Before the first person posts up a link about how Microsoft says they will not support this, I call Bull****. Our company has been working fine with pst files on network drives since they started using Exchange/Outlook. The problem is Windows 8.1 (maybe 8.0, don't know). All of our Windows XP and Windows 7 users used pst files on network drives without problem. Then we purchased a few Microsoft Surface Pro tablets w/Windows 8.1 and error started to occur. This is unacceptable.

Our setup:

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 with all the updates, including the patch that was created by Microsoft to fix the same issue with this version of server and Windows 7.

Microsoft Surface Pro tablets (Pro 1, Pro 2, and Pro3) Windows 8.1 with all updates. Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2013.

Exchange Server 2010.

The problem is consistent across all Surface tablets no matter version of Outlook. The size of the file runs from a tiny 256MB file to 4GB.

The users experiencing these errors were initially on Windows 7 devices and using pst archives on network drives without a single problem.

All of our users store everything on the network drives. Nothing is stored locally expect for personal information. We will not implement a system of backing up desktop/laptop/tablet computers because Windows 8.1 isn't working as it should.

Anyone have a real solution verses moving the file locally (then losing standard backup capabilities)?

• Edited by ZigZag3143xMVP, Moderator Wednesday, May 06, 2015 1:42 PM Removed profanity
• Edited by svanwoert Wednesday, May 06, 2015 1:51 PM Ensure Seriousness of Post

Hi svanwoert,

The main issue is that the pst files located in the network share will work with Windows 7 machine but it won`t work with Windows 8.1 machine ,right?

As far as I know ,the difference between them is that Windows 7 use SMB 2.0 dialect while Windows 8.1 client use SMB 3.02 dialect by default.
We can try to disable the SMB 3.02 dialect in Windows 8.1 machine to have a check.
To disable SMBv3 on the SMB client, run the following commands:
 sc.exe config lanmanworkstation depend= bowser/mrxsmb10/nsi
 sc.exe config mrxsmb20 start= disabled
Please note that When you enable or disable SMBv2 in Windows 8 or in Windows Server 2012, SMBv3 is also enabled or disabled
Here is a link for reference:
How to enable and disable SMBv1, SMBv2, and SMBv3 in Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2012
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2696547

PST files were created to allow users to maintain a copy of their messages on their local computers. The PST files also serve as a message store for users who do not have access to a Microsoft Exchange Server computer (for example POP3 or IMAP email users). PST files were never designed to be a network based solution. It is possible to specify a network location for PST files, but this usage is not meant to be a long term and continuous use solution. We don`t recommended to store it in the network location.
Here is a link for reference:
Where should you store your PST files?
http://blogs.technet.com/b/mspfe/archive/2012/10/15/where-should-you-store-your-pst-files.aspx

Best regards