"File in Use" errors using shareable Excel file over Network

[RogerFF]

We have a very nagging problem I'm hoping someone can help me on.

We have an Excel file that is setup over a network that has "Share" enabled (password protected). There are about 3 or 4 users who actually access it for updating, and another dozen or so who have read-only access. What is happening is that at various times during the day... seemingly random, we will get an error msg of "File in Use", which prevents of course anyone from being able to edit it. This state will persist anywhere from a few seconds to often minutes, and even hours (the user logging off has no effect).

Now the exact error msg is shown here at MS' KBA #814112 (3rd line in Red).

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;814112

My gut feeling is this is some kind of network configuration issue (Oplock Breaks?). Anecdotally, users report this happening quite frequently in the morning, and lessening so in the afternoon... which could correspond to general network traffic here at my workplace. I can't say for sure though.

I would appreciate it if anyone could offer any guidance. All our workstations are Win 2000 Pro 5.00.2195 (SP2).

 

[bcastner]

Disable opportunistic locking on the file server:
Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type regedit, and then press ENTER.
In Registry Editor, locate the following subkey in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet \Services\LanmanServer\Parameters

In the right pane, click EnableOplocks, and then press ENTER.
In the Value data box, type 0, and then press ENTER.
Quit Registry Editor.