Conversions Plus conflict w/ FM4 on Win2K + FM3 Mac Server

[ccosner]

When my users access files served from Mac FM Server 3.0 on a Win2K desktop that also has Conversions Plus installed, they often get an error of the type "FileMakerPro.exe has caused errors and will be closed."

To fix the problem, I go into the task manager and kill the "MacName" process, which is the Mac Opener app (part of Conversions Plus) that watches for mac files to open/convert. However, the problem usually returns in a week or so, probably after a reboot. I think the error is due to the fact that our FM server is a Mac, and on these Win2K machines Mac Opener jumps in before Filemaker can open the remote file. Boom - two processes trying to open the same file at the same time.

What I would like to do is disable Mac Opener from running in the background on boot (as Mac Name), but not remove user's ability to read mac disks on their Win2K machines. I haven't found any settings in Conversions Plus that stop the Mac Name process from loading on boot, and their is nothing in the Startup file. So it sounds like brain surgery on the registry, but I really don't want to do that, obviously...

Thanks for any suggestions.

[Anatoli]

Are you opening FM files through HOST button?

[Steven H. Blackwell]

quote:

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Originally posted by Chris Cosner:

When my users access files served from Mac FM Server 3.0 on a Win2K desktop that also has Conversions Plus installed, they often get an error of the type "FileMakerPro.exe has caused errors and will be closed."

To fix the problem, I go into the task manager and kill the "MacName" process, which is the Mac Opener app (part of Conversions Plus) that watches for mac files to open/convert. However, the problem usually returns in a week or so, probably after a reboot. I think the error is due to the fact that our FM server is a Mac, and on these Win2K machines Mac Opener jumps in before Filemaker can open the remote file. Boom - two processes trying to open the same file at the same time.

What I would like to do is disable Mac Opener from running in the background on boot (as Mac Name), but not remove user's ability to read mac disks on their Win2K machines. I haven't found any settings in Conversions Plus that stop the Mac Name process from loading on boot, and their is nothing in the Startup file. So it sounds like brain surgery on the registry, but I really don't want to do that, obviously...

Thanks for any suggestions.

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This is almost certainly a deployment configuration error. There is no need cross platform for such a utility in FileMaker Pro. BTW, Server 3 is not certified to run on W2K.

Old Advance Man

[Steven H. Blackwell]

I should have added that there is an excellent White Paper on FM Server Best practices on the FMI web site.

Old Advance Man

[ccosner]

Thank you for the replies.

This problem has shown up on Win98 machines as well, so I'm not sure that it is due to a deployment problem. However, if FM Server 3.0 is not certified for Win2K, that's yet another reason to upgrade.

I should clarify that there is no connection between FM and Conversions plus on these machines. Users access the FM server files by a local file that opens a navigational menu file on the server. So yes, this is the same as using the HOSTS button. Conversions Plus is used to open Mac word processing files on the local machines. It has nothing to do with their use of FM and is not part of my deployment of FM.

[ccosner]

Apparently solution to this, since my Win2K users do not deal with Mac disks too often, is to disable the MacOpener driver from loading on startup. Thankfully this is only a handful of users, and it doesn't stop them from opening attached or network mac files via Conversions Plus if they wish to do so. I hope that our eventual upgrade of FM across the board will eliminate the need for this kludge!