IT help - weird computer problem

[dr wogz]

Asking the collective IT mind for some help. Our IT dept can't figure it out..

This is M$ Office, on a Citrix portal.

For whatever reason, my copy of Word & Excel lose their place. They seem to forget where the "recently used" files live. (When I go to Open => File, the list of recent used files is blank, and my dictionary & a few other reference directories are lost). I will then need to restart my Citrix session.

it's a random occurrence, but is getting to be a once per week deal. Sometimes once a moth, sometimes a few months will pass, it's typically always after lunch I notice it. The IT dept have tried to track it but to no avail.. And, as Murphy would have it, always when I need it the most (pressure / deadline to produce / update the file)

 

[Bat-mite]

So, I presume Citrix is attaching your workstation or thin client to a VM. I would also assume that user data is stored in a roaming profile. So, either the connection between the VM and the roaming profile is getting lost.

 

[heada]

Is it always after a period of idle time or has it happened while you're active? I was thinking roaming profile issue or your %HOME% type vars are getting lost somehow.

 

[dr wogz]

@Bat-mite I would assume so (sorry, technically juvenile!) They did something and it was solid for a few months, it's just the past month or so that this has returned. This has been an issue with me for years. VM?

@heada Both / neither.. it's hard to pin down. Yesterday, was after repeated open & closings. In teh past after lunch, and I might have opened Excel earlier in the day.. It seems random & unpredictable.. But always after lunch / noon..

I should pint out I am not as tech savvy as I should be.. and, I seem to be the only one in the department / company that has this issue. The Main IT guy (of 2) has discussed this with a "consultant" and he is also at a loss. (Dunno who this "consultant" is..) So figured I would ask here, if someone might have a "Oh yea, this was an issue with M$ office build 3215468.225V3 on server 2013 with update XXX"

 

[heada]

Next time it happens, open a command prompt window and run the command "gpupdate /force" and then try again. That will force a re-read of group policies which should re-read all vars, etc.

 

[Bat-mite]

@Bat-mite I would assume so (sorry, technically juvenile!) They did something and it was solid for a few months, it's just the past month or so that this has returned. This has been an issue with me for years. VM?

@heada Both / neither.. it's hard to pin down. Yesterday, was after repeated open & closings. In teh past after lunch, and I might have opened Excel earlier in the day.. It seems random & unpredictable.. But always after lunch / noon..

I should pint out I am not as tech savvy as I should be.. and, I seem to be the only one in the department / company that has this issue. The Main IT guy (of 2) has discussed this with a "consultant" and he is also at a loss. (Dunno who this "consultant" is..) So figured I would ask here, if someone might have a "Oh yea, this was an issue with M$ office build 3215468.225V3 on server 2013 with update XXX"

Virtual Machine. Common infrastructure practice is to have files stored on some kind of network-attached storage device. Your files are not stored on the machine sitting at your desk, but on this other device. Your "Documents", "Downloads", "Pictures" (etc) directories are actually on the remote storage device.

If the VM that you attach to can't hit the storage device, or, as others have said, loses your environment variables, then this might occur. Do you ever see a warning message when you login about not finding your profile, or logging you in with a temporary profile?

 

[dr wogz]

@Bat-mite Yes, exactly, I log into a "server" (does that term still apply? am I dating myself?! )

Yes, when I loose the connection, I get a "The file cannot be found" error message. I then get another saying my dictionaries cannot be found, etc.. I can open it, and go thru the whole file location chain to get it, but then I cant save it & some other issues..

Yeah, that is the basics of the trouble. The file that contains my most recently used files is lost. My machine / Citrix environment doesn't know where to go look, and then it has trouble 'getting' to where it needs to go.

 

[boatgeek]

It seems random & unpredictable.. But always after lunch / noon..

Clearly the solution is to tell your computer to knock off the three-martini lunches.

[I can't help with the actual problem, but maybe silly jokes help?]