Question : Wrong user being shown when file is locked

Here is the scenario,

User1 has an excel file open on the network. User2 tries to open that same file but it says locked by User3.

Why is it saying the wrong user has the file open? I thought it was DNS, but it displays the username, not the machine name when showing who is using the file.

When I look at "open files" on the file server, it shows User1 has it open. Which is correct.

This keeps happening. What would cause this?

Answer : Wrong user being shown when file is locked

This is an issue with .XLS files stored in the Excel 97-2003 format and Windows Server 2003.  It's a bug in the indexing filter that got exposed in Service Pack 2 for Server 2003.  If you check out the following KB you'll get your fixes:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/954820