Cannot open File Share protected documents after Windows cumulative updates are installed

Products

• File Share Encryption Powered by PGP Technology

Issue/Introduction

Microsoft Office and Open Office documents stored in a File Share protected folder cannot be opened in Windows 7, 8.x, 10 and Server 2008 and 2012 after the Windows cumulative updates are installed.

Symptoms include:

• Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point Files, for example, will not open as File Share regards them as corrupt.
• Computer will BSoD when attempting to open these files.
• Copy/Paste, Cut/Paste, Drag/Drop operations to/from a *network* share will result in a corrupted file (do not cut/overwrite as this will result in a corrupted file).

Typically, non-Office files, such as Notepad (text files), WordPad (RTF format files) or Adobe Reader (pdf files) are decrypted correctly.  In the copy/paste scenario other file types can be affected.

Note that .rtf files opened with Word will experience the same issue. Those same files can be opened with WordPad.

The Office application will state that it cannot open the file. Examples of the error messages are:

• The file format or file extension is not valid. Verify that the file has not been corrupted and that the file extension matches the format of the file.
• We're sorry. We can't open <filename> because we found a problem with its contents.
• The file <filename> cannot be opened because there are problems with the contents.
• The file is corrupt and cannot be opened.

Unless the file is very small, Windows will generate a BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) with the following message:

Stop code: SYSTEM THREAD EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED
What failed: PGPfsfd.sys

Cause

Due to some Network Redirector logic that was changed in these windows updates, applying any recent Microsoft updates can cause this issue.  This issue started during the October Microsoft updates.

Environment

• Reported on Encryption Desktop 10.3.2 MP11 and above with File Share.
• File Share protected network folders either locally or on a network share.
• Reported on Windows 7, 8.x, 10 and Server 2008 and 2012.
• Documents created with Microsoft Office 2010 and above or Apache OpenOffice.

Resolution

This issue is now resolved in Symantec File Share Encryption 10.4.1 MP2HF2 and can be downloaded from Fileconnect. 

Review the Resolved Issues and Known issue below:

Known Issue in Symantec File Share Encryption 10.4.1 MP2HF2
Etrack 4159951: New PowerPoint 2010  and Excel 2010 files created using the right-click context menu in a network share may be corrupted when Symantec File Share Encryption 10.4.1 MP2HF2 is installed on the machine. 

In order to work around this issue, either:

• Attempt to repair the empty corrupted file and then 'Save As' with the same file name to overwrite the existing corrupted file.
• Create these files on a local machine, and then copy to the network share.
• Create these files by opening the corresponding applications (PowerPoint or Excel) and then saving to the network share.

This issue has *not* been observed in Office 2013 or Office 2016. Symantec Development team is currently working on addressing this issue.

Resolved issues in Symantec File Share Encryption 10.4.1 MP2HF2

• Etrack 4142968: Fixed an issue where File Share-encrypted Microsoft office files could no longer be accessed on network share after applying Microsoft updates post October 2017 on Windows 7 and Windows 10 platforms.
• Etrack 4136263: Fixed an issue where Blue Screens could occur when attempting to open some File Share-encrypted Microsoft office files.
• Etrack 4156839: Fixed an issue where files could get corrupted performing a copy/paste or cut/paste operation to/from a File Share-encrypted network share.

NOTE: Please contact support if the following applies:

• The issue is not resolved after applying Symantec File Share Encryption 10.4.1 MP2HF2 or if updating is not possible.
• If File Share Encryption is installed on server platforms, such as Server 2008/20012, etc., and this issue is not resolved with 10.4.1 MP2HF2.