When you try to rename or try to move a Microsoft Project project file (*.mpp) that is in a network share or on your local hard disk drive, you may receive a sharing violation error message. Additionally, when you open the project file, changes that you made to the file are missing.

If you view open connections for the server or the computer where the project file is shared from, the project file is listed with a live connection to a user, even though the file may not be in use by that user.

This problem may occur if you use the ConData object in a script from an ASP page to load a Microsoft Project *.mpp project file with the following ADO Provider connection string: When the *.mpp file is loaded and is served out by using this ADO Provider connection string, the file is opened in Read mode and a Read lock is set on the file on the server. This Read lock will remain active until another project file is loaded with the same connection method, or until you unload the ADO Provider. When the server provides the new project file, the Read lock is removed from first project file.

To work around this problem, follow these steps in the order that they appear:

1. Create a blank *.mpp project file.
2. Save the file on the server.
3. Modify the original script on the ASP page.
4. Add the follow code after the first ConData object allocation:

   Set ConData = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
   ConData.ConnectionString = "Provider=Microsoft.Project.OLEDB.version_number;PROJECT NAME=c:\path\blank_project.mpp" 
   ConData.Open
   ConData.Close
   Set ConData = Nothing

After you run the code, the original *.mpp project file that was locked is released and the lock remains on the blank *.mpp project file.

The provider supports three registry entries that determine the number of seconds that must elapse before certain time-out conditions occur. These registry entries can be found under the following subkey:
Entry Name: TimeoutOnLoad
Type: DWORD
Value: Time in seconds the provider will try to load a project before returning an error message that the project is unavailable. Default value is 90 seconds.

Entry Name: TimeBeforeUnload
Type: DWORD
Value: Time in seconds the project remains open after another project is loaded. Until a new project is loaded, the current project remains in memory, regardless of this setting. Default value is 600 seconds.

Entry Name: TimeBeforeRefresh
Type: DWORD
Value: Time in seconds before the current project is checked for updated information. Default value is 1 second.

If you set any one of these entries to zero, the features of that entry are turned off. If you set the TimeBeforeUnload entry to zero, the workaround that is described in this article does not work. If you set the TimeBeforeUnload entry to a low value, less than 60 seconds, a high load situation may occur as the provider will constantly reload projects.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.