HYPERLINK command Hangs

[GTVic]

I'm posting this hear because I think CAD managers may have experience using AutoCAD in a corporate environment where user profiles are stored on a network share.

Instead of C:\Users\joe\Desktop, the desktop is stored in a location such as \\Server\Joe\Profile\Desktop. Other locations such as APPDATA and LOCALAPPDATA are still on C:. Outlook mailboxes are on the server, Downloads folder is on C:. So basically they pick and choose with the critical stuff on the server so the user can log onto any machine and access their email and files.

We have just deployed AutoCAD 2013 64-bit to new Windows 7 computers and the first user that tried the HYPERLINK command ran into this issue. Instead of seeing the HyperLink dialog, all we get, on every computer, is a spinning cursor. The old computers using AutoCAD 2011 32bit on Vista did not have this problem.

The problem occurs on laptops with offline file capability as well as desktops where offline files are disabled.

Using PROCMON.EXE to filter all computer events related to ACAD.EXE reveals that AutoCAD is in an endless loop accessing primariliy files under \\Server\<username>. Eventually it crashes and Windows reports the standard "application not responding" message.

I have tried a generic install, killed the communication centre, reverted back to .NET 4.0 from 4.5 with no effect. The only solution is to unplug the network cable prior to using this command.

Thanks for any ideas. Some previous discussions are below, no solution is apparent.

Hyperlink Freezing

Hyperlink Crash

[GTVic]

One registry entry that specifies the "Documents" folder is the cause.

The normal location is %USERPROFILE%\Documents

Changing the value to \\Server\Share causes this behaviour.

If you create a folder under the Share such as \\Server\Share\Documents then the problem goes away.

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\Personal

[professorkizmo]

We recently began trying to add hyperlinks to drawing references. We use AutoCAD Mechanical 2014 on Windows 7. any use of any hyperlink command results in the spinning blue circle. The machine will never come out of it, at lest not after waiting over an hour. checked the HKCU setting and it is set to %userprofile%\Documents

[interpanehil]

We are having this Problem as well.

But the solution is somewhat unclear to me.

I checked the registry-key that was mentioned.

For the user the entry looks like this:

"\\foldredir.hil.ip.lan\foldredir$\andreas.runge\Eigene Dateien"

Where exactly should we create a Folder named "Documents" ?

We use AutoCAD LT  2014 on Windows 7 ENT x64 (German).

Thanks for help.

Marc Jedamzik

[GTVic]

"Eigene Dateien" appears to be the German equivalent to "Documents". So your setting does not have the problem I was concerned about.

root of share = "\\foldredir.hil.ip.lan\foldredir$"
documents folder = "\\foldredir.hil.ip.lan\foldredir$\andreas.runge\Eigene Dateien"

The actual problem is the number of subdirectories and files in that location.

In our case, because the "My Documents" folder was the root of the share, there were a large number of other sub-folders and files in the same location. This made the problem worse because the HYPERLINK dialog appears to continuously scan all of these files and folders. It could even be possible for a shortcut in one of these folders to point to another location and add even more locations to scan. If the shortcut created a circular path the scan could be endless.

If you are redirecting the My Documents folder to a network share I would do the following:

1. Clean up the location, removing unnecessary files, folders but especially links, shortcuts, urls, etc
2. Make sure the legacy shell folder locations point to the same location or perferrably to folders on C:. If the redirected folder is later moved to a different server then these settings will often not be updated and stay pointing to an invalid location. Therefore it is better that they point to the C: drive which is always valid. The only effect is to very old programs that use these registry entries for things such as installing desktop shortcuts.

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\Personal=\\foldredir.hil.ip.lan\foldredir$\andreas.runge\E

  igene Dateien

or the following would be better

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\Personal=C:\Users\andreas.runge\E

  igene Dateien

[GTVic]

The other options is to use the command line version. -HYPERLINK.

[interpanehil]

Could you please explain the Command-Line version.

How would this work?

I am not a user of AutoCAD.

[GTVic]

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@interpanehil wrote:

Could you please explain the Command-Line version.

How would this work?

I am not a user of AutoCAD.

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At the command line, type the HYPERLINK command with a dash in front:

[CADbloke]

see discussion at http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-2010-2011-2012/hyperlink-crash/m-p/5682023#M118690 - it's a bug in AutoCAD.