Workstation Installation Copies Shared Files Locally

ID: Q135466

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Office for Windows 95, version 7.0
Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, version 7.0
Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows 95, version 7.0
Microsoft Word for Windows 95, version 7.0
Microsoft Project for Windows 95, version 4.1
Microsoft Access for Windows 95, version 7.0
Microsoft Works for Windows 95, version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

When you perform a Workstation installation of your Windows 95 application, the shared files may be installed to the following folder on your local workstation

   c:\Program Files\Microsoft Shared\Common Files

even if you chose to have the shared files installed on the network server during Setup.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs when Setup cannot resolve the path to the Microsoft shared files on the network server during the Workstation installation. In this case, Setup copies the files to your local workstation instead.

You do not receive any indication that the files are being installed locally, even though you chose to have them installed on the network server.

WORKAROUND

During the administrative installation (Setup /a) for the applications listed above, you have the option to specify how the user is going to access the shared files; namely, by using the server name or drive letter. In general, this problem only occurs when you enter a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path during the administrative installation.

To work around this problem, select the Drive Letter option in the Network Server Confirmation dialog box (during the administrative installation) so that Setup does not have to resolve a UNC path to the server during the workstation installation.

MORE INFORMATION

To test whether this is a problem using UNC on your workstation, run an application on the server by using a UNC path. For example, to run "program.exe" on the network server, use the following command line:

   \\server\share\program.exe

If the application does not run, you need to select the option to use logical drive mappings instead of UNC during the administrative installation (see the "Workaround" section above).

NOTE: If you are using the TCP/IP network protocol, you may want to contact your TCP/IP vendor to determine how to get UNC support.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q111687
   TITLE     : Workstation Setup Installs MSAPPS Files Locally

Additional query words: 1.20 7.00 word6 powerpt w_works off7 xl7

Keywords          : kbnetwork kbsetup offwin xlwin 
Version           : 1.20
Platform          : WINDOWS
Hardware          : x86
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: February 13, 1999