Q: MS Office documents opening as read-only on AFP share

Hi everybody,

This post helped me to identify the solution as the original passthrough wasn't working anymore on El Capitan.

Effectively, since El Capitan, the Office.glgenerator file isn't accessible anymore so that you need to do the following to rename it :

1. Reboot the client workstation on recovery mode

2. Access Terminal from the recovery screen

3. Enter the following :

     > csrutil disable

     >CD /Volumes

     >ls

This will help you identify the volume name of your workstation

     > chflags norestricted /System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator

     > mv /Volumes/« volume name »/System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator /System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator.bak

     > csrutil enable

4. Restart, it's done. You'll never be bothered again with Office files lock on your AFP/SMB shares on your Mac server.

Starwalker,

I get to

> chflags norestricted /System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator

and get a "no file or directory". Volume name is "Macintosh HD" on the users iMac.

With or without Macintosh_HD in the line I get the same error.

Please advise if you can. I'm at the clients.

Thanks for any assistance.

"chflags norestricted" is a single command and does not require any other parameters.

Sorry. Please disregard my previous comment. Please try the following:

chflags norestricted Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator

Thanks, I was even more confused.

I'll give it a try.

chflags norestricted Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator

which gets me:

chflags: invalid flag: no

Should the next line be?:

mv /Volumes/Macintosh\HD/System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator /System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator.bak

Duminda,

chflags norestricted Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator

which gets me:

chflags: invalid flag: no

Should the next line be?:

mv /Volumes/Macintosh\HD/System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator /System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator.bak

This command unlocks the specified file if it's locked, if you are able to follow along with the rest of the commands with no issue, you should still be fine.

"Macintosh HD" has to be written as "Macintosh\ HD" with the space.

For example:

mv /Volumes/Macintosh \HD/System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator /System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator.bak

Thanks, I now have the space in the right place but I'm getting a "no such file or directory".

mv: rename /Volumes/Macintosh to HD/System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator /System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator.bak

mv /Volumes/Macintosh \HD/System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator /Volumes/Macintosh \HD/System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator.bak

should be the correct command. You are basically renaming the file.

mv: rename /Volumes/Macintosh to HD/System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator /System/Library/QuickLook/Office.qlgenerator.bak

is wrong. Hope it helps.

You're right Duminda.

The "rename" command isn't necessary as done by "mv".

Also, you can input 'Macintosh HD' instead of Macintosh \HD : it does the same...

The "mv" command should locate the file with the complete path unless you already moved to the correct folder (System).

And you have to locate it twice : first to locate the file you want to rename and second to tell the system where to rename it.

This has solved the issue for all of our workstations / laptops connected to the AFP server (xServe).

No need to enter these commands on the server itself.

But you'll need to re-enter it on the client mac each time you'll upgrade to a new version of Mac OS...

Good luck

I contacted another consultant remotely who is better in the Terminal than I, and we tried the above methods.

We were unsuccessful as he had the same errors.

However, here's what DID work on users on 10.11/ El Capitan. We just eliminated the Office.qlgenerator

1. Reboot the client workstation on recovery mode

2. Access Terminal from the recovery screen

3. Enter the following :

      csrutil disable

4. Restart the Mac after the verification message.

5. Log in as usual.

6. Navigate to System/Library/QuickLook/

7. Select Office.qlgenerator > Command-Delete to the trash

8. Reboot the client workstation in recovery mode

    Enter the following :

     csrutil enable

9. Restart the Mac after the verification to enable protection

The doesn't seem to work on Yosemite 10.10 Macs.

Hope this helps and thanks to all.

Well, I never said you can't eliminate the file but this a bit radical for a system file...

Once you are on the Recovery environment and using Terminal (which was my instruction), there is no need to come back to ElCapitan prior to rename / delete the file : this can de bone from the recovery mode.

The restriction on QuickLook file (Office.qlgenerator) came with ElCapitan so I am not surprised this doesn't work on Yosemite (at least the need to use csrutil disable). But you shouldn't have the issue with AFP shared folders on Yosemite. If so, there might be another issue than QuickLook. Nevertheless, you do not need to use the csrutil command under Yosemite as the file isn't restricted as it is under ElCapitan.

Our config :

- Server xServe running Mac OS 10.11.4 (ElCapitan)

Supports :

• File sharing (AFP only, no SMB except for the network printer and the virtual machine)
• Mail
• iCal
• Web
• Time Machine (with Raid sonnet card R580 : by the way, this one works fine under ElCapitan assuming you bypass again the drivers not being approved by Apple)
• DHCP
• DNS
• FTP
• Open directory
• VmWare for a Windows server 2008 VM

- Workstations : macbook pro (from 2009 till 2015), iMac (from 2009 till 2015), all running 10.11.4

Apps :

• Office 2011
• TSE through Cord
• Mail, iCal, Contacts : no foreign apps for these... just standard.

As you all may very well know, any other setup may affect both the symptoms and the cure...