topic Re: AutoCAD 2017 “Drawing file is not valid” from network drive in AutoCAD Forum

AutoCAD 2017 “Drawing file is not valid” from network drive

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:49:35 GMT

Hi,
I have a customer using AutoCAD 2017 who is getting this error “Drawing file is not valid” when trying to open ANY DWG files from a network drive (server in remote location).
The files are not corrupted as if he copies the file to his local hard drive they all open ok. (His O/S is Windows 7 Pro)
They recently got a new SonicWall firewall installed and I assumed this was related but even after turning off all the security services (gateway anti-virus, anti-spyware, IPS [Intrusion Prevention]) etc it still gives the same error for all files.
I also disabled McAfee anti-virus software and Windows Defender.
I got SonicWall support to examine logs and packet traces and they have confirmed that the firewall does not see any packets being dropped, no issues with communication to the remote server or opening any other types of files from the network drive (eg PDF, Word, Excel etc)
The actual DWG files are quite small, most are between 100-200kb.
Any ideas what could cause this issue or any suggestions on what else I could try to attempt to resolve this?

Thanks!

Brian

Re: AutoCAD 2017 “Drawing file is not valid” from network drive

john.vellek — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:52:18 GMT

Hi @Anonymous,

I see that you are visiting as a new member to the AutoCAD forum. Welcome to the Autodesk Community!

Is it possible to bypass the firewall on one computer to make sure that is where the issue resides (or does not)?

Since that appears to be the new addition and the commencement of the problem, It is the logical place to start

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: AutoCAD 2017 “Drawing file is not valid” from network drive

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:59:12 GMT

Hi John,

Thanks for the welcome and your suggestion - it may be something I will need to attempt in order to rule it in/out as the cause of the issue but the problem is that this is in a remote office in another country and the users in the office are not very tech savvy so I'm a little reluctant to ask them to unplug the firewall and allow the machine directly out by bypassing the firewall... I understand this may be necessary at some point but I was hoping that I might get some alternative suggestions if anybody else has seen this type of behaviour before?

Thanks again!

Brian

Re: AutoCAD 2017 “Drawing file is not valid” from network drive

john.vellek — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 15:13:41 GMT

Hi @Anonymous,

The "Drawing file is not valid" message typically indicates that there is some corruption in the file itself.

So, if it were me, I would grab the drawing file from the network and first verify that the file size is correct. Then I would run AUDIT on the file. This would tell me if there are any errors.

I am not sure if some latency when opening through the network would make AutoCAD consider the file as bad but let me know if the above steps tell us anything.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: AutoCAD 2017 “Drawing file is not valid” from network drive

Ed__Jobe — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 16:34:48 GMT

Hi @john.vellek, he mentioned in his first post that if he copies the files locally, he can open them. So they are not corrupted.

Re: AutoCAD 2017 “Drawing file is not valid” from network drive

john.vellek — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 16:42:55 GMT

Hi @Ed__Jobe,

I still think it is worth checking. Just because I can open a file doesn't mean that there is no corruption in it.

I would like to eliminate that possibility

Re: AutoCAD 2017 “Drawing file is not valid” from network drive

Ed__Jobe — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 17:03:33 GMT

@john.vellek I suppose you're right. I think I was assuming that he meant the error was preventing the file from opening at all. They may be opening, but with the error.

Re: AutoCAD 2017 “Drawing file is not valid” from network drive

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Aug 2017 08:26:59 GMT

Hi Ed/John,

Thanks for your input - is there an easy way for me to tell if the file is opening with the error or preventing the file from opening? To me it looks like the file is not opening at all?

I seriously doubt that corruption is a possibility as I have tried this with 50+ different DWG files and all give this error when opening across the network but all open fine when copied to local hard drive.

From some further extensive testing yesterday I did manage to successfully open a couple of files without the error but it is extremely intermittent - eg I tried opening one particular file repeatedly and it opened successfully twice out of 30 attempts, the other 28 attempts it gave the “Drawing file is not valid” error.

I'm guessing this again points to a latency type issue but this is specific to AutoCAD drawings only, I have had no issue opening any other type of file, even much larger files (eg 15-20MB files compared to these drawings which are all approx 100-200kb) so I'm wondering if there is anything specific to AutoCAD files which mean it would give this error due to a minimal lag on the network which wouldn't affect any other type of file? Again the firewall shows no packets being dropped between the 2 sites.

Any further insight would be appreciated.

Thanks again,

Brian

Re: AutoCAD 2017 “Drawing file is not valid” from network drive

pendean — Fri, 25 Aug 2017 12:07:32 GMT

>>>...They recently got a new SonicWall firewall installed...<<<
Firewalls are designed to do what you are observing, block access to files.

>>>..From some further extensive testing yesterday I did manage to successfully open a couple of files ...<<<
So what was the exact method you deployed?

>>>...Any further insight would be appreciated....<<<
SonicWall firewall has a consulting service, it's probably time to pay for help from them http://www.sonicguard.com/consulting.asp

Re: AutoCAD 2017 “Drawing file is not valid” from network drive

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Aug 2017 13:56:13 GMT

Hi pendean,

Thanks for your input,

>>>...They recently got a new SonicWall firewall installed...<<<
Firewalls are designed to do what you are observing, block access to files.

Yes I'm aware what firewalls are designed to do but I have already done a lot of troubleshooting with a SonicWall support partner and they are adamant that the firewall is not blocking it

>>>..From some further extensive testing yesterday I did manage to successfully open a couple of files ...<<<
So what was the exact method you deployed?

Just to clarify when I said extensive testing I meant repeatedly opening files, approx 20 different files x 20-30 attempts with each file, from which I discovered that the issue was intermittent to a certain extent in that occasionally the files will open (but less than 10% of the attempts were successful)

I also tested with different elements of the firewall security enabled/disabled (on firewalls at both sites, HQ site where the server is and remote office site) but didn't see any pattern in terms of the occasional success in opening the files - its still intermittent with or without any or all of the firewall security services enabled or disabled.

>>>...Any further insight would be appreciated....<<<
SonicWall firewall has a consulting service, it's probably time to pay for help from them http://www.sonicguard.com/consulting.asp

As mentioned above I have already done a lot of troubleshooting with a SonicWall support partner and they are adamant that the firewall is not blocking it

Thanks

Re: AutoCAD 2017 “Drawing file is not valid” from network drive

john.vellek — Fri, 25 Aug 2017 14:40:27 GMT

Hi @Anonymous,

I am researching this on my end to determine exactly which files get opened server-side when opening a DWG file with AutoCAD. My guess is that this has something to do with lock files not being allowed to be created.

I would still like one of your users to run AUDIT on some test files. This is a two-to-three second process that will tell us if there are indeed any errors in the drawing files.

Then, I think it would be interesting to see if a viewer such as DWG Trueview can access the drawing files through the firewall.

In the mean time let me tap some folks here and see if I can find any more information on this for you.

Please also tell me if there is access to the network share from a non-firewalled location. I would like to know if the share behaves normally without the firewall between it and the client.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: AutoCAD 2017 “Drawing file is not valid” from network drive

john.vellek — Fri, 25 Aug 2017 15:26:16 GMT

Hi @Anonymous,

In addition to the things I requested you to try in my last post, I would also like you to try opening the network stored AutoCAD drawing in read-only mode.

This can be done in the File Open dialog.

Also, if you can please, install Process Monitor to capture some information when the normal File Open fails with the error message. I will email the instructions to you.

Re: AutoCAD 2017 “Drawing file is not valid” from network drive

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 15:12:21 GMT

Hi @john.vellek,

Thanks for your suggestions - apologies for the delay in responding - I have been stuck on more 'high priority' issues for other clients and just got back to looking at this today.

I have been able to open several DWG files read-only and following opening read-only they usually open fine in normal modify mode.

I installed DWG Trueview and got the 'Drawing file is not valid' error on any file I attempted to open,

I also installed and ran ProcessMonitor but unfortunately(!) I was unable to re-create the error with any file when ProcessMonitor was running! Typical!

However, the issue isn't resolved as the customer came back to me 5 mins after I disconnected from his laptop to say he was getting the same error on any file he attempted to open (he had closed / re-opened AutoCAD) I then got him to open a file read-only and it opened ok.

Below is a rough summary of my experience with open read-only / normal 'open' / DWG Trueview

I saved the Process monitor logs (even though I didn't actually get the error once while it was running in case anything in there can shed some light on the issue - the files are quite large - 48MB PML file - exported as CSV also and its only 3MB.

I also saved a log of anything related to ACAD.exe process (incl registry related stuff which wasn't included when I filtered by the file path also) but it was 258MB (PML) and 57MB (CSV)

Is it ok to upload files of this size to the forum or should I upload to weTransfer or some other FTP site?

Test file #1
Read Only - Drawing file requires recovery - recovered
Read Only - opened ok
Read Only - error

Test file #2
Read Only - opened ok
Read Only - error

Test file #3
Read Only - opened ok
Normal Open - opened ok

Test file #4
Read Only - opened ok
Normal Open - opened ok

Test file #5
Normal Open - error
Read Only - opened ok
Normal Open - opened ok

Test file #6
Normal Open - error
DWG Trueview - error

Test file #5 (AGAIN)
DWG Trueview - error
ACAD Read Only - opened ok
ACAD Normal Open - opened ok

***********Downloaded, installed and started Process monitor

Test file #5 (AGAIN - with ProcMon running)
ACAD Normal Open - opened ok

Test file #6 (AGAIN - with ProcMon running)
ACAD Normal Open - 175125 errors were found in the drawing file during open - option to recover - then opened ok

**NB this is the 1st time in all the troubleshooting I've done on this issue that I've seen this type of error...

Test file #7 (with ProcMon running)
ACAD Normal Open - opened ok

Test file #8 (with ProcMon running)
ACAD Normal Open - opened ok

Test file #9 (atempted by user after ProcMon stopped)
ACAD Normal Open - error
ACAD Read Only - opened ok

Test file #10 (atempted by user after ProcMon stopped)
ACAD Normal Open - error
ACAD Read Only - opened ok

Does the fact that the files open ok as read-only shed any light on the issue?

Thanks again for your help.

Brian

Re: AutoCAD 2017 “Drawing file is not valid” from network drive

john.vellek — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 20:32:21 GMT

Hi @Anonymous,

If the files open in Read-only mode I believe the file does not open a lock file. I wonder if this is a permissions issue. Since the ProcMon wasn't able to catch any errors I doubt there is much point in sending it to me.

Please tell me, since the users are accessing this remote network, are they in their own domain? What kind of Trust relationship is established?

Before the new firewall was installed, were there any issues similar to this? Have you been able to test the file open by removing the firewall temporarily?

Re: AutoCAD 2017 “Drawing file is not valid” from network drive

ahumphreyLWF7Y — Sat, 16 Mar 2019 20:46:47 GMT

Hello,

I'm having exactly this same issue with a Sonicwall router. Were you ever able to find a solution?

Thanks,

Andrew

Re: AutoCAD 2017 “Drawing file is not valid” from network drive

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 16:51:45 GMT

Hi Andrew,
Long time ago but as far as I recall the only solution/workaround I was able to find was to disable Inbound Inspection for CIFS/Netbios protocol in the Gateway anti-virus settings on the SonicWall.