Projects with spaces in their names? A recent Windows Security update could cause issues!
Published Mar 22 2019 12:24 PM 14.4K Views
Microsoft

A further update - as far as we can tell this ONLY affects Project Server 2019, assuming you are patched up to date on Project Server 2013 and 2016.  We fixed this condition for Chrome a while back - and the recent Windows fix exposed this for other browsers.  See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4022228/description-of-the-security-update-for-sharepoint-s... for Project Server 2016 and for 2013 - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4032245/august-14-2018-cumulative-update-for-project-server... A more recent update would include these too.  Not sure when we will get the fix for Project Server 2019, but will have probably missed the May deadline.

 

 

If you have recently loaded the Window Security update https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2019-0784 and are not able to open certain projects from the Project Center then check if the project name contains a space.  We are investigating and hopefully will soon get a fix for this, but depending which part we need to fix (client, server or service) it could take a while before it is available in an update or your distribution channel.  There are workarounds - you can still open just fine by opening the client Project application and then File, Open to select the project, or you could just rename the plan and remove the space(s).  Personally I try and avoid using spaces and other special characters in project names, and of course spaces are supported and should work, but occasionally they can trip something up unexpectedly - like this recent change.  

32 Comments
Copper Contributor

We have problem in Sharepoint 2016 with the swedish åäö if they are in the filename (Word, excel). Else it works ok. Prob started after winupd. march 2019.

 

Problem to open files with IE but not with Chrome. I have test with Windows 10 (1709) and ”latest and greatest” versions of  the webbrowsers.

Copper Contributor

Hi

 

Is there any new information regarding when there will be an update that will solve this?

Microsoft

No ETA just yet.  It is being worked on but the fix delivery will depend on the version and the delivery channel.

Copper Contributor

Hi Brian,

any news on that fix?

i have try to remove the 2 KB, but the issue still remain...

Thanks

 

Copper Contributor

HI Brian,

Do you have any update for this issue? 

 

Thank you.

 

 

Microsoft

Hi Everyone - and thanks for your patience.  We are aiming to get this into the May update for the Project Server products (including hopefully 2013) - and once we have the fix we will also get this to the Project Online environment.

Best regards,

Brian.

Copper Contributor

@Brian-SmithThanks for your reply on this! Just to clarify, the patch that will solve this will be available on SP 2013 server?

Microsoft

Yes @CHedman this will be a server side fix, and even though Project Server 2013 is out of mainstream support this is obviously a regression that we need to fix. As mentioned, the aim is the May update - but we are pretty close to the deadline for getting this fix in.  I'll respond again next week to give an update of if we made the deadline.

Thanks for the update @Brian-Smith, for the benefit of others, I saw on a LinkedIn group Brian mentioned this might end up being a Windows patch / update rather than Project working around it.

Copper Contributor

Uninstalling this windows patch resolves this issue (https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2019-0784). But avoiding spaces in names and such is not an easy answer when you have a couple of thousand active projects. Trying to decide between reversing the patch and training users to open through Project Pro directly instead.  

Microsoft

I would never advise uninstalling a security patch to overcome an issue like this Jake.  Also to update my earlier comment (as Paul mentioned) we are now looking for Windows to fix the root cause rather than trying to code around it in a Project Server patch - more details on timescales once I have it - but apologies for the inconvenience this bug is causing you all.

Brass Contributor
Similar issue on our side. See https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/d72336df-2777-4a78-bbfa-0cfd18246eda/cant-save-doc... Solved with latest IE update (11.0.120)
Microsoft

A further update - as far as we can tell this ONLY affects Project Server 2019, assuming you are patched up to date on Project Server 2013 and 2016.  We fixed this condition for Chrome a while back - and the recent Windows fix exposed this for other browsers.  See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4022228/description-of-the-security-update-for-sharepoint-s... for Project Server 2016 and for 2013 - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4032245/august-14-2018-cumulative-update-for-project-server... A more recent update would include these too.  Not sure when we will get the fix for Project Server 2019, but will have probably missed the May deadline.

Copper Contributor

Oh wait....so Brian you say that if we are on a newer CU but on an older version of Project Server (eg 2013) that this issue does not occur? Thats good to know. We are a bit behind on CUs and if applying one of the later CUs resolves the behavior, that gives us added incentive to do it soon. Thanks for the information!!

Copper Contributor

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the update. 

Can you plz verify, after installing the following update my project not opening issue in Microsoft Professional will be gone. Btw I have 2013 project server.

Removing space of the project name is also working, but we have so many projects so we cannot do that. 

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/4032245/august-14-2018-cumulative-update-for-project-server...

 

Thank in Advance. 

Danish

Microsoft

Yes @Danish531 , my Project Server 2013 has the latest patch and I do not see the issue.  This page lists all of the Project Server 2013 updates - https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Project-Support-Blog/Project-Server-2013-Cumulative-Updates-f... 

Copper Contributor

Hi Brian,

 

We are seeing this issue in PWA for SharePoint/Project Server 2016 (16.0.4666.1002) with MS Project 2016 (16.0.10730.20264).

Looking forward to the May update !

Copper Contributor

Hey Brian, 

 

Is there any update on this please. I am particular interested in 2013 on Prem please. 

 

Thanks

Hi Lee-Anne,

With the latest patches for the server and client it is resolved, we recently patch a 2013 on-premises customer with April 2019 CU Server update and April 2019 client update and it was resolved for them.

 

Paul

Copper Contributor

Hi Paul,

 

Please can you provide links to the latest update articles ? I need to cross reference with what our organistion has rolled out today as we still appear to have the same issue as before for Project Server 2016 (on-prem); PWA refuses to open MS Project client with spaces and Windows Explorer won't open from the ribbon in a document library.

 

MS Project (O365) 16.0.10730.20264

SharePoint 2016 KB4018293

 

Thanks., Steve

Microsoft

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4495300/april-2019-updates-for-microsoft-office has all the April updates - or the May server updates are due out tomorrow Steve.

Best regards,

Brian

Copper Contributor

Hi Brian,

 

Is there any update on the May updates please?

 

Thank you & regards

Helen

Microsoft

I updated the 2016 and 2019 Project and Project Server postings in this Project Support blog with the May updates @Helen87 - all details here too - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4501270/may-2019-updates-for-microsoft-office

Best regards,

Brian.

Copper Contributor

Hi,

i'm still having problems with this. I'm using Project Pro 2016 with Project server 2013. I patched the server to May's update and also my win 10 client has the latest windows update. I was still seeing the error in Project pro so i update this to the latest update and now it doesn't attempt to open the plan.

Are there still issues?

Kind Regards

Carl

Copper Contributor

Hi Brian,

 

Thanks for getting back to me.

 

We have a client who is not on Project Server but is still experiencing the issue. I cannot reproduce the error myself and cannot determine why they would still be experiencing this error.

 

Any input would be much appreciated - thank you very much

 

 

Microsoft

Hi @Helen87  - when you say they are not on Project Server - I assume you mean they are opening an mpp file from a Url maybe?  This issue was specific to Project Server, but I guess if a file with a space stored on SharePoint didn't get encoded that might give a similar problem.  Can you confirm the exact repro of the problem and the versions of SharePoint and browsers involved?

Thanks,

Brian.

Copper Contributor

Hi there

 

Does anyone know if the KB4464600 for Project 2013 + SP is fixing the issue that I cannot open Projects directly from the WebApp under certain cirumstances?

 

Best regards,

Raxacid

 

  

Copper Contributor

Hi @Brian-Smith , 

 

We have same problem in Project Server 2016, after installation of "July 2018 SharePoint update" which resolved our issue (Project with spaces open in all browsers) but we are facing another new issue in all OOB SharePoint lists after that patch. Below is the screenshot.

 

clipboard_image_0.png

Then I have applied "May 2019 SharePoint security update" but still same. So we revert it back all the updates. Now we are on same stage "project name contains a space not opening with MS Project". 

 

Regards,

Haseeb

 

Copper Contributor

Hi All,

 

We just ran full patching on all SP16 servers (first time in 18 months !) and we have the functionality back to open MS Project from Project Server.

 

Regards.

Copper Contributor

Thanks @steved0115 , 

Copper Contributor

Hi @Brian-Smith 

 

Is there just a fix for just this issue for Project Server 2013 vs having to apply CU's? 

We have not very current with our CUs and to get to where we need is a big lift to resolve this issue

Tx

Andrew

Microsoft

The CU is the fix Andrew - and there will be other fixes you are missing - and maybe some security updates too.

 

Best regards,

 

Brian

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