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I have a file which was saved to a CIFS share from Outlook. The file permissions are 777, so I should be able to read the file from the Linux host the file goes to. However when I try, I get file permission errors (unable to read the file). If I have the root user change the permissions (say from 777 to 775), I am then able to read the file as expected. I verified that I have permission to the directory, so that isn't the problem.

BSD_6.3 [61234567] $ ls -l hwmconfigs.rar
-rwxrwxrwx**  1 root  wheel  41574 Jul 27 17:55 hwmconfigs.rar
BSD_6.3 [61234567] $ file hwmconfigs.rar
hwmconfigs.rar: writable, executable, regular file, no read permission

Has anyone experienced a similar issue. Any ideas how to get MS Outlook to put the file so that an unprivileged user can read it?

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  • 2
    Is SELinux enabled on your CentOS system? # sestatus
    – ivoronin
    Aug 10, 2012 at 21:19
  • @ivoronin You may be on to something. Could be an unintended side-effect of SELinux
    – Tonny
    Aug 11, 2012 at 21:33

2 Answers 2

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Try finding the file using the 'lsof' command, or the equivalent in BSD.

If the file in question is still tied up within another process, it should appear in this list. But be aware the program accessing the file will be the local server program (like Samba) rather than Outlook.

'lsof' generates a LOT of output. I recommend running the output of the command through 'grep' to narrow down your search.

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  • That's a good command to know (as well as fstat on FreeBSD), but unfortunately it doesn't show the file as being in use.
    – harveym
    Aug 10, 2012 at 22:54
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Are you sure Outlook is CLOSED when you try to access the file?
It has a bloody annoying tendency to keep a lock on any file it touched even if the file in question was closed hours ago. As long as Outlook is running the lock remains.

That could explain the behaviour. The modification by root just might have broken the lock. Or Outlook had by chance just been closed between your attempts.

Even if Outlook appears to be closed better check task-manager to be sure. Sometimes there is a zombie copy still lurking in memory. (Less common on Outlook 2007/2010, it is mainly 2003 that suffers from this.)

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  • Thanks for the tip, but I tried again this time shutting down Outlook (and making sure it was gone from Task Mgr). The problem still remains. Fortunately this is very repeatable, so I can easily check any suggestions.
    – harveym
    Aug 10, 2012 at 22:37
  • Was worth a try. I've seen this often enough that I tend check for Outlook involvement on every permission or locking issue. Check ivoronins suggestion too. That's just about the only other thing I can think of as well.
    – Tonny
    Aug 11, 2012 at 21:34

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