Problem:
I use a lot of Samba shares (Linux hosted) mapped as remote drives – different credentials, simple authentication (XP Home Edition) and no logon scripts. Most of the time when I need to access a network share I get a standard Windows dialog box for user/password input. At times I had some minor problems with applications that have their own “File->Open…” handler, but I was surprised to find out after installing Microsoft Office 2007 that it suffers from the very same problem. If I’m not logged in, instead of displaying an authentication prompt when trying to access some network drive, it will blast some error about “Invalid drive name” being used.
Workaround/Solution:
The problem is easily solved by accessing the mapped drive through standard Explorer/My Computer procedure. Once authorized, they get recognized without hassle by the new Office suite. Automatic authentication on logon should also work like a charm – they same goes about opening the drive with an Explorer trick (in Office “File->Open…” dialog choose “My computer”, right click on the chosen drive and then select “Open” – ugly, but works). Still I can’t understand why it cannot work as it should (especially in Microsoft family products).
Hey – what’s up – I am experiencing this issue too.
Have you heard of a fix yet?
Does the Office 2007 Sp1 fix the probelm.
I see a lot of chatter and guessing, but no real solution.
No, I don’t think SP1 would fix it. But now I’m using the same credentials for Samba/Windows account, so I don’t have that problem any more. MS Office 2007 is quite nice on the whole, but it behaves weirdly at times and I think you have to live with that.