# Office Applications very slow when opening or saving to a mapped network drive



## stevep (May 20, 2005)

Normally 2 or 3 times a day when trying to open or save a file to a mapped networked drive the Office 2003 application appears to stop responding and takes approx 1-2 minutes to open the drive and another 1-2 minutes when selecting a folder. Other times it works without a problem.

The machine is running XP Pro XP2 and the Server runs Server 2003.

Any ideas


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## Gcrossman (Mar 14, 2006)

What is the solution or was to this? Have you resolved it? Let me know.


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## Glaswegian (Sep 16, 2005)

Hi

I don't have a definitive solution I'm afraid, just my own experiences. Much of my work is stored on several servers dotted God-knows-where around the country. Even though all office PCs were upgraded last year, I still find working on a file direct on a server a real PIA. So now I simply copy the file to my local hard disc, do what I need to do, save it locally and then copy back to the server. 

Sometimes it can just be network traffic that can slow the whole thing down. Perhaps check with your system admin to see if they have anything to say (although I'm willing to bet they wont!)

Hope this helps in some way - whether or not there is a 'resolution' as such I'm not sure.

Regards


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## ReeKorl (Mar 25, 2005)

I can be pretty sure your system admin won't have anything to say about the matter as it'll be too much effort for such a (comparatively) small thing.

Often as not, I've found this to be a conflict in the firewall..... and there's not a thing you can do about it. For everything else the F/W works perfectly, but for the odd occasional thing it just takes an age.

We had this problem at my office once (I say once, we actually still have it now) and we tried with and without the F/W in operation (once with it physically disconnected even) and it only seemed to work consistently when the F/W wasn't in the loop.

As Glas says, the best thing to do is work on a local copy then copy it back to the fileserver. If that isn't possible, set it opening the file, then go off and get a coffee.....


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## JamesO (Mar 30, 2005)

Do you know where the mapped network drive is physically located?

If it is physically on site where you are located, there may be a network topology issue and/or a problem where a Ethernet interface is either not 100 Base or is stuck with a mix of 10 Base and 100 Base or half duplex. 

If the mapped drive is not on site, the problem will most likely be the size of the network pipe, the distance to the mapped drive and possibly the route/type of connection. For example, if there is a satellite hop in the link somewhere your response times will be awful.

As for firewalls, these should not be a problem if properly sized for the amount of network traffic and properly configured. If there are too many rules and the firewall CPU does not have enough horsepower for the amount of traffic, then it will be unstable and a bottle neck.

A good network admin will know the answers and be able to solve a problem if it is pointed out. However, most network admins I know do very little except the occasional server back up and hope the phone never rings. Not a way to run a network, but more a way to be lazy!

JamesO


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