Error 6 means duplicate file names on servers

August 13, 200421 yr

[DOUBLE-POST]

Someone had posted a question a while back (maybe a month or two?), asking what error 6 means when trying to access a file across a network. I can find no documentation for this error, and it seems to be an FM error rather than a Windows one, so i will pretend to be an error 6 authority. :grad: I think i have an answer, but i can't find the original post. So here goes (hope you're still on the forum, bud). I hope the pooh-bahs will forgive me for double-posting, but i'm not sure where this should go. :crazy:

I have a local file that looks for a database on the network called "Opener.usr". Last night, running that file, i got an Error 6. When i open the Hosts dialog, i can see that we have TWO servers which are hosting a file called Opener.usr.

I believe what is happening is that, because FM does a multi-cast when looking for a file on the network, it gets confused at the presence of two identically-named files and returns an error.

Testing this theory out, i find that if i modify my opener script to specify the host IP, error 6 does not recur. QED.

So the solution for error 6 is to uniquely name every hosted file on your network, or to specify the host's IP in the opener script.

HTH someone.

Jerry