpenOffice. Why am I not surprised?
>
Just a guess:
You're not easily duped by M$'s closed pseudo-standards.
.
*.XLSX is the file extension for OOXML.
That stands for Open Office XML--but don't be misled:
It has NOTHING to do with OpenOffice.org (except for
M$'s attempts to dilute ODF[2] and OOo.)
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:w100CwTtO_MJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish+United.States.v.Microsoft.antitrust.trial+*-*-*-Department-of-Justice+*-*-competitors-that-do-not-*-*-support-the-*-extensions+*.describe.Microsoft's.strategy+*-goal-*-*-*-*-to-monopolize-a-*-category+features-not-*-*-*-*-*-*-part-of-the-standard
Over the last several months,
this has been a BIG topic in the techie press.
M$ is trying to jam their ill-conceived, poorly-documented
pseudo-standard thru ISO committees in a bunch of countries.
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:LpAiS7QaA_cJ:boycottnovell.com/2007/08/30/ooxml-odf-microsoft-strategy+methods-*-Microsoft-has-*-*-used+hyperlinks-*-*-would-take-*-*-time+ODF+OOXML+SueMe+voters+to.battle+vote+Lies+promote-*-*-*-*-*-lock-in&strip=1
Any idiot who would sent you one of these
obscure, not-supported-by-anyone-with-any-sense files
would probably also use units of measure like
cubic furlongs per fortnight.
I recommend that you put "Return to Sender" on it
and tell the jerk who sent it to pull his head out of his ass.
If he *is* aware and is worried about wasting bandwidth,
have him install an OOXML-to-ODF converter
and send the (compressed) document to you in that format.
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/02/2124222&threshold=5&mode=nested&simple&design=1&lowbandwidth=1#17866296
(Original summary at the top of the page.)
My intuition is that he hasn't learned how to use his new M$ crapware
yet
and hasn't learned how to save in any format other than the default.
.
.
[1] You and Hovnanian called it right.
[2] Which, unlike M$'s abortion, *IS* truly OPEN.
Jim Thompson
wrote:
Can the new M$hit abortions save in the old formats?
JeffM
>>>>>I was just sent an "xlsx" file.
>>>>>
>>>Aha! Seems to require people to have MS-Office
>>>
>>The LATEST M$ Office.
>>
>>*.XLSX is the file extension for OOXML.
>>
>>obscure, not-supported-by-anyone-with-any-sense files
>>would probably also use units of measure like
>>cubic furlongs per fortnight.
>>
>>I recommend that you put "Return to Sender" on it
>>and tell the jerk who sent it to pull his head out of his ass.
>>
>>and send the (compressed) document to you in that format.
>>
>>he hasn't learned how to use his new M$ crapware yet
>>and hasn't learned how to save in any format other than the default.
>>
>Can the new M$hit abortions save in the old formats?
Yup. OOXML/*.xmlx is an *addition*
It's mainly that the *default* format has changed.
M$ Office **will** do ODF as well (with a plug-in).
M$ has the best plug-in[1]--but they didn't put it on *their* site
and are making all other efforts
to distance themselves from OpenDocument Format:
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:dLpdbWemmYwJ:sourceforge.net/projects/odf-converter+OpenXML/ODF.Translator.Add-in.for.Office&strip=1
.
.
[1] Sun also has a plug-in available. (It's reputed to be crap.)
JosephKK
sci.electronics.design:
They most certainly can. Tell your correspondent to use save as to an
older version.