@Den24601 

 

Have you tested both the USB 2.0 and USB 3.0?

 

What is the file system and model of your USB drive?

 

Aside from word docs, how do media files perform?

@Tony 

 

The original USB 2.0 drive that worked perfectly in the Archer C5 was formatted in FAT32.  I have since tried a USB 3.0 drive formated in exFAT and had the same problem. I formatted the original USB 2.0 that had worked in the C5 in NTFS and still have problems with MS Office files.    Files other than MS Office seem OK.  I can read MS Office files, but writing takes a long time, often several minutes.   After a write attempt, reading is also a problem until a reboot.  MS Office 2007 files have problems on both my USB drives (2.0 and 3.0) whether formatted in FAT32, NTFS, and exFAT.  However, Quicken files write/read just fine.

 

I reinstalled the C5 and MS Office 2007 read/write with no issues, but I have a few other items to look at.   There seem to be an incompatibility between the C4000 share and writing MS Office files, at least on my 3 PCs. All are connected via Ethernet.    

 

Dennis

@Tony 

 

Does the A20 version of this router have the same issue?  I am still within the window to return the C4000 and purchase an A20.

 

Dennis

@Den24601 

 

This from TP-Link Support:

 

Dear Dennis,
Thank you very much for your valued reply.

I've consulted our senior engineer who said for the time being our router doesn't support online editing. Therefore the only solution now maybe editing it on your computer first and then move back to the \\TP-Link Share.
Therefore, Archer A20 might have the same issue.

Thanks for your cooperation and patience.
Have a nice day.
 

 

Den24601 wrote

@Tony 

 

Does the A20 version of this router have the same issue?  I am still within the window to return the C4000 and purchase an A20.

 

Dennis

@Den24601 

 

I've got the A20 and did a quick test.

 

It did work for me:

 

I am NOT sharing the whole drive:

 

Even though G: shows under the share, I can NOT create or edit anything that is on G: (no files that are there show up either). Only file in 'Pictures' or 'share' can I see or maniplate.

 

The program I used was Notepad in Windows 10 V1903. hope this helps.

@Den24601 

 

Thanks. I ONLY have a problem editing/saving files on the C4000 while within MS Office AND using Network-Neighborhood share (\\TP-Link,g).  I can do this with no problem on the Archer C5, so there's a big difference between share on the C5 and C4000. My workaround was to create a Network Location for FTP ( ftp://192.168.1.2:21) which I renamed into something more manageable.  That works pretty well although not as elegant as Network-Neighborhood, but no problems.   Reads/writes using MS Office are now quick using FTP with no sign of the long lag I saw with Network Neighborhood.   I too had no problems using Notepad.  I did add \\TP-SHARE\g to MS Office's 'Trusted Locations,' but that had no effect.

 

 I found it necessary to enable SMB1 to use Share on the Archer C5, but that's not needed for the C4000.

 

TP-Link is aware of the issue, and will not be fixing it. 

 

Regards,

Dennis

 

Den24601 wrote

@Den24601 

 

Thanks. I ONLY have a problem editing/saving files on the C4000 while within MS Office AND using Network-Neighborhood share (\\TP-Link,g).  I can do this with no problem on the Archer C5, so there's a big difference between share on the C5 and C4000.

.

.

 .

 I found it necessary to enable SMB1 to use Share on the Archer C5, but that's not needed for the C4000.

 

TP-Link is aware of the issue, and will not be fixing it. 

 

Regards,

Dennis

@Den24601 

 

Hmm, I have an old MS Office 2007, and with Winword I could create a new file on my share?

 

 

I need to use SMB1 to access the share though. Matter of fact, if I don't do that, I can't access ANYTHING on my LAN. It breaks sharing. Problem is how the router is setup for discovery.

 

 

It uses NetBios which requires SMB 1. If they used WSD instead I wouldn't need SMB 1 as SMB 3 (default to on in W10) would handle it. The do expose the Samba server too, so you can use that for sharing in some applications without SMB 1 on.

 

I too hit the Workgroup problem. My old Netgear router allowed me to change that and I had a different workgroup name. A semi-protection for my files as I let the greandkids use the main SSID's, too lazy to turn on the Guest ones. I also could have individual shares on the same drive. I could even protect the Root and then share a sub-folder with no protection, which I liked. Protection is either everything or nothing here. Also each drive if you connected one to each port would have individual shares as well. On the A20, everything is under one share, but with a different drive letter, however protection if on, is for all drives and folders. I've notified TP-Link support, but all I was told it was reported.

 

By the way, you also do a NET USE (if on Windows) assign a drive letter to the share and access it that way possibly.

 

Oh, it took FOREVER it seems for Word to come back (mouse pointer was the hourglass) from doing a SAVE AS. Same for trying to open it as well. Some sort of problem with Office I guess?

 

I see an error in the Event Viewer for it:

 

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

The program WINWORD.EXE version 12.0.6787.5000 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem history in the Security and Maintenance control panel.
 Process ID: 46bc
 Start Time: 01d577b52a781ad7
 Termination Time: 29
 Application Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\WINWORD.EXE
 Report Id: 9847ccf3-fbce-455f-88c7-5ee438b716b5
 Faulting package full name:
 Faulting package-relative application ID:
 Hang type: Unknown

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

 

I opened Word again and saw it was trying to open the test file, tried again, but it isn't loading?

 

 

I closed Word and tried to get it via FILE open... never does?

 

It seems the A20 doesn't work with Office either? It does show a message though that the file is in use it appears? Odd..

 

USB support needs some work and features added for sure...

 

I did the NET USE;

 

C:\>net use u: \\tp-share2\g\share
The command completed successfully.

C:\>u:

U:\>dir
 Volume in drive U is G
 Volume Serial Number is 061B-373A

 Directory of U:\

09/30/2019  01:35 PM    <DIR>          .
09/27/2019  05:09 PM    <DIR>          ..
09/25/2019  06:00 PM                10 query
09/30/2019  01:34 PM             9,880 test.docx
09/30/2019  11:40 AM                15 test1.txt
05/12/2018  01:18 PM    <DIR>          video
09/30/2019  01:35 PM               162 ~$test.docx
               4 File(s)         10,067 bytes
               3 Dir(s)  1,208,252,223,488 bytes free

 

Doesn't work from Winword and neither does clicking on the DOCX file in File Manager... In WinWord if I select the file (or even test1.txt) Winword returns immediately with nothing showing.

 

 

@Den24601 

 

Thank you for confirming the MS Office problem exists on the A20.

 

Also, my workaround with FTP may not be so great. Today I had to re-'Save' the USB settings on the C4000 before I could access the stored files.  Perhaps daily 'saves' are needed to wake the router, or hopefully, this was a fluke.  

 

When I first clicked the saved Network Location for FTP (to read a file into Excel), a 'Location does not exist' error poppedup.  When I re-saved the USB Share settings on the router, the location again existed.  However, when FTP is working, it's easy to read/write files from Excel and Word.  If it continues, I may hard-reset using the external switch, and see if that fixes the issue.  

 

I reconnected my Archer C5 and confirmed that no such problems exist with Network Neighborhood and that older router's share.  Pity the C4000 doesn't use the same technology.

 

Since I keep only a very few MS Office spreadsheets and Docs on the C4000, this isn't a showstopper, but very annoying.

 

Thanks,

Dennis

 

Den24601 wrote

@Den24601 

 

Thank you for confirming the MS Office problem exists on the A20.

 

Also, my workaround with FTP may not be so great. Today I had to re-'Save' the USB settings on the C4000 before I could access the stored files.  Perhaps daily 'saves' are needed to wake the router, or hopefully, this was a fluke.  

 

@Den24601 

 

OK, your answer got me thinking!!!

 

I thought of something and tried it and at least partially fixed it on the A20.

 

I had a Netgear router before, actually 2 of them, and R7000 that started to go bad or got 'damaged' by the f/w crap they are putting out, and replaced it with an R8000 which work fine basically until the latest f/w removed DLNA which I use. For both of those, since I did p/w protect part of the USB drive (can't do that here), I needed a WINDOWS CREDENTIAL so I could access the drive. Problems were caused by the programs I used to access the share. I'd have 4 different things happen when trying to access the USB drive, depending on program:

 

1. Program did what it needed to do without any problems.
2. Program would ask for the login credentialy.
3. Report the drive/file did NOT exist, even though I could see it and select it.
4. Hang!

 

So I looked at the Windows Credential Manager. I had 2 Windows Credentials, one for the router (192.168.1.1 - the Netgear router IP Address) and another for the Netgear Share name. So I created 2 new ones, 192.168.0.1 for the TP-Link, and another for the Share. For both I used the login credentials.

 

Then I opened using Windows Explorer the USB share. Found my TEST.DOCX file and clicked on it. Instantly Word opened and the file appeared. Success! Short lived though. I edited the doc and added a line. Did SAVE... and the hourglass was back and Word showed Not Responding. Maybe 1/2 a minute or longer, poof, it returned. Checked the time stamp on the file.

 

U:\>dir
 Volume in drive U is G
 Volume Serial Number is 061B-373A

 Directory of U:\

10/01/2019  10:03 AM    <DIR>          .
09/27/2019  05:09 PM    <DIR>          ..
09/25/2019  06:00 PM                10 query
10/01/2019  10:03 AM             9,932 test.docx
09/30/2019  11:40 AM                15 test1.txt
05/12/2018  01:18 PM    <DIR>          video
09/30/2019  01:35 PM               162 ~$test.docx
               4 File(s)         10,119 bytes
               3 Dir(s)  1,208,252,223,488 bytes free

 

As you can see, test.docx was updated today (note the old ~$test.docx timestamp from yesterday). Wasn't the fastest but it did work.

 

I just noticed the NET USE from yesterday is still there, I need to delete than and test again I guess just in case the NET USE is what makes it work?

 

Well, it seems to be these same as with the NET USE... opens immediately but takes some time to save.

 

C:\>dir \\tp-share2\g\share
 Volume in drive \\tp-share2\g is G
 Volume Serial Number is 061B-373A

 Directory of \\tp-share2\g\share

10/01/2019  10:21 AM    <DIR>          .
09/27/2019  05:09 PM    <DIR>          ..
09/25/2019  06:00 PM                10 query
10/01/2019  10:21 AM            10,000 test.docx
09/30/2019  11:40 AM                15 test1.txt
05/12/2018  01:18 PM    <DIR>          video
09/30/2019  01:35 PM               162 ~$test.docx
               4 File(s)         10,187 bytes
               3 Dir(s)  1,208,252,223,488 bytes free

 

But it does work...

 

Here is what I created...

 

 

If one doesn't enable protection, these should NOT be needed? I can't tell you why this works though. Give it a try, can't hurt I suspect.

 

 

@IrvSp 

 

Interesting ideas! 

 

Using Network Neighborhood, I've almost always been able to save/read if I wait long enough.  Occasionally, it will immediately save a file with no delay on the first attempt but hang for several minutes on the second and subsequent attempts.   Creating a Network Location using FTP rather than Network Neighborhood solved the problem for me, although I suppose it's not a secure solution.   However, I can now read/write from within Excel or Word quickly with very little lag.  It's quite acceptable.

 

Are you suggesting that creating a Windows Credential specifically for \\TP-Share\g  or ftp://192.168.1.2:21?   The Network-Location I created using ftp://192.168.1.2:21 is quick, with none of the problems I had using Network Neighborhood.  I wonder if more recent versions of MS Office (I'm using 2007) have the problem? 

 

Thanks,

Dennis