"There was an error opening this document. The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is i

[_SLawson_]

"There was an error opening this document. The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect."

I tried different versions, no avail.

I think it has to do with the password somehow, but I do not know. I can copy the files from the web folder to my desktop and they open fine (after entering the password AGAIN), but I can not open them directly form the web folder - it does not ask for the password again, just pops up the error.

Adobe's support really upset me (insert explicative here) by keeping me on the phone for 20 min, collecting all sorts of information about me (not the problem) with some lady who barely spoke English, just to tell me to go to the website. No surprise they need to charge for tech support, customer service is doing everything but "service". I hate companies that do this. I am thinking of using another PDF reader, I have heard good things about them. Check

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PDF_software

Has anyone ever been able to find a fix? I can not find anything on this site.

[_SLawson_]

No responses... (no surprise).

Just went through a couple Windows tech sites and did not find a match for the error.

Definately an Adobe glitch.

[_SLawson_]

I am still at it. Uninstalled everything Adobe, manually cleared the registry of all traces of adobe and acrobat. Reinstalled Reader (8.1.1) and still no joy.

Anyone?

[_expert_user_]

Do you have Content Advisor turned on?

[_SLawson_]

No content advisor.

I think it is aa Adobe permissions issue. Still working.

[_SLawson_]

Making some headway. I have noticed that when I double click on the file it tries to open from

"c:\documents and settings\xxxx\https:\yyyy.com\webdav..."

now I could just figure out why....

[_Liam_]

That could be a malware problem with your computer. Looks like somthing might have tried hijack your documents link?

Try run ad-aware a anti-malware tool by lavasoft

[_Markus_Heinrichs_]

I experience the same problem here. I can open WebDAV documents via the file open dialogue, though.

[_Markus_Heinrichs_]

I could confirm the error that Adobe Reader tries to open
%USERPROFILE%<path_to_document> instead of <path_to_document>.
I have reported the bug, keep your fingers crossed.

[_SLawson_]

No malware, no virus, all clean.

Markus, it sounds like the same thing. I can go through File/Open as well with success, just not by double clicking.

[_expert_user_]

but it doesn't do that for everyone. Something isn't right about your system. Just don't know what it is yet.

[_SLawson_]

And it only does it on one computer. But it does only happen with just *.pdf files. Everything else works as it should.

I still do not know what it is either.

[_xindihe_]

I am facing the same problem"There was an error opening this document. The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax",have tried to uninstalled adobe reader(8.1.1) and reintalled(7.1).unfortunatly still appearing the same error message. I can't even open it via "File-open'.

can experts kindly provide a solution.

[_Markus_Heinrichs_]

Unfortunately, version 8.1.2 does
b not
fix the problem :-(

[_SLawson_]

I'm still stuck with the same error. Adobe screwed with some permissons in Windows - that I was able to get out of Adobe tech support, any more costs money.

[_George_Blessing_]

Hello, everyone! I am a new user here, but by no means a new user to the problem we're discussing. I work at a University here in the Midwest.

Has anyone looked into the possibility that a patch that Microsoft released on Patch Tuesday in November '07 might've caused this? In particular, I'm referring to KB943460 which refers to a security vulnerability in Shell32.dll.

I've done quite a bit of testing on this issue, using the SysInternals program Process Monitor. Adobe Acrobat Reader is doing exactly what eveyrone is talking about - tacking the logged-on user's default "home directory" onto the front of the requested WebDAV URL.

I consider it quite likely that 943460, perhaps in concert with whatever Adobe has done, might have caused, though I don't have any facts to back the statement up.

I've tried uninstalling 943460 which didn't get me anywhere.

However, I also have started fresh with a "fresh" XP install and Acrobat Reader 8.1.2. I patched the machine up to November '07 - I could still read PDF files via WebDAV. However, after I patched with 943460, I STILL could read PDF files via WebDAV, so that broke my theory about 943460.

Has anyone else done extensive testing, with different results?

Thanks

George B.

[_SLawson_]

No joy as of yet. I deal with this fluke when I have time, Adobe is of no help. I searched technet but did not find anything relevant. I thought someone would have posted an answer by now. Adobe says thay have the answer, but it'll cost ya.

[_J__O_Connell_]

I am not sure Adobe has the answer. We put up a credit card and spent 2 hours on the phone with Adobe on this very issue. After mindless Adobe config setting changes nothing new and no intelligent answers. Adobe conclusion, must be a Microsoft problem, but no charge.

Does anyone have an update on this issue?

[_George_Blessing_]

Good morning, everyone!

I've done quite a bit of additional testing and I think I've narrowed this down to Microsoft update KB907306, which is the May 18,2007 WebDAV update. This update supersedes KB892211 from 2005, which was also a WebDAV patch.

On my test machine, I installed a clean Windows XP Pro (SP2), followed by roughly 87 Windows updates, including IE7. Prior to installing the patches, including IE7, I installed Acrobat Reader 8.0.0, logged on to my WebDAV site, tried opening a file, and was able to. Then, I installed the 87 patches, including IE7, rebooted, and tested again. This time, when I attempted to open my WebDAV site in IE7, as I had in IE6, the My Computer window opened. This, as you know, is a standard behavior in IE7 - it doesn't handle WebDAV URLs correctly. So, the fix is to install Microsoft's WebDAV patch. Prior to May 2007, you'd get 892211, but since then, 907306 has replaced 892211.

My test was to install 892211, which I had a copy of, and test as I had done before. I could open my WebDAV URL correctly in IE7 and open Acrobat files with no issue. However, when I installed the KB907306 patch, this is when the trouble began. Following installation of KB907306, which is associated with Office 2007 (and possibly O 2003), the behavior we're talking about appears.

Much testing has been done to try to uninstall 907306 and re-install 892211 on affected machines, but no reliable method has been demonstrated to this point.

The 907306 uninstaller does NOT remove the updated WebDAV files correctly, nor does it make the correct modifications to the Registry.

Has anyone done anything similar? Found out anything different?

George B.

[_SLawson_]

All I know is that it must be something odd. I have a couple computers and only one of them is acting up. I have been through technet and have not seen anything related.

I am still stumped and dealing with it.

[_mgg99_]

The error is received on several computers nearby that are running Windows XP. Problem does not occur on Windows Vista machines.

What I do to get the error on my side is open a PDF document that is located in SharePoint 2007 or either open a PDF document that is located in a web folder (WebDAV). It works just fine opening the PDF else way (excluding file > open).

I'm stumped and have ran out of solutions. George Blessing I appreciate your research. If you have any further information keep us updated.

[_George_Blessing_]

Good morning, everyone!

I haven't had time to devote any more research to this issue, as I am at a stalemate for the time-being. I know what patch causes this issue, but haven't been able to come up with a reliable, reproducible fix. And, to my knowledge, I haven't see anything further from either Microsoft or Adobe.

I can confirm mgg99's observation regarding Vista. The problem does NOT occur on Vista and never has - only Windows XP. As a side note, though, Vista does require a patch to make WebDAV work correctly, though this doesn't appear to have any connection to our Adobe issue.

I'm watching this month's Patch Tuesday information closely because the "overview" indicated that ALL of the patches would be Office-related. Perhaps there's a WebDAV patch update that will fix this issue!

We'll see!

George B.

[_SLawson_]

It seems like there are more knowledgeable people here than myself. So (out of curiosity) would not it make sence to figure out where webdav, windows, or adobe is pulling the path of

"c:\documents and settings\xxxx\https:\yyyy.com\webdav..."

(where xxxx is the user name)

and edit out the first part?

[_Moritz_Ruppert_]

I had the same problem this morning and I can tell you how I solved it or what I think is the problem:
Here we had a pdf document with a german "Ö", it means a special german letter and tried to open it on an english installation of XP with english Adobe Reader (chinese language pack). Then I received this Error Message. After renaming it and replaced the german 'ö' to a normal english 'oe' in the filename it worked out well!
So give it a try: Rename the document to whatever you like (test.pdf) and try it again!
Hope this will help!

[_George_Blessing_]

Howdy, Moritz!
Thanks for the suggestion, but this is not an issue of filename and language conflicts, at least in my environment. I highly doubt that's the root cause of this issue.

The PDF files in my tests have all had very simple names, such as 123.pdf and test.pdf, as well as more complicated names with spaces in them. Nothing about the files contains anything outside of the English language, including the content and filenames.

From everything I've been able to determine, this is a WebDAV-related security issue that affects programs like Acrobat Reader. I know for a fact that MS's KB892211 WebDAV patch doesn't create the issue, however MS's update to that 892211 patch DOES create the issue. As I've outlined earlier in this thread, my extensive testing has proven this more than once.

At this point, I haven't been able to accurately uninstall the update to 892211 after the update has been installed. And, as far as I can tell, the update to 892211 comes down from MS as a Office and/or Windows Update component. So, everyone has it, the uninstaller doesn't work, and there's no documentation detailing what registry entries are being changed when the update to 892211 is installed.

My ultimate goal is to bring a test machine to the point just before the update to 892211 goes on, fire up the Registry, Process, and File monitors on my test box, and install the 892211 update. This should give me an accurate picture of what I need to restore in order to rid the machine of the update to 892211.

Until Microsoft officially fixes the issue, I am not totally sure how this will be resolved. I've ceased my work on the issue for now since copying the PDF file from the WebDAV share to the user's desktop gets the user what they wanted in the first place - the ability to open the PDF file!

Maybe, once some other projects slow down a bit, I might get back to creating a solution, but it's going to be a "hack" no matter which way you slice it. I'd much rather MS spend their time creating the solution. If I have to do it, my fee to MS will be quite HIGH! :*)

George B.