Known issues with Vista / Office Live?

Question

I seem to be having multiple issues with Office Live which I'm curious whether they can be attributed to Vista.  I've activated 3rd party tools but am unable to access my website folder.  It tells me the path is invalid.  As an aside, are there plans for the capability to simply "publish" websites up from say, Expression Web via ftp, etc.?

 

Are there any work-arounds for getting my website online???  When is it intended to be fixed?  Incidentally, I logged on to my computer in another location that is running XP via Citrix and was also unable to get the folder to open.

Answer 1

There is an issue accessing Website folders from a Vista machine. We are in the process of investigating the problem and determining a fix.

 

As a workaround for now, please try the following steps and let us know if this unblocks you.

 

 

Windows Vista: Creating a Web Folder

 

1. In "Computer" Right-Click an open area on the right side of the Window, then select "Add a Network Location".

 

2. The "Add Network Location Wizard" will appear. Click "Next".

 

3. When asked, "Where do you want to create this network location?" select Choose a custom network location. Click "Next".

 

4. When asked to "Specify the location of your website" in the Internet or network address field, enter https://<your-officelive-site>. Click "Next".

 

5. Enter your User Name and Password when prompted (you may be prompted more than once).

 

6. When asked, "What do you want to name this location?" enter a label of your choosing (for instance "My Web site"). Click "Next".

 

7. When you see "Completing the Add Network Location Wizard" Check the box "Open the network location when I click Finish" and Click "Finish" (it may take some time for the Web Folder to open the first time).

 

8. A Network Location has been created in the "Network Location" section of Computer with the label you choose. (Hint: You can Right-click the Network Location and select "Send to... Desktop" to create an additional shortcut on your desktop).

Answer 2

 

Dave,

I got the same error I always do.  "Network location unavailable"

Answer 3

Were you prompted for credentials in step 5?

Answer 4

Yes, I was.

 

Answer 5

Hi Todd,

To help us further troubleshoot, could you please answer the following:

1) What browser (include version) are you using?

2) Do you have Office installed (if so, which version)?

3) Do you have more than one Office Live web site with "Third party design tools" activated? If so, are you accessing the web site folder for each site on the same machine?

 

Thanks,

Dave

 

Answer 6

Answers:

1. IE 7 - or specifically: 7.0.6000.16512

2. Yes, Office 2007 Professional

3. No, One site only.

Answer 7

This actually worked for me. I was having the same issue. However, it won't allow me to transfer .ASP files. So far I can only transfer .jpg or other graphics. Any ideas?

 

 - Mike

Answer 8

Hi there,

I've been having the exact same problem.  And a hell of a time with customer support.  After seven iterations, they gave up on me and told me my computer is spyware infected and they can't help me.  Since there seems to be some ongoing dialogue with the product team on this issue, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon.

 

I've been having the same issue, same repro steps as the poster above, except I have also repro'd the issue on three separate XP boxes, as well as a Vista box. One of them was my husband's PC at MSFT headquarters in Redmond, two were boxes in my home, and one was at a public library.

 

Since support can successfully open the folder, they have written me off, but I think a 100% repro rate across boxes in three different locations legitimizes the issue.

 

Things I have tried so far:

1.  Resetting back to the normal webdev tools, and setting things back to 3rd party tools.

2.  Installing the webdav patch

3.  Clearing out all of my network authentications and history and starting over

4.  Going over a proxy that supports webdav

 

Then I finally tried the set of steps the office live team member suggested here (to manually map the network location).  Success!  Hallelujiah!

 

(Todd, note that this does NOT fix the link on the website tab of the interface, but should give you a network folder you can drag the appropriate files into.)

 

To the Office Live product team:

-I would recommend you offer your support team these workaround steps.  they clearly don't have them in their repertoire as of yet.

-please note that this is not a Vista-specific problem.  If you have XP workaround steps as well, please let me know as I'd love to get this functioning on my other boxes. 

 

Thank god for forums that allow product team to consumer contact!

Answer 9

Hi cheryls,

We're glad that the steps above worked for you. From your post, however, it sounds like this only worked on your Vista box. Could you please let us know the error message you encountered on the XP boxes, as well as the steps you took to repro the error?

 

Thanks.

 

Answer 10

Getting very frustrated at this - the url I am trying to get into my network addresses I know I am getting right as if I just enter it as a URL in a browser I can get into with the same username and password that I am using for setting up a network address.

 

Something in the Vista I am using is not  passing on the url I am entering.  Obviously reluctant to give it out publicly but is it because it contains a dollar sign   - form is   https://xxx.yyy.co.uk/z/vvvvvv.nfs$files  - also slightly odd but the username contains a space (like  xxxxxx yyyyyyy).

 

However both these things go through ok using the browser which then comes back with the list of files in the network address.    Works perfectly well on my XP systems.

 

The work around offered does NOT work.

 

Answer 11

hello!

A month ago I was able to see my website through windows explorer. I used to have it as a network location.

Yesterday I tried to access it again that way, and the explorer just sent me to a location in my computer that appears to be empty, so it doesn't go to the website at all.

So I deleted the network location, and tried to attempt what you just wrote in this message.

When I reach this point:

 

When asked to "Specify the location of your website" in the Internet or network address field, enter https://%3cyour-officelive-site/"><FONT< A> color=#013da4>https://<your-officelive-site>. Click "Next

 

A message appears that reads:"the folder you entered does not appear to be valid. Please Choose another"

 

I'm going crazy trying to figure out what happened that I can't seem to see my website like I used to be a month before.

Please help me and tell me what do I need to do to fix this.

 

I have a HP Pavilion DV 9000, I'm using Windows Vista Home Premium, and I have Office 2007

Please help!!!!!

 

 

Answer 12

Hey folks,

 

For those of you running Vista who have had problems with the 3rd party design tools web folder, there is a series of patches out that may resolve some of those issues.  People were running into similar problems with the Office Live Small Business sister product Office Live Workspaces.  The Workspaces team bundled those patches into a single download.

 

So, two things for you:

• Install the patches - Here's a direct link to the installer for those patches.  Sorry, I'm not going to make promises that this will fix the issues many have reported with the 3rd party design web folder, but I do not want to make you wait for verification if they may help you get moving.
• Get on the waiting list for Office Live Workspaces!  Just go to http://www.officelive.com.  It will be obvious how to sign up.  It's a great new product.  I love it, and they didn't even pay me to say that.

Also, if you do install the patches, and it does fix the 3rd party design tool issues for you, we'd love to hear about it. Please post back here if you have any luck with it.

 

Thanks,

Chris

 

 

Answer 13

OK, looks like our testers have gotten positive results after applying these patches and trying to run the web folder.  So our confidence that this will help start resolving these issues is much higher.  Still, please reply to this thread if you have any luck. We'd like to hear from you if it does.

 

Answer 14

Hello

I would like to update that I tried installing this from microsoft:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=17c36612-632e-4c04-9382-987622ed1d64

 

and now I can see my website through the windows explorer!! So I'm fixed

 

regards

Answer 15

Interesting. The KB Article #'s on that download are different than the KB numbers that are part of the Workspaces bundle I posted yesterday.  I guess if it works, we won't question it. 

 

Has anyone else had luck with this yet?

Answer 16

I tried it too, but no joy.  Getting sight of the web folders is easy enough but double-clicking has no effect.  Oddly, they can be opened with right-click and even re-named, but right-click and "open" of documents just leads to a long series of requests for username/password (4 times) ending with the message "The path or filename for https://..... is invalid. Please check that the path and filename are correct."

 

The only workaround seems to be to copy the files (why does this work?) to a folder on the local machine, update them and then copy them back.  But when you are used to web folders working (under XP) as if they were already local, it makes you wonder if the Vista upgrade was such a good idea...

Answer 17

the link to the 'installer for those patches' is broken. Can you update with a new one ? i need those hotfixes.

note: i installed the hotfix from this link  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=17c36612-632e-4c04-9382-987622ed1d64

and it still does not work.

Im trying to connect to my office live workspace.

Answer 18

Had same problem in Windows7.
Tried to map network as mentioned much earlier, but no luck
BUT when I used http://  instead of https://  all went ok.

Thanks to Dave Chiu  ( Second message down)