My Microsoft Word 2007 gives me a permission error (make sure you CD drive is closed) message when I try to edit and save an existing document. This then closes the software and I lose the complete file. This began after a recent update. How do I fix it and get my files back.

Uninstalling Word 2007 Updates

I researching this problem on the Internet, I'm not convinced that this is an update related problem. If you suspect that it is, you can rollback the last few updates by going to your computer's Control Panel and selecting Add and Remove Programs (or Programs and Features in Windows Vista). Once Add and Remove Programs populates, look for the suspected Office updates. Depending on your version of Windows, you may need to click the View Installed Updates link first. From there, you should be able to scroll through all of the latest Office updates. Highlight the one you want to uninstall and then click the Uninstall button.

The Word 2007 "Check the drive to make sure the door is closed" Permission Error

Quite a few forum threads discuss this unusual permission error. While this is occurring with Word 2007, it's not a new error at all. In fact, Microsoft discusses this error in knowledgebase article 122379 as it relates to Word 97! In Word 97's case, the problem is related to the Universal Naming Convention (UNC). When working with documents from locations with specific drive letters (like CDs or flash drives), Word uses a UNC location. The workaround was to edit the Windows registry to include a DontUseUNC command. You can read more about it on Microsoft's Support page. However, because it's specific to Word 97 and is nearly a decade old, don't use these instructions as they likely won't work for your system.

Another Microsoft knowledgebase article, also an old one, indicates that this problem could be related to using extended characters in a file name such as if you are using a non-English version of Word and saving the file to a Windows 95 computer over the network. While this is doubtful in your case, it does show that this particular error is difficult to pinpoint. It seems to be related to naming and/or using removable storage for saving the document.

Another older knowledgebase article indicates a possible problem with the Office Shortcut bar. Again, the information is so old that it may be irrelevant. However, if you have the Office Shortcut bar running, it might be worth shutting it down to see if that solves the problem for you.

In the meantime, see if the problem occurs when you work on Word documents stored on your hard drive. From what I've gathered through browsing the discussions, this problem is related to working on documents stored on USB drives and CDs. Some of the people have worked around the problem by formatting their USB drives to the NTFS file system rather than FAT. Others copy the files to their hard drives, save them to their hard drives, and then copy the edited document back to the USB drives once they are done editing.

Recovering the Damaged and Lost Word Files

Finally, you may be able to recover the damaged and lost files with a product such as Data Recovery from ParetoLogic software. This product has a free "scanner" version that you can download to see if it can detect the lost Word documents. If so, you can decide whether the price is right to recover it once and for all.

Celeste Stewart | October 8th, 2010
Tags: rollback update, word 2007 permission error, word update error
Categories: Microsoft Office

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