File not found error uploading multiple files to SharePoint

by | Jul 28, 2009 | MOSS, Office, SharePoint, SharePoint 2010, Vista, WSS | 12 comments

A colleague of mine recently had an odd issue when trying to uploading files to a SharePoint site. Here’s what happened…

When he tried to upload multiple document to a MOSS 2007 document library from a Vista desktop that has IE8, things worked fine if he was using documents that are in his user profile. But when he selected documents that were not in his user profile (Ex: folder on c: drive or USB drive), he got a file not found message when trying to upload.  If he upload a single file from the same location, or if he dragged and dropped via the explorer view he have no issue.

I hadn’t seen that particular issue before, but I have seen weird behavior with Vista about accessing certain files when UAC is enabled. Basically, Vista wants to raise the UAC dialog box to allow you to access files off of root drive directories, including USB drives. But, I thought I remembered that Vista sometimes cannot or does not display the UAC from Internet Explorer. So IE just fails if it needs to access these files.

I recommended that he disable UAC on his Vista machine as an easy way to test. Good news: it worked. The moral of the story: if Internet Explorer is behaving oddly when needing to access certain files on a Vista machine, try disabling UAC.

Microsoft’s Tim Sneath has a how-to on disabling Vista UAC.

12 Comments

  1. budgie
    budgie on October 6, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    Helpful post thanks.
    Having exactly the same issue on XP machine any thoughts? As far as I know UAC is not an XP thing?

  2. Eugene Rosenfeld [former MOSS MVP]
    Eugene Rosenfeld [former MOSS MVP] on October 7, 2009 at 9:22 pm

    I've oly seen this on Vista because that's what I've been using for the past few years. Ultimately it comes down to a security permission that the user or the ActiveX control is being denied. I would try puting the site into the Trusted Sites or Local Intranet zones in IE. Close and re-open IE and try again. Sorry I don't have anything more specifc on the matter. Do post if you get it resolved.

  3. imagina
    imagina on October 8, 2009 at 3:01 pm

    Same thing here with an XP SO…

    The site is already in the trusted zone, and after the upload the file appears on the site, but when i try to access the properties e get another File Not Found… :S

  4. Eugene Rosenfeld [former MOSS MVP]
    Eugene Rosenfeld [former MOSS MVP] on October 8, 2009 at 7:16 pm

    imagina, I have not seen that behavior. Here're a few things to help troubleshoot:
    * Does this behavior happen with all files or just with some?
    * If you upload the file(s) one at a time, do the properties show up properly?
    * Do you get an error downloading the file from SharePoint or just on the properties page?

  5. imagina
    imagina on October 8, 2009 at 8:12 pm

    Hi Eugene,

    Thanks for the reply.

    When i upload only one file, i get the "File not Found", if i upload multiple files the upload process goes OK, but when i access the properties page i get another file not found…

    I'm not sure but i guess it happens with all files..

    The properties page always gives out a file not found error…

    I will try to send you a video with the procedure.

    Cheers!

  7. Eugene Rosenfeld [former MOSS MVP]
    Eugene Rosenfeld [former MOSS MVP] on October 8, 2009 at 8:36 pm

    Great screencast! From what I see it looks like the file upload actually completes successfully. It seems to be a problem with the properties page. Here are a few items to try:

    * Try same upload process in another document library on the same site. If you get an error here proceed to next suggestion. If you do not get an error, it is probably an issue with the document library you’re using. Delete the library and create a new library to take its place.

    * Try same upload process in two other sites: one in a Team Site, and one in a Project Web Access Site. If you get an error on both sites, there may be an error with the list definition for the Document Library list. If you get an error only in the PWA site, then it is likely an issue with the PWA site definition. Try remove and reinstall the PWA site definition.

    Of course you should make backups before applying any of these fixes and I'm not responsible for anything bad happening, etc…. If anything good happens, I will accept all praise 🙂

  8. imagina
    imagina on October 8, 2009 at 8:48 pm

    This comment has been removed by the author.

  9. imagina
    imagina on October 8, 2009 at 8:48 pm

    ehehe thanks for the fast reply Eugene!

    I guess i wont have time to check this tomorrow, but as soon as i get some news i will keep you updated!

    Thanks for the sugestions, if it works you have my full props!! 🙂

  10. imagina
    imagina on October 21, 2009 at 11:12 am

    Hi Eugene,

    Just to keep you updated, i have a ticket opened at Microsoft.

    As soon has i get some updates i will inform you.

    Cheers.

  11. imagina
    imagina on November 3, 2009 at 5:35 pm

    Hi again Eugene,

    Just found out what was causing the upload error…

    We just added a new server to the farm, and moved all the services to the new machine, and removed the old one.

    Possibly something went wrong when updating the configDB because the server was redirecting to the old server file properties page after an upload.

    Adding the old name to the Alternate Access Mappings solved the problem for now.

    Hope this helps someone else!

    Thank you very much for your support.

    Cheers!