"an unnamed file was not found" error of when saving a document

[MikeMio]

Hi,

I have an MFC application. 2 users (using XP) are reporting that they often
get an "an unnamed file was not found" error of when saving a document.

During a save, it looks like the MFC writes the document to a mirror file
(e.g. MFCxx.tmp) then calls ReplaceFile() (from CMirrorFile::Close()) to
replace the original version of the doc with the mirror file. When the error
occurs, the document is being saved correctly to the original file name but
the mirror file is not removed. That suggests the error is occurring inside
the ReplaceFile() function which seems odd.

My question is: Any idea what this error means and is there anything that my
application could be doing to cause this?

I am thinking that some external program (driver, anti-virus etc) might be
causing it but could it be a bug in the MFC code?

Thanks.

[Charles Wang[MSFT]]

Hi Mike,
I understand that your MFC application ocassionally reported the error "an
unamed file was not found" when a document was being saved.
If I have misunderstood, please let me know.

Currently I have not found any known product issue for this. For further
research, could you please share us some of your code snippets here or send
me (changliw_At_microsoft_dot_com) a simple project for demonstrating how
you saved the file? Thanks for your cooperations.

Best regards,
Charles Wang
Microsoft Online Community Support
=====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via
your newsreader so that others may learn and benefit
from this issue.
======================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
======================================================

[MikeMio]

Hi Charles, your understanding is correct.

The save is standard MFC. Below is the code (I'll call the class COurDoc)
that calls the MFC CDocument::OnSaveDocument()

The attached CMirrorFile::Close() from MFC is where the problem seem to be
occurring

Mike

------------------------------------------------------
void COurDoc::OnFileSave()
{
BOOL bNotAccessible=FALSE;

if(m_docfile.IsEmpty())
{
// no file currently open
bNotAccessible=TRUE;
}
else //if(!m_docfile.IsEmpty())
{
if(!ReSaveImage())
{
return; //cancelled
}

//look for write access now so we can avoid cryptic message from MFC
DWORD dwAttrs = GetFileAttributes(LPCTSTR(m_docfile));

//if no file or read only save as
if(dwAttrs==0xffffffff ||(dwAttrs & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READONLY))
{
bNotAccessible=TRUE;
}
else // or, if not writable, save as
{
HANDLE hAppend = CreateFile(m_docfile, GENERIC_WRITE,
FILE_SHARE_WRITE,NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL,NULL);

if(INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE==hAppend)
{
bNotAccessible=TRUE;
}
else
{
CloseHandle(hAppend);
}
}
}

if(bNotAccessible)
{
OnFileSaveAs();
}
else if(OnSaveDocument(LPCTSTR(m_docfile)))
{
// backup saved file
MakeBackupCopy(LPCTSTR(m_docfile));
}
}

BOOL CIMSDoc::OnSaveDocument(LPCTSTR lpszPathName)
{

....
here we adjust some internal items and save a values in the registry with
WriteProfileInt()
...

AfxGetApp()->AddToRecentFileList(lpszPathName );

BOOL res = CDocument::OnSaveDocument(lpszPathName);
return res;
}

void COurDoc::MakeBackupCopy(LPCTSTR pszDocPath)
{
// backup saved file
if(CopyFile(LPCTSTR(m_docfile),LPCTSTR(sSAVPath),false))
{
//make sure the backup file is not read only even if the source file is
DWORD dwAttrs = GetFileAttributes(LPCTSTR(szSAVPath));
if((dwAttrs & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READONLY))
{
SetFileAttributes(LPCTSTR(szSAVPath),dwAttrs &= ~FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READONLY);
}
}
}
------------------------------------------------------

void CMirrorFile::Close()
{
CString strName = m_strFileName; //file close empties string
CFile::Close();
if (!m_strMirrorName.IsEmpty())
{
BOOL (__stdcall *pfnReplaceFile)(LPCTSTR, LPCTSTR, LPCTSTR, DWORD, LPVOID,
LPVOID);
HMODULE hModule = GetModuleHandle(_T("KERNEL32"));
ASSERT(hModule != NULL);
pfnReplaceFile = (BOOL (__stdcall *)(LPCTSTR, LPCTSTR, LPCTSTR, DWORD,
LPVOID, LPVOID))
#ifndef _UNICODE
GetProcAddress(hModule, "ReplaceFileA");
#else
GetProcAddress(hModule, "ReplaceFileW");
#endif
if(!pfnReplaceFile || !pfnReplaceFile(strName, m_strMirrorName, NULL, 0,
NULL, NULL))
{
CFile::Remove(strName);
CFile::Rename(m_strMirrorName, strName);
}
}
}

------------------------------------------------------

Post by Charles Wang[MSFT]
I understand that your MFC application ocassionally reported the error "an
unamed file was not found" when a document was being saved.
... could you please share us some of your code snippets here or send
me (changliw_At_microsoft_dot_com) a simple project for demonstrating how
you saved the file?

[Tom Serface]

I would guess that MFC is catching a general exception and this is just the
message that is pumped out from it. I've seen it on occasion, but don't
know how to reproduce it. Sorry. Could the file be open in exclusive mode
by another process somewhere?

Tom

Post by MikeMio
Hi Charles, your understanding is correct.
The save is standard MFC. Below is the code (I'll call the class COurDoc)
that calls the MFC CDocument::OnSaveDocument()
The attached CMirrorFile::Close() from MFC is where the problem seem to be
occurring
Mike
------------------------------------------------------
void COurDoc::OnFileSave()
{
BOOL bNotAccessible=FALSE;
if(m_docfile.IsEmpty())
{
// no file currently open
bNotAccessible=TRUE;
}
else //if(!m_docfile.IsEmpty())
{
if(!ReSaveImage())
{
return; //cancelled
}
//look for write access now so we can avoid cryptic message from MFC
DWORD dwAttrs = GetFileAttributes(LPCTSTR(m_docfile));
//if no file or read only save as
if(dwAttrs==0xffffffff ||(dwAttrs & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READONLY))
{
bNotAccessible=TRUE;
}
else // or, if not writable, save as
{
HANDLE hAppend = CreateFile(m_docfile, GENERIC_WRITE,
FILE_SHARE_WRITE,NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL,NULL);
if(INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE==hAppend)
{
bNotAccessible=TRUE;
}
else
{
CloseHandle(hAppend);
}
}
}
if(bNotAccessible)
{
OnFileSaveAs();
}
else if(OnSaveDocument(LPCTSTR(m_docfile)))
{
// backup saved file
MakeBackupCopy(LPCTSTR(m_docfile));
}
}
BOOL CIMSDoc::OnSaveDocument(LPCTSTR lpszPathName)
{
....
here we adjust some internal items and save a values in the registry with
WriteProfileInt()
...
AfxGetApp()->AddToRecentFileList(lpszPathName );
BOOL res = CDocument::OnSaveDocument(lpszPathName);
return res;
}
void COurDoc::MakeBackupCopy(LPCTSTR pszDocPath)
{
// backup saved file
if(CopyFile(LPCTSTR(m_docfile),LPCTSTR(sSAVPath),false))
{
//make sure the backup file is not read only even if the source file is
DWORD dwAttrs = GetFileAttributes(LPCTSTR(szSAVPath));
if((dwAttrs & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READONLY))
{
SetFileAttributes(LPCTSTR(szSAVPath),dwAttrs &= ~FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READONLY);
}
}
}
------------------------------------------------------
void CMirrorFile::Close()
{
CString strName = m_strFileName; //file close empties string
CFile::Close();
if (!m_strMirrorName.IsEmpty())
{
BOOL (__stdcall *pfnReplaceFile)(LPCTSTR, LPCTSTR, LPCTSTR, DWORD, LPVOID,
LPVOID);
HMODULE hModule = GetModuleHandle(_T("KERNEL32"));
ASSERT(hModule != NULL);
pfnReplaceFile = (BOOL (__stdcall *)(LPCTSTR, LPCTSTR, LPCTSTR, DWORD,
LPVOID, LPVOID))
#ifndef _UNICODE
GetProcAddress(hModule, "ReplaceFileA");
#else
GetProcAddress(hModule, "ReplaceFileW");
#endif
if(!pfnReplaceFile || !pfnReplaceFile(strName, m_strMirrorName, NULL, 0,
NULL, NULL))
{
CFile::Remove(strName);
CFile::Rename(m_strMirrorName, strName);
}
}
}
------------------------------------------------------

Post by Charles Wang[MSFT]
I understand that your MFC application ocassionally reported the error "an
unamed file was not found" when a document was being saved.
... could you please share us some of your code snippets here or send
me (changliw_At_microsoft_dot_com) a simple project for demonstrating how
you saved the file?

[MikeMio]

Ok, thanks anyway Tom.

I don't think the file is open in exclusive mode because the
CreateFile/GENERIC_WRITE test would fail and send the save to save as. I
tried locking the file explictly after the test but then I get a different
message (sharing violation).

Mike

Post by Tom Serface
I would guess that MFC is catching a general exception and this is just the
message that is pumped out from it. I've seen it on occasion, but don't
know how to reproduce it. Sorry. Could the file be open in exclusive mode
by another process somewhere?

[Charles Wang[MSFT]]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for your response.

Your code looks fine. Now I recommend that you use GetLastError() to
retrieve extend error information after you call ReplaceFile.
From your description, it seemed that your ReplaceFile function might
return the error ERROR_UNABLE_TO_REMOVE_REPLACED since you said that the
mirror file was not removed.

You may also use Process Monitor to monitor the process (filter the records
by the process name) to see which file your process was looking for. You
can download Process Monitor from:
Process Monitor v1.25
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/processmonitor.mspx
Please also mail me the process monitor logs for further research.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to let me
know. Have a nice day!


Best regards,
Charles Wang
Microsoft Online Community Support
=====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via
your newsreader so that others may learn and benefit
from this issue.
======================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
======================================================

[MikeMio]

Hi Charles,

I will try the processmonitor to see what can be found. Adding the
GetLastError() may be a little more difficult because the code is in the MFC
dll.

I was thinking about the improbability of ReplaceFile replacing the document
file but not removing the temp when I realized I made a mistake. The code
that these users have is calling the the old MFC dlls not the new ones from
VS2005. I apologize for that error.

So the CMirrorFile::Close() code would be as follows below. That makes a
little more sense now. I seems more possible that the error is occurring at
the final CFile::Remove(strBackupName), although it still doesn't explain why
it would happen. Does that give you any new insights?

I'll let you know what I find out with the processmonitor. It may take some
time. It has to go out to the end users and back.

Thanks for your help.
Mike

==============================
void CMirrorFile::Close()
{
CString m_strName = m_strFileName; //file close empties string
CFile::Close();
if (!m_strMirrorName.IsEmpty())
{
BOOL bWorked = FALSE;
DWORD dwResult = 0;
ReplaceAPIPtr pfn = NULL;
CString strBackupName;

if (!afxData.bWin95)
{
HMODULE hModule = GetModuleHandleA("KERNEL32");
ASSERT(hModule != NULL);

pfn = (ReplaceAPIPtr) GetProcAddress(hModule, "ReplaceFile");

if (pfn != NULL)
{
USES_CONVERSION;

strBackupName = GetTempName(m_strMirrorName, FALSE);

// this NT API handles copying all attributes for us

bWorked = (pfn)(T2W((LPTSTR)(LPCTSTR)m_strName),
T2W((LPTSTR)(LPCTSTR)m_strMirrorName),
T2W((LPTSTR)(LPCTSTR)strBackupName),
REPLACEFILE_WRITE_THROUGH | REPLACEFILE_IGNORE_MERGE_ERRORS,
NULL, NULL);

if (!bWorked)
dwResult = GetLastError();
}
}

if (!bWorked)
{
if (dwResult == ERROR_UNABLE_TO_MOVE_REPLACEMENT || dwResult == 0)
CFile::Remove(m_strName);

if (dwResult == ERROR_UNABLE_TO_MOVE_REPLACEMENT_2)
CFile::Remove(strBackupName);

CFile::Rename(m_strMirrorName, m_strName);
}
else if (pfn != NULL)
{
CFile::Remove(strBackupName);
}
}
}
==============================

[Charles Wang[MSFT]]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for your response.

Unfortunately the information is not enough just according to the code
snippet, to speed up our research process, could you please mail me
(changliw_at_microsoft_dot_com) a small project so that I can reproduce
your issue and perform debugging?

Appreciate your understanding on this and have a good day!

Best regards,
Charles Wang
Microsoft Online Community Support
=====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via
your newsreader so that others may learn and benefit
from this issue.
======================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
======================================================

[MikeMio]

Hi Charles,

The program is standard MFC document/view program but I don't think you will
be able to reproduce the problem. I can't reproduce. It is only happening for
a couple of end users out of many.

But...I have just gotten results from someone trying the process monitor
and, guess what, the problem goes away when the process monitor is on.

So it looks like this is a latency problem right in the CMirrorFile::Close()
function. Would you agree?

It there anything that can be done besides rewriting the MFC function?

Cheers,
Mike

[Charles Wang[MSFT]]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for your response.

If this is a latency problem, you may try using Sleep function after each
file operation to see if it helps.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any other questions or
concerns. It is my pleasure to be of assistance.

Best regards,
Charles Wang
Microsoft Online Community Support
=====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via
your newsreader so that others may learn and benefit
from this issue.
======================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
======================================================

[MikeMio]

Adding Sleep() in this case is not too practical because the problem area
seems to be in the MFC dll.

If it is the MFC dll that is causing the problem, I wonder if this is a
known problem that was perhaps fixed in a newer release (of the VC6 version
of MFC)? I tried to search for this but could not find anything.

Alternately, do you happen to know of any workaround for the end user?
Perhaps an OS setting to turn off lazy write (or other applicable option) for
the specific file or directory. As I mentioned this error is only reported by
two of many (thousands) but for them it is a big problem.

Thanks again for your help in this.
Mike

[Charles Wang[MSFT]]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for your response.

Unfortunately I have not found any known issue in MFC regarding this
problem. Since this issue could not be reproduced, to track the root cause
of this issue, dump analysis will be required, however this work can only
be done by Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS). Effectively and
immediately I recommend that you contact CSS via telephone so that a
dedicated Support Professional can assist you in a more efficient manner.
Please be advised that contacting phone support will be a charged call. If
this issue is proved to be a product issue, the charge will be refunded to
you at last.

To obtain the phone numbers for specific technology request please take a
look at the web site listed below.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;PHONENUMBERS

If you are outside the US please see http://support.microsoft.com for
regional support phone numbers.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to let me
know. It is my pleasure to be of assistance.

Best regards,
Charles Wang
Microsoft Online Community Support
=====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via
your newsreader so that others may learn and benefit
from this issue.
======================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
======================================================

[MikeMio]

Ok. Thanks for all your your help, Charles

Cheers,
Mike

[i***@gmail.com]

Post by MikeMio
Ok. Thanks for all your your help, Charles
Cheers,
Mike

Hello!
I know this thread is very old, but since I have spent a few days trying to solve a very similar problem where on one customer computer our MFC based software would stop with this same error message("an unnamed file was not found"), I wanted to share the solution I found, hoping it might help somebody in the future.
We have many installations, but only one user had this problem. We also noticed that whenever th eerror would pop up, there was a .tmp file left over which had the same size and time stamp like the file we were writing to. The solution was to disable the indexing for the directory where our application was writing the Control Panel.

Regards,
Ivan

[i***@gmail.com]

We have many installations, but only one user had this problem. We also noticed that whenever the error would pop up, there was a .tmp file left over which had the same size and time stamp like the file we were writing to. The solution was to disable the indexing for the directory where our application was writing using the "Indexing Options" from the Control Panel. I believe that indexing service (whixh is part of the "Windows Search" service is somehow blocking the MFC when it tries to delete the .tmp file as part of the "Replace" action Mike wrote about. But I am not 100% sure on this.

[ivan]

Hello!
I know this thread is very old, but since I have just spent a few days investigating a very similar problem I just wanted to make the information public hoping that it maight save time for somebody else in the future.
On one PC we were from time to time receiving the error "an unnamed file was not found" at the moment when our software was writing to a file using CArchive class from MFC.
We have many installations, but only one user had this problem. We also noticed that whenever the error would pop up, there was a .tmp file left over which had the same size and the time stamp like the file we were writing to. The solution was to disable the indexing for the directory where our application was writing. This can be done using the "Indexing Options" from the Control Panel. I am note sure about this because I didn't debug it into the MFC code but I believe that indexing service (which is part of the "Windows Search" service) is somehow blocking the MFC when it tries to delete the .tmp file as part of the "Replace" action Mike wrote about.

Best regards,
Ivan

[Tom Serface]

Any chance you are writing the file to a network drive. There may be some
latency. I've never seen this error except when an exception occurs, like
perhaps you have permission to write files, but not delete them?

Tom

Post by MikeMio
Hi,
I have an MFC application. 2 users (using XP) are reporting that they often
get an "an unnamed file was not found" error of when saving a document.
During a save, it looks like the MFC writes the document to a mirror file
(e.g. MFCxx.tmp) then calls ReplaceFile() (from CMirrorFile::Close()) to
replace the original version of the doc with the mirror file. When the error
occurs, the document is being saved correctly to the original file name but
the mirror file is not removed. That suggests the error is occurring inside
the ReplaceFile() function which seems odd.
My question is: Any idea what this error means and is there anything that my
application could be doing to cause this?
I am thinking that some external program (driver, anti-virus etc) might be
causing it but could it be a bug in the MFC code?
Thanks.

[MikeMio]

One user always saves to a local drive. The other saves to both. It seem to
happen to paritcular files but not always (6 or 7 times out of 10).

Mike

Post by Tom Serface
Any chance you are writing the file to a network drive. There may be some
latency. I've never seen this error except when an exception occurs, like
perhaps you have permission to write files, but not delete them?
Tom

Post by MikeMio
Hi,
I have an MFC application. 2 users (using XP) are reporting that they often
get an "an unnamed file was not found" error of when saving a document.
During a save, it looks like the MFC writes the document to a mirror file
(e.g. MFCxx.tmp) then calls ReplaceFile() (from CMirrorFile::Close()) to
replace the original version of the doc with the mirror file. When the error
occurs, the document is being saved correctly to the original file name but
the mirror file is not removed. That suggests the error is occurring inside
the ReplaceFile() function which seems odd.
My question is: Any idea what this error means and is there anything that my
application could be doing to cause this?
I am thinking that some external program (driver, anti-virus etc) might be
causing it but could it be a bug in the MFC code?
Thanks.