Fusion 360 does not start (offline) if not connected to internet

[PatrickH2]

I can not start Fusion 360 in offline mode when no internet service. I receive the following message:

Unable to connect to internet

Please check your network connection and sign into your Autodesk account to start Fusion 360 and try again later.

When on my boat, no services at all, I need to work offline.  It was working before.

Please help.

Thank you

Patrick

[candirsky]

Hi Nathan,

@innovatenate

Sure, I had re-launched my router many times, one time I even made full hardware reset with losing all presets, switched off and on ethernet cable from my machine also.

I checked out fusion360.cleaner log file and noticed there is a lot of words in Russian because it's my OS default language. So I copypasted it as online shared document and made relevant translations in the comments section. Here is a link to that document.

I see a lot of "access denied to "..\AppData\Local\Temp\7zS85A6.tmp ". It's very strange because it's  a system's default temp folder which used by all other software which works perfectly. I didn't change defaults folder permissions. 

As for that string: "system cannot find the path specified: C:\\Users\\candirsky\\Desktop" my Desktop folder is on D disk because  I had relocated my user folders from C to D disk before Fusion360 installation with the method described here. All other software find this path well and able to place/remove their shortcuts on my desktop. Fusion360 have placed its shortcut as well during its installation.

I didn't use any system junction type links or anything similar. In my system preferences UAC is being in off state.

Thanks,

Eugene.

[candirsky]

Hi Nathan,

@innovatenate

I've also tried to launch Fusion360 in offline mode with Windows in Safe Boot and Network mode and got the "Unable to connect to Internet" message. It seems like it's something wrong in folders permissions in my system. Maybe even some bug occurs during installation due to that? But I have never changed those permissions manually.

Thanks,

Eugene.

[innovatenate]

This is normally where I would be suspicious of a Windows User Account issue, but it looks like you already tested creating a new account.

Can you try a quick test?

1. Close Fusion 360 (make sure there are no background processes)

2. Browse to:

C:\Users\***\AppData\Local\Autodesk\

3. Rename the folder "Autodesk Fusion 360" to "Autodesk Fusion 360 Backup" (Please don't delete)

4. Restart Fusion 360 and retest offline procedure

If there are any issues in step 3, please let me know.

I'm curious if this helps to resolve the issue. You can revert the changes after this test. 

I hope this will get us pointed in the right direction.

Thanks,

[candirsky]

Hi Nathan,

@innovatenate

I did that quick test. There wasn't any issue on step 3. I successfully renamed "Autodesk Fusion 360" folder to "Autodesk Fusion 360 backup" folder. But offline test failed then again. After that attempt new folder "Autodesk Fusion 360" was automatically created. 

Yes, I've tried to install Fusion 360 under a newly created Windows user account before. Maybe I should try it again?

Eugene.

[innovatenate]

After discussing this issue with development, there is a strong suspicion that this issue may be caused by the moved user folders (moved from C to D). You mentioned that you moved the desktop directory. Are there any other directories that were moved?

I'm wondering if creating a new user account and leaving the user folders in the default location may help to resolve the issue.

Thanks,

[candirsky]

Hi Nathan,

@innovatenate

I seem that we're starting to go around in a circle. I've tried to install and run Fusion 360 from a newly created account the second time, without any folders moving and any other additional tweaks. But things went even worse there. Fusion360 either stucks on splash screen phase or opens with empty data panel without an ability to open any existing file. And offline switcher doesn't work at all. When I switch it I receive the message "Sufficient data not found to switch to Offline mode. Application will go online now."
If there are no similar problems among Fusion 360 users then it's obviously a problem with my OS. And I think it will be faster to solve this issue with complete OS reinstall than to keep looking for a needle in a haystack. Especially if this is not a problem of Fusion360. So you can consider this issue as closed. Thank you very much for your endeavors.

Best,
Eugene.

[innovatenate]

The only other thing I can think of is the issue reported in the below forum discussion. 

See related discussion, below. 

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-support/fusion-360-unusable-if-launched-and-not-connected-...

It appears there is an issue with the Data Collection options that impact the behavior when trying to launch Fusion 360 offline. Could you test disabling this option in your preferences?

Thanks,

[candirsky]

Hi Nathan,

@innovatenate

Instructions from this discussion didn't help as well. After the last Fusion360 update, all minor issues on the test user account were gone. Except for the main issue - inability to work offline.
Thank you very much for all your efforts. I think the additional investigation is worthless and it will be easier to reinstall the OS. If I find a solution I'll post it here for sure.

Thank you for your time,
Eugene.

[Anonymous]

Hi there.

Ive got the same problem. but i realized is that you will be logged in to your account and then when you just close it without logging out an turning of the internet connection and try to open fusion again it gives my the same msg. But when i enable internet connection again and open fusion it troughs you out of your account. That's maybe why if internet is down it think you never log in at all.

[Anonymous]

2021 and still the same problem exists 4 years later - works fine and have never logged in since the initial install and startup.  Then one day when you go to start it when the internet connection is down it won't start until the connection is restored.  Then the next time you start it when the internet is up it requires login in with email and password.  No changes in any preferences or features of Fusion 360 and no changes to windows, including folders, etc. and no other software used on the machine.  So I waste my morning in pointless searching changing things that weren't changed before the problem but now have to be set back again - with no solution - instead of doing my work. 

[Anonymous]

the only way I found is to eliminate : NMachineSpecificOptions.xml and LoginState.xml, both of them I found in C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\Autodesk subfolders, then switch internet connection on, then open fusion 360, fill name and password. A real nuisance and a complete waste of time...

[bogdan.dumitru]

I don't understand why Offline mode is not standard when internet is not available. It should not require any login info. Granted you don't have access to your library but who uses that anyway? I always save them locally. 

What I mean is, internet should NOT/NEVER be mandatory for running Fusion 360. It's not Facebook for God's sake. 

[fusionuser300323]

Same prob here. If fusion 360 was a stand alone app I would happily pay for it. They have basically trashed a good CAD program by insisting it should be in heaven but it's gone the other way. Besides collaboration there is pretty much zero advantage for a user to be in the cloud and even collaboration can be done outside this thunderstorm. This biz model is horribly unsafe for protected intelctual property rights. I have yet to hear from them why they want my work stored where others have access to it and by others I include the staff at the business. Unless they plan to steal or expose my work why else do they insist I keep it on their unsafe servers. The fact is that anything can be hacked as we have now see recently but an offline PC in an unknown location is probably as secure as you can get. So now I will hv to invest in some time to learn Free CAD of some CAD package that has nothing to do with it the internet in it working operations. You guys have no clue about what your customers want and here it is.