Renaming a file on mapped WebDAV drive does not work with Windows client, but with NetDrive or WebDrive

When I map a network drive to Alfresco WebDAV via:

net use a: "https://myserver/alfresco/webdav/Sites/" /User:admin admin

I can execute operations like creating, deleting, copying a file, but I cannot rename a file. Renaming results in an error "A device attached to the system is not functioning.":

> rename test.docx test2.docx
A device attached to the system is not functioning.
(Ein an das System angeschlossenes Gerät funktioniert nicht.)

The user has sufficient permissions. When mapping the WebDAV folder via NetDrive or MapDrive instead of using Windows/"net use", it works fine. Seems like a problem with the embedded WebDAV client in Windows.

There are not many files in the folder, in which I want to rename the file. Only 10 or so.

I would understand somehow if it would be a general issue and I would not be able to connect at all, but why does only the renaming command fail? Does anybody have experienced this issue and any idea how to solve it?

Environment:

Client: Windows 8.1
Server (Alfresco/WebDAV): Windows 2012 RC2 Server

=== Update: ===

I tried the same on my local Alfresco instance

Client: Windows 8.1
Server (Alfresco/WebDAV): Windows 8.1

and here, renaming works fine. Seems to be an issue with the Windows 2012 Server configuration, but I am not sure where to look at. I already compared the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc: Configuration -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options), but did not find any significant differences.

Mathias Conradt

Posted 2015-09-10T08:36:26.403

Reputation: 757

A bit related, but compared to that thread, I do not see anything in the Alfresco log on the server-side. https://forums.alfresco.com/forum/installation-upgrades-configuration-integration/configuration/webdav-rename-moving-failure#comment-159507

– Mathias Conradt – 2015-09-11T11:15:23.403

Answers

I have not enough reputation to comment, so I'm writing an answer instead...

My thought is, that your CHMOD is incorrect. I've just reproduced that using my owncloud. If I set the CHMOD to 555 I will get the same error as described by you. However when I change it to 644 (as it's supposed to be) I have no issues at all.

I don't think that it's an issue with the embedded WebDAV Client of Windows, as it's working for me on two different machines using Windows 7 and Windows 10.

But I can't really tell you why it's working with NetDrive / MapDrive, though.. :)

Anyway, I would suggest you to check your CHMOD and maybe set it to 755 on folders and 644 to files.

A1985

Posted 2015-09-10T08:36:26.403

Reputation: 452

The server is a Windows server, not Linux. Therefore I tried the Windows equivalent for CHMOD, but it does not work. I tried "cacls test.txt /g everyone:f" and "icacls test.txt /grant Everyone:F" as per http://superuser.com/questions/163049/what-is-the-equivalent-of-chmod-777, but it does not work. First command sys, CACLS only works on NTFS-Filesystems, and the second also throws an error.

– Mathias Conradt – 2015-09-10T09:12:42.343

Also, going into the file properties of a file on WebDAV drive, it does not show any security tab/settings; I assume that the permissions should be handled by the security layer of the WebDAV server (Alfresco in my case). – Mathias Conradt – 2015-09-10T09:14:15.113

Well I'm sorry but I have no experience with Alfresco, I just wanted to check how it's working on my server and I was able to reproduce it by changing the CHMOD. But if your access rights are good, I might be wrong about my thought - sorry :( – A1985 – 2015-09-10T09:21:09.027