AutoCAD 2023 - No "DWG is currently in use or is read-only" message pop-up.

[Over-Dose]

Hi,

I'm using AutoCAD 2023 (v2023.0.1) on Windows 10  21H2.

Our studio has mostly MacOS users, and I'm one of two Windows-based computers. Both Windows users are on the latest version of AutoCAD 2023. The MacOS users are on different versions of AutoCAD.

An issue we've just noticed as of yesterday was that when a drawing file is being opened by a WindowsOS user or a MacOS user, there will be no warning message stating the usual "DWG is currently in use or is read-only" error on either of these systems.

However on the same server, when Windows users open files opened by another Windows user the read-only pop-up message appears as it should. The same applies when MacOS users open drawings opened by other Mac users, the pop-up message also appears as it should.

In previous versions of AutoCAD, the read-only pop-up message would appear irrespective of which OS is opening the file on the server. So at this point, in our environment at least, it appears to be creating the above scenario between Windows and Mac computers.

This issue can be reproduced multiple times.

Any thoughts on this matter would be appreciated.

[TheCADnoob]

Have you verified that this is isolated to DWG file types?

Do you get the same behavior with other files (word, excel, pdf, etc..)?

[Over-Dose]

We've just tested this with the Microsoft suite of software, and the behaviour is the same.

Windows-to-Windows or Mac-to-Mac will pop up a "drawing file is locked, open as a read-only file" dialogue box.

The moment it's between Mac to Windows, then there are no file lock messages that pop up.

We're about to restart our server to see if that will not possibly assist with this issue.

[maxim_k]

Hi @Over-Dose ,

What kind of server do you use?

[Over-Dose]

It's a 4-bay Synology NAS device, either a DS420+ or DS920+ (can't recall which one since I'm not in the studio now).

[TheCADnoob]

As it happening on other software files types as well my guess is that its got to be a server/os issue and not AutoCAD.

[Over-Dose]

@TheCADnoob - The moment you made your suggestion to check other file types, that was what clicked my side also. And when we tested it and got the same result as with CAD, it definitely points to what you've commented.

We'll have to get our network manager to look into what or why this is happening.

I'll keep the post open for now, until I can come back with any feedback, in case it may help someone else.

---

[pendean]

@Over-Dose start here https://www.synology.com/en-us/company/contact_us

[Over-Dose]

@pendean - Thanks. We've already made contact and will see what comes of it. 🙂

[maxim_k]

Hi @Over-Dose ,

Just tried your scenario - open drawing from Synology DS120 NAS in AutoCAD on PC and then open the same drawing in AutoCAD on Mac and got the "Would you like to open the file read-only?" alert on Mac side.

The same alert I got on PC if the drawing is opened on Mac.

[Over-Dose]

@maxim_k - thanks for checking that on your side as well. This surely points to something that's perhaps changed on our side, which was never causing this behaviour before.

We're still following up other troubleshooting options away from this forum and I'll come back to confirm what the issue was. Hopefully we get to the bottom of this.

[Over-Dose · Accepted solution]

So here's an update.

Since we're running a Synology NAS with both MacOS and WindowsOS users, the previous server file-sharing setting was using SMB, which allowed for the "file locked" notification to appear when 2 users open the same file (irrespective of the operating system).

In our office, a recent update had set the Synology NAS to AFP, which then resulted in the "file locked" message not appearing between MacOS and WindowsOS users.

Just by the by, I did read somewhere that the AFP file system is borderline being phased out, and SMB would be recommended for users on whichever operating system.

So the issue is resolved. 🙂