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Q113149: PC Win: Err Msg: A Folder Could Not Be Accessed

Article: Q113149
Product(s): Microsoft Mail For PC Networks
Version(s): WINDOWS:3.0,3.0b,3.2
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): 
Last Modified: 30-OCT-1999

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Mail for PC Networks, versions 3.0, 3.0b, 3.2 
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SYMPTOMS
========

When you access shared or group folders and you select or double-click a shared
folder, the following error message may appear:

  A folder could not be accessed

In addition, when you try to delete a shared folder, the following error message
may appear:

  The folder could not be completely deleted.

CAUSE
=====

When a private, shared, or group folder is created, it is given a unique ID
number. This unique number is generated from the SERIALNO.IDX file. The
Microsoft Mail MS-DOS workstation can access folder names from 00000000.FLD
through FFFFFFFF.FLD. Microsoft Mail for Windows should be able to access the
same range of shared and group folders; however, it can only access folder names
from 00000000.FLD through 00FFFFFF.FLD. When a shared or group folder has an ID
number of 01000000 or greater, the Windows client displays the above error
message.

The MS-DOS client has no problem with folder names in this range.

RESOLUTION
==========

The following is a temporary workaround that allows you to access shared and
group folders that can't be accessed by the Windows client:

Reset SERIALNO.IDX to 00 00 00 00
---------------------------------

1. Create a backup copy of and run DEBUG on a backup of the SERIALNO.IDX file.
  For example, type:

  "debug serialno.idx" (without the quotation marks)

  NOTE: Perform this operation on the backup only.

2. At the hyphen (-) prompt, type the following and then press ENTER to display
  the value of the counter:

  "d100 103" (without the quotation marks)

  The following is an example of a bad counter value:

  xxxx:0100 3C 56 4F 4D

  This is equivalent to a folder name of 4D4F563C.FLD, which is out of the
  Windows client range.

3. To correct the bad counter value, reset the count back to 00000000 by typing
  the following and then pressing ENTER:

  "f 100,103,0" (without the quotation marks)

4. To verify that the values are reset to zeros, type the following at the
  hyphen prompt:

  "d100 103" (without the quotation marks)

5. To save the corrections, type "W" (without the quotation marks) at the hyphen
  prompt. The following message will appear:

  Writing 00004 bytes

  This message indicates that the data was written to the file.

6. At the hyphen prompt, type "Q" (without the quotation marks) to quit DEBUG.

  These steps will fix the out-of-range folder counter generator. If a folder
  already exists with the value in the SERIALNO.IDX file, the Mail program will
  not reuse the number.

7. Copy the newly modified SERIALNO.BAK over the original SERIALNO.IDX.

Recover the Problem Folder
--------------------------

The owner or creator of the shared and group folders should perform the following
steps:

1. Use the Microsoft Mail MS-DOS client to create a temporary working folder.
  Move the mail message from the problem folder to the temporary folder.

2. Delete the problem folder and then re-create it. Because the SERIALNO.IDX
  file has been reset to zero, a new folder will have the folder-name number
  within the range the Windows client can handle.

3. Move the mail message back to the original folder.

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in versions 3.0, 3.0b, and 3.2 of
Microsoft Mail for Windows. We are researching this problem and will post new
information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

Additional query words: 3.00b 3.20

======================================================================
Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbMailSearch kbZNotKeyword3 kbMailPCN320 kbMailPCN300 kbMailPCN300b
Version           : WINDOWS:3.0,3.0b,3.2

=============================================================================

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