Merge replication: The process could not read file ... due..

Hi Jeremy,
Yes, you are right. Reinitialization is not necessary for adding an
article. I think that there might be an obsolete snapshot in my last test,
so I had to reinitialize the subscription to get it work. However today I
performed a new test today and everything worked fine without
reinitialization and also no need to add a dummy table.

For the OS error 53, I do not think that it was related to Local System
account since in my test it was indeed Local System account. You are in a
web synchronization and the security check was via SQL Authentication. The
error 53 indicated that a network path could not be found. Did you have
also checked if the identity of your web synchronization site's application
pool was a domain user account which can access your snapshot folder?

Best regards,
Charles Wang
Microsoft Online Community Support
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""Charles Wang [MSFT]"" wrote:


> The
> error 53 indicated that a network path could not be found. Did you have
> also checked if the identity of your web synchronization site's application
> pool was a domain user account which can access your snapshot folder?

Charles, sorry for the delay.

The following accounts have been set up:
xxxLaptopUser (local account on the client)
DEVSERVER\xxxLaptopUser (domain account on the server)
DEVSERVER\SQLReplicationAgent (domain account on the server)

There is a dedicated application pool that runs under the
DEVSERVER\xxxLaptopUser account and this is used by the website for
replication. The same account has Full control permissions on the replication
folder (i.e. where the replisapi.dll is located) and Read & execute plus List
folder contents permissions on the snapshot folder.

The snapshot agent runs under the DEVSERVER\SQLReplicationAgent account and
this account has Full control permissions on the snapshot folder.

I have tried specifying both a UNC path and local path for the snapshot
location in the publication configuration but get the same error 53
regardless.

The subscription at the client uses the xxxLaptopUser local account as the
login.

I am mystified by this error 53 message. Everything works OK until I add the
stored procedure as an article. If the configuration and account settings are
wrong then I would not expect the replication to work at all; I can't see why
this one situation produces the error. Anyway, I have settled for the
workaround of adding a dummy table (as I was going to add a table anyway so
nothing lost). However, I am happy to try out any suggestions on the
development server if it sheds more light on the problem.

Thanks for all your help,
Jeremy