AutoCAD 2013/2014 DWG Format

[#1]

We keep our default profile out on a network share.  Then distribute a shortcut with a target something like this: "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2013\acad.exe" /p "Y:\Cad Directory\Acad2013.arg" and 19/20 times this works great for us.  However if anything happens to the mounting of the user's Y drive (most frequently windows just doesn't bother to actually connect it until you open the drive in Win Explorer) when Acad is launched instead of falling back on the registry cached version of the profile it resets the profile to default and then saves over the registry version.  Then on subsequent launches even after the network drive is restored it keeps the default profile and we have to delete the profile and relaunch to reload from the network.

It's certainly not the end of the world, but it is a pain.  Any advice?  This seems to be new behavior with 2013 since this is largely the same set up we've been using for...more years than I can recall.  Originally we had migrated the profile from 2012, and I thought maybe there was some bad legacy left over from that so recreated the profile from scratch using 2013 and that seems to have not helped at all.

[#2]

First I have never set a network version of Acad up so I might be way off here.

What if you used the network address instead of a share?

Like \\SERVER\Cad Directory\Acad2013.arg

Could this work?

Rick

[#3]

It has been talked about but has some other challenges.  We're spread across over a dozen offices/ home offices / job sites.  The Y drive is home to most of our cad support/template/automation data.  It's replicated to 3 servers servicing east coast, west coast, and midwest and on a per-user basis the Y drive is mapped to their best geographic match for location.

That said, the profile only amounts to 50k and should only be pulled when a user is running for the first time, or is resetting their profile.  I'll try the full network path to our central server and see if the behavior is any better.

[#4]

I've seen similar problems stemming from AutoCAD being launched before drives are mapped.  What we do for new users is run a set-up BAT routine which runs AutoCAD with the default profile to run the secondary installer, then apply a REG file with the initial profile contents.  Because its a REG file, it can also be re-applied very easily if needed at a later time.