WD2000: Err Msg: "The disk is full trying to write to <drive>..."

ID: Q224031

The information in this article applies to:

ERROR MESSAGE

When you are trying to save, open, or close a document in Word, or when you are performing other Windows functions while Word is running, the following error message appears:

The disk is full trying to write to <drive>. Free some space on this drive, or save the document on another disk.
NOTE: Microsoft Office 2000 has built-in functionality that allows you to get more information about difficult-to-troubleshoot alerts or error messages. If you want to enable this functionality for this and other error messages in Microsoft Office 2000, please download the Microsoft Office 2000 Customizable Alerts file from the Microsoft Office Update Web site at the following address:
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/2000/downloadDetails/alerts.htm
NOTE: If you reached this article by clicking the Web Info button in an error message, you already have Customizable Alerts enabled.


CAUSE

The disk you are trying to save to has insufficient free disk space.

The Office folder is in a location that you cannot write to.

You receive the error message when saving a file to a Novell server.

Your temporary file folder contains a large number of stray temporary files.

The Word default template Normal.dot may be corrupt.


WHAT TO TRY

The disk you are trying to save to has insufficient free disk space.



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The Office folder is in a location that you cannot write to.

This problem may occur when all of the following conditions are true:

When you quit Word, Word attempts to write a Normal.dot (template) file in the Office folder. Because the Office folder is in a location that you cannot write to, you receive the error message described above.
To work around this problem, follow these steps:
  1. Start Microsoft Word.


  2. On the Tools menu, click Options.


  3. Click the File Locations tab.


  4. Under File Types, click User Templates, and then click Modify.


  5. In the Modify Location dialog box, select a new folder name and click OK.


  6. Under File Types, click Workgroup Templates, and then click Modify.


  7. In the Modify Location dialog box, select a new folder name and click OK twice. The default value is undefined (blank).


  8. Quit Word without saving changes to Normal.dot and then restart Word.


Word writes a new Normal.dot file in the location specified in step 5. If Word writes the Normal.dot file in a location other than the one you specified, follow these steps:
  1. Manually move (don't copy) the Normal.dot file to the directory you want.


  2. Follow steps 1 through 5 above to set the User Templates path to the directory that contains the Normal.dot file.


NOTE: This behavior is by design and is different from earlier versions of Word. Earlier versions of Word search the program (Office) directory for a Normal.dot file before searching the User Templates or Workgroup Templates locations.


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You receive the error message when saving a file to a Novell server.

For additional information about this cause, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q163699 'Disk May be Full' Message When Saving File to a Novell Server


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Your temporary file folder contains a large number of stray temporary files.

  1. Restart Windows, making sure there are no applications running after Windows startup is complete.


  2. In the Windows Explorer, go to the Windows Temp folder.


  3. Select all files in the Temp folder and delete them.




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The Word default template Normal.dot may be corrupt.

Rename the Word default template Normal.dot. After you do this, Word will rebuild another one automatically. To rename the Normal.dot template:
  1. Close all applications.


  2. Click Start, point to Find, and then click Files or Folders.


  3. In Named, type Normal.dot.


  4. If you want to specify the location to start the search, click Browse.


  5. Click to select the Include subfolders check box.


  6. Click Find Now.


  7. Click to select Normal.dot.


  8. On the File menu, click Rename.


  9. Rename Normal.dot to Normal.Old.


  10. On the File menu, click Close.


NOTE: Macros, AutoText entries, shortcut key combinations, custom toolbars, toolbar settings, and styles are stored in the Normal template. After renaming the Normal template, you can copy macros, AutoText entries, shortcut key combinations, custom toolbars, toolbar settings, and styles to your new Normal template.
  1. On the Tools menu, click Templates and Add-Ins.


  2. Click Organizer, and then click the tab for the items you want to copy.


  3. To copy items to or from a different template or file, click Close File to close the active document and its attached template or to close the Normal template.


  4. Click Open File to open the normal template you renamed earlier in this article.


  5. Click the items you want to copy in either list, and then click Copy.


To select a range of items, hold down SHIFT and click the first and last items. To select nonadjacent items, hold down CTRL as you click each item.

NOTE: If you copy toolbars to which you've assigned custom macros, you must also copy the macros.

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Additional query words: 


Keywords          : kbdta 
Version           : WINDOWS:2000
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbinfo


Last Reviewed: June 22, 1999
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