Our notebooks are all connected to our domain. When you open an MS Office document (Word, Excel, etc..), while in our domain, they open fast. They open fine on network shares and on the desktop.

When you are out of our domain, and try to open documents on your desktop, they open fast.

When you are out of our domain and connect to a wireless network (at home for instance) and try to open documents from your desktop, it is very slow.

When you connect to our domain from that wireless using VPN, the documents on your desktop open fast again.

It is just slow when you are out of the domain (no VPN connection) and on a network.

• Edited by WolfgangAbd Monday, July 16, 2012 4:57 PM

That's because, when connected to a network, a document whose originating template was on a network drive, rather than a local drive, will try to access its template over whatever network is present. When the required network path & file can't be found, a considerable delay can ensue.

Hi,

Based on my research, just try the following methods:

1. The problem seems related to non-existent printers being referenced by an application. Deleting all the printers seemed to clear this up.
2. For each application that is having the problem, I set the last printer used to a local one. The files opened easily regardless of network connectivity.
3. Removing all the prefetch files from C:\windows\prefetch.

Hi,

Just checking in to see if the information was helpful. Please let us know if you would like further assistance.

I agree that the problem is due to non existent printers and perhaps network file shares. Our users have 5 network shares mounted and at least 3 networked printes connected. The printers show up as offline when outside of the domain and the shares show up as disconnected. When our notebook users are outside of the office and not connected to a network, documents open fast. The slowdown comes when our users are on a non-domain network and when they are not VPN'd into our domain. For some reason MS Word and Excell checks for access to every printer and maybe file share when a network connection is present.

One of the things that weve done in the past is to create a little batch script that disconnects the networked drives for everyone. We could add the disconnection of printers too, but thats going to be too cumbersome for most of our users, because they will have to disconnect the drives and printers when they are out of the domain and not VPNd in. Connect drives and printers when they are out of the domain and VPns in. Connect printers when they are back in the office (drives are automatically connected via login script).

Now as for your suggestions.

#2 - Setting the last printer used for each application to a local one means that they will have to remember to do that whenever they take documents outside of the office. Thats not good. Ill get a lot of complaints if they have to do this for Office apps only. They dont need to do this for any other application. They just drop those files on their desktop and theyll open regardless of the network or printer status. I'll try setting the default printer to the XPS Document writer or another local printer and see it that helps.

#3 Removing all the prefetch files from c:\windows\prefetch folder is not an option. This folder can be accessed only by administrators. My users are not administrators, so that is not an option.

Ideally, what I would like to do is to stop MS Office apps from checking network access when it opens. It seems to be able to do that when there is no network connection. I think it should only check network access when there is a link to a network location inside the document.

Ok. I just finished a round of testing and determined that the slowness is due to the file shares on the computer and not the printers. I detached all the network printers from a notebook and then tested opening document on a non-domain network. MS Word and Excel opened real slow. I then disconnected all the network drives and tried to open Word and Excel. They both opened in seconds. So... my real solution is to make MS Office (at least Word and Excell) not check all the network connections when it opens. Is there a way to do that?

Did you ever find a workable solution to this? I would sure love to find one!

Cheers,

Tim

Hello,

we have the same problem - does anyone have a solution ?

Many Thanks
TK

If your documents use a template other than the 'Normal' template, for an explanation and possible workarounds see: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=830561

Hi

Any updates to this or soloution ?

The link in my reply of November 26 2012 (the one to which you replied) provides an explanation and comprehensive solution for the most common cause. See also:
http://support2.microsoft.com/kb/280821/

Trying to resurrect an old thread here :)

I have the exact problem as WolfganAbd describes.

What I've found is this:

Computer booted offline and then connected to a non-domain LAN/WLAN

Excel takes up to 30 seconds to start.

I have  three different solutions that resolves my problem but creates new problems.

1. If there's network mappings that's not connected and if I disconnect them it Excel starts instantly.

2. There's two addins in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\XLSTART, if they are removed Excel starts instantly, nothing wrong with the macros I can put a blank Excel file there and it's slow again.

3. In trust center we have Network mappings as trusted locations for example G: X: and so on. If they are removed from trusted location, Excel starts instantly.

None of these alternatives are viable for us so wonder if anyone else has a suggestion?

Thanks

• Proposed as answer by the-real-superdos 16 hours 59 minutes ago
• Unproposed as answer by the-real-superdos 16 hours 59 minutes ago
• Edited by the-real-superdos 15 hours 27 minutes ago