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As of today one specific user is having issues opening Excel documents from a Sharepoint 2010 site. Whenever he tries to open one he gets the following error message. The screenshot is in Dutch but the message reads:

Unable to connect to the server.
The file {filename} cannot be opened because a connection can't be made to the server.
                                  [Open again] [OK]

enter image description here

This is not a newly created website nor is it a new user. He has never had issues opening Excel documents in the past. There's nothing wrong with his network connection.

Tried solutions:

  • Reset Internet Explorer settings
  • Repair Office installation
  • Restart computer

But the issue remains.

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  • Try to install English package to translete all sharepoint errors to English.
    – Grzegorz Z
    Commented Aug 26, 2015 at 14:34
  • microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3411
    – Grzegorz Z
    Commented Aug 26, 2015 at 14:36
  • @GrzegorzZ How should the installation of the English language pack help in solving this problem? Tom already posted the English translation of the screenshot in his question.
    – jcp
    Commented Aug 26, 2015 at 14:58
  • Because it will be easier to find out a problem. In my organization it was a problem with Internet Explorer, because on Firefox it works well.
    – Grzegorz Z
    Commented Aug 27, 2015 at 6:34
  • Everything on the server is installed in English, it's just the user's Office that's configured in Dutch.
    – Tom
    Commented Aug 27, 2015 at 7:36

1 Answer 1

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This problem occurs when the following conditions are true: The server is configured for Basic authentication. The connection between your computer and the web server does not use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). By default, file operations that use Basic authentication over a non-SSL HTTP connection are disabled in Office 2010 and Office 2013 applications.

When Basic authentication is disabled, one of the following events occurs: The client application uses a different authentication method. This occurs if the server supports a different authentication method. The request fails (for details about what happens when a request fails, see the list in the "Additional symptom details" section).

If the workaround of using HTTPS instead of HTTP does not work, the resolution is to enable SSL encryption on the web server to allow for client access over HTTPS.

To work around this problem, let Office 2013 and Office 2010 applications connect to a web server by using Basic authentication over a non-SSL connection.

Warning When you enable Basic authentication without SSL, you are subject to a significant security risk.

Source: Office file types fail to open from server

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