Knowledge Base

PC WSPlus: Err Msg: Not a Valid File or Invalid Password

Article ID: 101540

Article Last Modified on 8/16/2005

APPLIES TO

This article was previously published under Q101540
1.00 1.00a WINDOWS kbother kbappnote kbtlc

SYMPTOMS

When you try to log in to Schedule+, you may receive the following message:
Not a Valid File
This message is generally followed by a dialog box asking if you would like to delete this file and create a new calendar file to replace it.

Or, the following message may also appear when you try to log in to Schedule+:
Invalid Password

CAUSE

These errors occur when the SCHEDULE.KEY file, which exists in the CAL directory of the Mail database, is either missing or corrupted. To see if this is the case, the administrator should add the following line to the SCHDPLUS.INI file: 
StartUpOffLine=1
When Schedule+ is operating offline, it uses the local USERNAME.CAL file and doesn't need to check the SCHEDULE.KEY file on the server.

NOTE: Although the SCHEDULE.KEY file is hidden by default, it can be visible or hidden. It does not matter as long as this file exists in the CAL subdirectory of the Mail database.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, the administrator should do the following:

Try to retrieve the SCHEDULE.KEY file from a current backup copy. This must be done to successfully recover a resource room's calendar file on this postoffice. Because resource rooms have no local backup copies, there is no way to retrieve the information other than from a backup.

If this does not help, or if a SCHEDULE.KEY backup is not available, do the following:

  1. Backup (to be safe) and then delete all *.CAL files from the CAL directory. (Because each Schedule+ user has two copies of this file--one on the local computer and one on the server--you can safely delete this file, knowing that the next time you log in, your local calendar file will be uploaded to the server.)
  2. Backup (to be safe) and then delete all SCHEDULE.* files from the CAL subdirectory. (The SCHEDULE.KEY file is regenerative. Thus, in previous attempts to log in, a new SCHEDULE.KEY file may have been created. Delete it.)
  3. Have all users log in to Schedule+ to upload their local calendar files and create a new SCHEDULE.KEY file.

MORE INFORMATION

NOTE: Do NOT delete the server copy of the CAL file under the following situation:

If a User rarely uses the Schedule+ file, but has an assistant who maintains the Schedule+ file (using File, Open Other's Apt Book), the changes the assistant makes will not be reflected in the user's local CAL file until the user enters Schedule+. If the user never enters Schedule+, all recent schedule changes only reside in the CAL subdirectory.

The SCHEDULE.KEY file is an index to each user's calendar file on the server. This file keeps track of who belongs to each hexadecimal-numbered .CAL file in the CAL directory.

The first time any user tries to use Schedule+, a SCHEDULE.KEY file is created on the server, noting who belongs to the file. The hexadecimal- numbered xxxxxxxx.CAL file numbers DO NOT match the hexadecimal-numbered .MMF files that exist in the MMF directory because not everyone who uses Mail uses Schedule+.

Each consecutive person to log in and use Schedule+ has a hexadecimal number assigned to them that will be entered in the SCHEDULE.KEY file for future use when logging on.

In the case above, where the SCHEDULE.KEY file is missing or corrupt, users can be inadvertently pointed to the wrong hexadecimal-numbered .CAL file on the server even when using the MVCAL.EXE utility. When this occurs, one of the above error messages is generated.

The MVCAL utility is included with Application Note WA0641, "Database Maintenance Utilities." You can have this Application Note mailed or faxed to you by contacting Microsoft Product Support Services.

Additional query words: schedule plus 1.00 1.00a err msg errmsg alert

Keywords: KB101540


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