LOOCKED DRAWING FILES

[Shaffy]

Hi All,
I was trying to open one of my drawing file but it is locked. It gets opened in read-only mode. Could anybody please let me know, how to fix this problem. I need to unlock the drawings.

Thanks in advance
Shaffy

[penmouse26]

Shaffy,
You should see in the folder where the drawing resides a file with the same name as your drawing but with a file extension of .dwl.
Example:
c:\Drawing134.dwg
c:\Drawing134.dwl
Try deleting the .dwl file.
Dave

[Shaffy]

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. i tried what you said and It worked. I have one more question, could you please let me know how the .dwl file gets created and why in my case this file(.dwl) was created for a particular drawing file and also, if it gets created do i need to delete it everytime.

Regards,
Shaffy

[penmouse26]

The locked file is created when you open the drawing file. If the drawing is closed properly the lock file should automatically be deleted.

[sven_kloeck]

I would also like to know this, because it's frustrating deleting the dwl every time the file is locked. Don't know when it actually happens. May be it's because I'm working on network drive.
By the way with the buttons next page and previous page you can avoid this. But it's not that convenient.

Sven Kloeck
Electrical Network Design

[azlin]

i also facing this problem to delete the dwl file, some file cannot delete, is it any solution?

[penmouse26]

two questions.
1. what version and service pack your running?
2. Are you running in single drawing mode (SDI) or Multi drawing mode (MDI)

[Shaffy]

Hi,
i am using AutoCAD Electrical 2008 version and could you please let me know how to check as we are working in a single drawing mode or Milti drawing mode. I mean how can we check whther we are are working in a single drawing mode or multi drawing mode. Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Shafali

[penmouse26]

At the command line type
SDI ,enter.
if the value is 1 you are in single drawing mode
a value of 0 means you can have multi drawing open in the same autoCAD session.
example:
Single Document Interface is ON.
Command: sdi
Enter new value for SDI <1>:
Multiple Document Interface is ON.
Command: sdi
Enter new value for SDI <0>:

[Shaffy]

Hi,
Thanx

Regards,
Shafali

[azlin]

i'm running servis pack 0 and multi dwg, for your information the file is save in the server not in my local computer.
this happen only in my 2008 only ,
what should i do?

[John]

This seems to be a bug in 2008 SP1. I am running in SDI mode. I have 1 drawing open SSS3012B.dwg

If I look in the drawing folder I see:-
SSS3004A.dwl
SSS3012B.dwl
SSS3012B.dwl2

BTW this drawings folder is networked on the server.

Why are these .dwl files not being cleaned up?

I often have to use File>Open instead of the Project Manager.

This needs to be fixed.

John

[John]

More news on this problem. I now keep the drawing folder open in explorer so I can watch the creation of these lock files.

Once again I can only open a drawing read-only. There was no .dwl file for this drawing until I tried to open it. It seems that the lock file is created before the drawing actually opens resulting in read-only.

I tried deleting the .dwl but the same thing happens again.
Never mind, I will open it from file>open.

John

[sven_kloeck]

I've also seen that there's no dwl until I try to open the drawing in the project manager. It doesn't happen all the time and with the same drawing. It appear to be random. Also I tried with some local projects on my hard drive and no problems there. Only when working on a network drive the problem occurs.

Sven Kloeck