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Office files (Excel, Word etc.) have recently started taking 30 seconds + the normal load time to run from our file shares.

We have it on several servers with 2012R2, 2016, 2019. We've also set up a new Windows server 2019 with the same GPOs, same settings, same AV, etc. and could not replicate the issue there.

We noticed that the hidden lock file that Office generates on open e.g. "~$filename.xlsx" is created, then immediately gets removed and doesn't show up again until after 30 seconds, after which the document loads normally.

We also noticed that if a user does not have modify rights, they have no issues quickly loading the document as this file is not created. The files also load quickly if they are in a 97-2003 file format, which also does not use this type of lock file.

Has anyone ever seen this behavior before or know what could cause it? Could we as a workaround block generation of this file and what would be the consequences of that?

We've already been in contact with Microsoft support, but they haven't provided any real help so far.

Carrier Pigeon Protocol
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    The xlsx format is in reality a ZIP file with some compressed files inside. Some third-party tool, like an antivirus might be trying to scan the temporary file and tries to lock it. By the description of the problem, I'd point that the problem is in the server side. If there is any antivirus loaded on that server, try to exclude at least the folder on which the file exists to better understand and isolate the problem. – João Alves Oct 08 '20 at 13:19
  • Yes unfortunately we already tried uninstalling the AV, we also installed it on the new test server where we can't replicate this behavior. We also disabled file server leasing, which seems to be a common solution to similar SMB slowness issues. – Carrier Pigeon Protocol Oct 08 '20 at 14:05

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