AutoCAD Electrical 2012 - AutoCAD Message Drawing file is write protected

[Anonymous]

Hello All,

I recently upgraded from ACE2011 to ACE2012. I have a drawing project that was and was created in 2011 and I could edit it but now since 2012 I get a dialog when trying to save any drawing stating "Drawing file is write protected". I don't understand why. The file attributes are not read only. In ACE2011 I was not using the vault and it wasn't the client wasn't installed. In ACE2012 I have the Vault client installed but it is not set up nor is there any server or database configured.

Any ideas? I am kind of stuck because I can't save any changes to the project I have to rename the files. 😞

Jeff

[Anonymous]

Well here is some more detail...

I can save the file once and then it sudenly becomes readonly. Doesn't seem to mater if it is a qsave or a save both only let me save the dwg one time and then I have to close the file and reopen it.

[leeholl]

Are your files on your local PC or a server?

Lee

[Anonymous]

The files are on a server. WOuld that make a difference? I am the only one accessing the files and the directory.

[leeholl]

The way AutoCAD saves a file is a complex operation involving locking, renaming, backing up and renaming again. When there is a significant network performance difference between client and server it is possible that the net result is a file left in a read-only state. To see if this is the issue, try placing all files on your PC and see if the problem goes away. Let me know how it works out and we may be able to refine the solution to the problem.
Lee

[Anonymous]

Well editing drawings locally seems to work fine but AutoCAD ELectrical 2011 works fine on a network or local AutoCAD 2012 isn't working through the network? Working locally isn't an option unfortunately. 

The server is a Linux box running CentOS if that helps any.

[leeholl]

So it seems that the problem you are seeing is a network timing issue. That would be something particular to AutoCAD and not just Electrical.

Here are a couple of links that may be of some help:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=2865666&linkID=9240617

http://qvlweb.blogspot.com/2009/03/autocad-error-unable-to-save-to-drawing.html

Lee

[Anonymous]

Well, this kind of went away for a short time, but I don't know that we did anything. I have been distracted with other work and now am trying to update more drawings and the same read only issues  have come back.

To recap and add some new information that I hope will help:

AutoCAD Electrical 2011 doesn't have this problem. Same computer, same network files. everything is same, same except the ACE version. ACE2012 makes my dwg's read only.

If the DWG I am working on is in an open project. The first time the file is saved by me it becomes read only.

If I close the project and open the drawing outside of the project manager. It seems to be work fine. I can save and the file does not convert to read only.

If I copy the project and files to a new network directory any of the dwg's that I open through the project manager are opened normally and then revert to read only the first time I save. 

I have no troubles working locally on my hard drive.

We have a CentOS server and I access the drawings on an XP SP3 machine via samba. But to mention again AutoCAD Electrical 2011 works fine. It is when I try to use AutoCAD 2012 that the Read Only problem appears.

Any other thoughts? We looked at the tech notes that you supplied links to, but havn't done anything with them because our IT department isn't convinced that they will apply.

Thanks

Jeff

[leeholl]

Jeff, it still looks like a network timing issue. You say that you haven't changed anything but ACADE 2012, but has anything been added to the network that would increase load/traffic (more users, new database server etc)?

Does this only happen on your system, or do other ACADE 2012 installations at the site have the same problem?

There is a posting on the LT forum where someone had similar problems and discovered it was a PC problem; or at least resolved the problem by setting up their PC again.

Regards,

Lee

[leeholl]

Another thought.

Have you changed your file save settings in the Options dialog, Open and Save TAB? You might try variations of the "File Safety Precautions" group of settings.

It would also be interesting to check where ACAD is saving your temp Automatic save files with the SAVEFILEPATH command. Presumably they are not turning read-only?

Regards,

Lee

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Uninstalling all versions of AutoCAD: ACE2011, ACE2012, LT2009 cleaned the registry (at the request for a different problem) and my files are no longer changed to read only. 

All seems to be functioning properly and has for several days now.