FMPro5 multi-user on network problem

[phar]

i have a small office setup with FMP5 on 4 machines. the pertinent files reside on a shared folder of the "host" computer. sometimes all 4 users access the at the same time. originally, the system worked fine. now, for reasons unknown, 1 or 2 of the machines can't access the files after it is started on another machine. i'll get "file is already in use and is a single user file" (or words to that effect). usually the program opens with the flash of a small screen alluding to the files being "multi-user". in that case, it seems to work o.k. other times it opens without that and no other user can access the files.

any ideas? thanks.

[Wim Decorte]

The basic setup is wrong. You can't (shouldn't really) share FM files like other Word, Excel or Access files. Doing what you are doing is the #1 cause of data and file corruption.

- remove the OS file sharing from the folder where the FM files are

- have a copy of FM on the machine where the files are open the files

- all others open the hosted files through "open remote" or a local opener file.

- for best results and to take live backups, use a copy of FileMaker Server

There is white paper on my website that describes the reasoning behind all this.