Can't save/write Framemaker files

Report · Mar 11, 2010

Hi,

I've suddenly got a major problem - I can't Save or Save As any Framemaker files.

Specifically, I am using Framemaker 9 (latest patches) under Win XP/SP3, using parallels Desktop for Mac on my MacBook Pro 17" (8GB, 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Mac OS 10.6.2).

I can save to my Windows virtual drive, but if I try to save to my Mac world, I get an error that says "The \\.psf\Home\<path>\<filename>.fm.DE1 that FrameMaker wrote may be damaged". There is a .lck file, but can't save the .fm file, even with another name.

I have tried saving in different formats (to check it's not a network/permissions issue). I can save in .html, .txt, .xml, .pdf, .rtf. I cannot save in any of the Frame-related formats (MIF, .fm, previous versions).

I suspect the problem arose after updating Parallels Desktop to the latest version. Dumb move. It barfed at the end of the upgrade, but I thought things were OK after restarting.

I also had a disk problem on my Mac (various catalog file errors) after ejecting a recaltitrant USB pen drive. Major headache. Again, thought it was all fixed after fsck and Disk Utility checks. maybe not. Still a weird issue though. I do seem to remember having something like this before. Anyone got any ideas?

Martin Ley

martin at em-dash dot com

Report · Mar 11, 2010

If you can save it to the virtual drive, can you then copy to some USB key and read that it Mac-land? What about e-mailing it to yourself?

Report · Mar 11, 2010

Hi Jeff,

I _could_ do that for a single file. However, I have 6 major manuals that I have been working on for years and years, and have been using this workflow ever since Adobe killed Frame on the Mac. I need a fix, rather than having a workaround 🙂

Martin

Report · Mar 11, 2010

Sorry, I thought you were stuck at the moment & couldn't save. Can't help you at all - "I'm a PC" & don't speak Mac ;>)

Report · Mar 11, 2010

EmDashMan wrote:
Hi,
I've suddenly got a major problem - I can't Save or Save As any Framemaker files.
Specifically, I am using Framemaker 9 (latest patches) under Win XP/SP3, using parallels Desktop for Mac on my MacBook Pro 17" (8GB, 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Mac OS 10.6.2).
I can save to my Windows virtual drive, but if I try to save to my Mac world, I get an error that says "The \\.psf\Home\<path>\<filename>.fm.DE1 that FrameMaker wrote may be damaged". There is a .lck file, but can't save the .fm file, even with another name.
I have tried saving in different formats (to check it's not a network/permissions issue). I can save in .html, .txt, .xml, .pdf, .rtf. I cannot save in any of the Frame-related formats (MIF, .fm, previous versions).
I suspect the problem arose after updating Parallels Desktop to the latest version. Dumb move. It barfed at the end of the upgrade, but I thought things were OK after restarting.
I also had a disk problem on my Mac (various catalog file errors) after ejecting a recaltitrant USB pen drive. Major headache. Again, thought it was all fixed after fsck and Disk Utility checks. maybe not. Still a weird issue though. I do seem to remember having something like this before. Anyone got any ideas?
Martin Ley
martin at em-dash dot com

Hi, Martin:

I'm using InDesign on my MacBookPro pre-unibody under Leopard, and also under Windows 7 Vista running on VMware Fusion2.

I never save my files on the Windows virtual drive for a couple of reasons:

* too likely to crash unexpectedly - hey, it's Windows.

* because the virtual drive file is always marked changed no matter how little activity you do on it, even just opening it, Time Machine backs up the entire humongous drive file and fills up my Time Capsule needlessly.

EDIT:

* I exclude the virtual drive file from the Time Machine backup, but I do save a copy of it in case I need to replace one that goes bad. Doesn't always work, though. I also save a bunch of automatic snapshots of the virtual drive, and manual ones when I change something. I haven't got the habit yet of also making Windows Restore Points. I figure if a Fusion2 snapshot can't get me back working, it's time to start over, or copy my safety copy.

/EDIT

I always save files made on the Mac or Windows sides on my Mac file system.

One likely source of being unable to save is unwanted and unexpected permission changes. Have you tried fixing permissions with Disk Utility, or the free utility OnyX, or the free utility applejack? You run OnyX from within OS X. You run applejack from the command line that appears when you restart the Mac and hold CMD-s to go into single user mode. The command: applejack auto restart performs a bunch of cleanup operations automatically, and displays its actions as it does them. When it's done, it restarts your Mac.

Applejack is more limited in what it does, so it easier to avoid doing anything you didn't intend. OnyX offers options that can clean out stuff you might not want to, so read carefully what options you select.

HTH

Regards,

Peter

_______________________

Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

Report · Mar 11, 2010

Hi Peter,

I follow the same working practices as you: my work files are stored on the Mac, and I work directly on them from the Windows world in Framemaker, so normally they don't see the C: drive. I also exclude my Parallels virtual drive from my Timemachine backups.

I only tried saving a single test document to the C drive to see if _that_ would work. It did. It's not something I do habitually. So, I suspected permissions. However, I _could_ save non-frame file types (from FrameMaker) to the mac world (e.g. Save As rtf). Just not any of the Frame-specific formats (MIF, .fm). Weird.

I'm convinced my problem is due to either my Parallels upgrade or my prior HD issues. I reinstalled a previous version of Parallels to see if that helped. Result. So, no Parallels upgrade for me.

Martin

Report · Mar 11, 2010

Look at File> Preferences> Cross-Platform File Naming. Perhaps you've got it

set to Windows, and have given a filename containing characters that are

illegal in Mac filenames, or the filename is too long for a Mac. I seem to

recall that there is around a 32-character filename limit if this setting is

set to Mac.

Report · Apr 11, 2010

Mike Wickham wrote:
Look at File> Preferences> Cross-Platform File Naming. Perhaps you've got it
set to Windows, and have given a filename containing characters that are
illegal in Mac filenames, or the filename is too long for a Mac. I seem to
recall that there is around a 32-character filename limit if this setting is
set to Mac.

Mike, the Macintosh 32-character filename limit was the case pre-OS X, I believe, or it may have been discarded after one of the early felines. It hasn't been an issue in Leopard and later.

Another direction that may be helpful to check:

IIRC, once the inability to access (save, open) files on the Mac side from the Windows side, was related to signing into the OS X and Windows with different accounts, and one of the accounts didn't have proper permissions on the other OS.

HTH

Regards,

Peter

_______________________

Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

Report · Apr 11, 2010

peter at knowhowpro wrote:
IIRC, once the inability to access (save, open) files on the Mac side from the Windows side, was related to signing into the OS X and Windows with different accounts, and one of the accounts didn't have proper permissions on the other OS.

I don't think it's a permissions issue at least where the FrameMaker file resides. I've tried saving to an external disk where I have permissions set wide open so anyone can do anything, and it still won't save. I think Frame is trying to save some temp files somewhere, and it is there where the problem lies.

Report · Apr 11, 2010

Mike, the Macintosh 32-character filename limit was the case pre-OS X, I
believe, or it may have been discarded after one of the early felines. It
hasn't been an issue in Leopard and later.

>

Yes, but it wasn't the Mac OS imposing the limitation. It was FrameMaker--

presumably to keep the filename compatible with all Macs. Once I shortened

the filename in FrameMaker, I was able to save a file that it otherwise

prevented me from saving.

Report · Apr 11, 2010

peter at knowhowpro wrote:
Mike, the Macintosh 32-character filename limit was the case pre-OS X, I believe, or it may have been discarded after one of the early felines. It hasn't been an issue in Leopard and later.

Most folks don't know this, but HFS+, which was released with System 8.1, could handle 255 16-bit characters. But the darned Finder was held back at 31 and developers stuck to it too.

Report · Mar 11, 2010

So, fixed by downgrading to Parallels Desktop for Mac 5.0.9220.

Hope this helps someone else!

Martin

Report · Mar 11, 2010

EmDashMan wrote:
So, fixed by downgrading to Parallels Desktop for Mac 5.0.9220.
Hope this helps someone else!
Martin

Progress! BAH! Can't ignore it, can't live with it<G>.

I'm sure someone will find the info useful. Have you let the Parallels folks know?

Regards,

Peter

_______________________

Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

Report · Mar 16, 2010

The problem seems indeed related to the installed Parallels Tools that came with 5.0.9433. Downgrading to 9310 solved the problem. Simply use Timemachine and replace the "Parallels desktop" application in the applications folder. Then uninstall the tools within Windows and reinstall.

I did file a bug report as well. I suspect they somehow tried to accelerate the networking and thereby kicked the old (and, I daresay lame) FM networking protocol off the road. Happens with XP and Win 7, FM 8 and 9.

Report · Mar 13, 2010

I suspect the problem arose after updating Parallels Desktop to the latest version. Dumb move. It barfed at the end of the upgrade, but I thought things were OK after restarting.
I also had a disk problem on my Mac (various catalog file errors) after ejecting a recaltitrant USB pen drive. Major headache. Again, thought it was all fixed after fsck and Disk Utility checks. maybe not. Still a weird issue though. I do seem to remember having something like this before. Anyone got any ideas?

Same here. I've sent a support request to Parallels and even included this thread. I don't think it's related to the barfing or the thumb drive ... I had no errors on the update and have not had any disk problems whatsoever. I suspect it has to do with how or where Frame is trying to write its temporary file while it's trying to save.

This is BS. While it's not a horrible thing that I must move my projects to Parallels' own virtual C drive, it's still a royal pain. Also, Parallels should test Frame as a standard test, as I'm sure it's a driving factor in people using Parallels anyway. Indeed, it's my only reason for needing Windows at all.

And finally, Adobe should get off its lazy rear and bring out FrameMaker for OS X.

Report · Mar 16, 2010

> And finally, Adobe should get off its lazy rear and bring out FrameMaker for OS X.

Ha! Hell's gonna freeze over before they do.

Report · Apr 11, 2010

Thank you! I'm having this trouble too. Am about to revert to an earlier Parallels version. (Thank you, Apple, for Time Machine.) Crossing my fingers.

Presuming that it works, does this mean we need to avoid updating our Parallels app forever now... or take our chances every time? Or can anyone suggest a way that we might get notified when this fix is taken care of and it's safe to update Parallels again?

Report · Apr 11, 2010

I'm going to stop being the early adopter of updates, that's for sure. I'll wait to see what bubbles up from the muck and mire before I update.

Report · Apr 11, 2010

Follow-up:

I'm at my wit's end. I tried the advice that Tim offered above; reverted to the only version of Parallels that I have in Time Machine that's older than the version 9433 I started with, so I'm now at version 9308. I uninstalled Tools, as Tim recommended, and reinstalled Tools from the menu.

Unfortunately, I'm still unable to save any FrameMaker files. Maybe I implemented the fix wrong? How would I know? I'm not sure where to turn.

Report · Apr 11, 2010

Marcia Johnston wrote:
I uninstalled Tools, as Tim recommended, and reinstalled Tools from the menu.

Umm, thanks, but that wasn't my idea!

Report · Apr 11, 2010

The folks at Parallels have fixed this bug.

http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=100516

I just installed this Parallels Tools hotfix, which was created exactly for our problem. It seems to have taken care of the issue for me.

Message was edited by: Marcia Johnston (Updated the text after trying the fix and finding that it worked for me.)

Report · May 05, 2010

The fix from Parallels, worked for me too. Hopefully, the fix will be rolled into future versions of Parallels, rather than having to apply it separately.

Martin

Report · Apr 11, 2010

A few years ago I was contacted by a fellow who was looking for funding to do a Mac FrameMaker-like product that would be completely read/write compatible. I guess he didn't get funding. Sigh.

Can't save/write Framemaker files

1 Correct answer