How does AutoCAD Load Files?

[Anonymous]

Hi all, I manage a large corporate network with heavy CADD usage. We have an office that constantly complains about network performance when accessing a project. The exact issue from the user is:

"When I navigate between network drives its fine. The issue is when I am working in AutoCAD. I am using AutoCAD 2017 working off of the server. Response times between commands is really slow as well as navigating in AutoCAD."

They keep asking us to fix the network but we can't find anything wrong. Is there an issue with the machine or the AutoCAD install, or even maybe the project files themselves? The project is stored on a Dell PowerEdge R740 with SSD storage. The workstation is an Precision Tower 3420 with an Intel Core i7-7700 and 64GB RAM.

[a_meteni]

Have you checked this AKN article?

[jggerth · Accepted solution]

After looking at the AKN article mentioned, explore the user's support path settings in Options, and make sure they are pointing to appropriate locations and that those locations are accessible.

For a really deep dive, you can use Process Monitor from Microsoft and get very granular in identifying what's slowing things down.

[rkmcswain]

Disconnect the network cable, and turn WiFi off.

Try again? Any better?

It's trial and error - start eliminating things and see when the performance increases.

As mentioned above, use Process Monitor to watch file+registry activity. You'll be amazed at how "chatty" AutoCAD is.