Fusion 360 web deploy error and data panel blank

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

Ive been using fusion 360 for a year or more now, and every couple of weeks to a month or so, I get the same error message when fusion 360 boots up, and then i have nothing on my data panel and I have to do a clean uninstall and reinstall of Fusion to resolve the issue.

The problem is 1, that takes up alot of time i could be using to design parts at work, and 2, it has stopped resolving the issue. Now when I do that, and it reloads, I get the same error message and have no data panel.

It wouldnt be too bad if i could manually save my files to my computer as well as the cloud.

Any help in resolving would be appreciated!

[paul.clauss]

Hi @Anonymous

Thanks for posting! I am sorry to see you are receiving the "path does not exist" error message when starting up Fusion 360.

The error message you are receiving is usually caused by either malware, anti-virus, or out-of-date Microsoft Studio redistributables - the article linked here should help resolve this problem.  

You can always create local archive copies of files you want to save locally!

Hopefully this helps! Please reach out if you experience any continued problems.

[Anonymous]

Paul, Thank you for the information

I have updated my Microsoft visual, and also created an exclusion in my anti virus for the file path for webdeploy, but after restarting Fusion 360, Im still getting the error. Im in the process of running a scan on my computer.

Would I have to uninstall and reinstall fusion 360, and then write the exclusion? Or does it matter?

Thanks

[paul.clauss]

Hi @Anonymous

Thank you for the response! Moving forward, I think we should;

• Keep me posted on how the system scan for malware goes, as this is often the cause.
• Diagnose if this is due to corruption in the Windows user profile, as this has also been documented as the cause of the error you are seeing. To do so, please create a new Windows user profile (local administrator) and reinstall Fusion to that profile.
• Please extract or unzip the AdCefWebBrowser.zip folder attached to this post to the directory mentioned in the error message (e.g. C:\Users\***\AppData\Local\Autodesk\webdeploy\production\***\Win64\). The adcefwebbrowser.exe executable file should be located in the Win64 directory.
• If none of the above help, I would recommend setting up Microsoft Process Monitor to see if the adcefwebbrowser.exe file is being deleted

I would also recommend writing all the exclusions included in this article to your antivirus/firewall software. I don't think uninstalling Fusion and then writing the exceptions should have any alternative effects. With that said, we have had a recent update and hotfix release, so it is possible that this behavior is being caused by a problem with the update (discussed here). I would wait on the clean uninstall for now - if none of the troubleshooting ideas above work out, please send over your log files. I'm not sure if you can access the diagnostic logs tool in Fusion - if not you can gather the logs manually and send them to me at paul.clauss@autodesk.com. (Manually gathered logs should be emailed directly, the ZIP folder from the tool should be posted on the forum) 

[Anonymous]

Ok, I can confirm that my Antivirus isnt blocking it, because I completely uninstalled it and had no change. The malware scan brought back no threats to my system.

I did also just try unzipping that file you attached, and then booting up fusion360 and it gave me the same error, so should I start up the process manager to see if it is being deleted? How does that work? Do i open the manager, then try opening that zip file again?

I also attached another screen shot. I get this sometimes as well, which tends to lead to the other error coming up if i get this one when loading fusion360. I do think that the executable file is being deleted, because if I open windows file explorer and navigate to the win64 folder, That file doesnt appear. I have one that is named similarly, but it says "TEST" at the end of the file name.

[Anonymous]

Paul, I can also confirm that installing fusion on another account doesnt fix the issue, as i get the same error and gray data panel.

[Anonymous]

Paul, Ive also gotten the diagnostic logs, and am attaching them to this reply

[paul.clauss]

Hi @Anonymous

Thanks for attaching the logs! I had a look through and did not see many errors that should be resulting in the errors you are seeing in Fusion. 

When you updated MS Visual Studio, did you use the 2017 version at this link?

To use process monitor to see if the adcefwebbrowser.exe is being deleted, please use the instructions below:

1. Perform a Clean uninstall of Fusion 360

2. Install Microsoft's  Process Monitor to examine the file system requests issued by when the adcefwebbrowser.exe is being deleted

3. Set up Process Monitor so that it is recording the activity on your system (Hint: Use Capture Command in ProcMon)

4. Install Fusion 360 with procmon running

5. Close and re-open Fusion 360 for the first time with process monitor running, capturing all of the system operations. Not you should get the warnings/errors you've been seeing. You can stop capturing processes after you see the error messages.

6. In Process Monitor, you can set up path-based filters (directory filter) to find out what process is performing delete operation in the specific directory that the adcewebbrowser.exe is located in.

7. The procmon Utility will record the ID of the process that deletes the .exe. You can use the Task Manager (CTRL + SHIFT + ESC) to verify the ID of each process that is running on your computer.

8. Once you locate the process, you can right click on the process in Task manager and open the file location that process is located in. 

9. From there you need to determine whether or not this executable is harmful and delete it or prevent it from deleting the adcefwebbrowser.exe

Finally, review the results for the originating process of the delete command and remove the conflict from the system. 

Hopefully this helps! Please let me know if you have any questions.

[Anonymous]

@paul.clauss

I did indeed use the 2017 update for microsoft when i installed it.

Im currently running the new install of Fusion360 with the process monitor going as well, but I dont really understand it and theres alot going on. Once I close and reopen fusion with the monitor going, how do I track down what is deleting the file? If i cant figure it out, is it possible to upload it and have you glance over it?

Thanks

I appreciate all the help in trying to track this down

[Anonymous]

@paul.claussappologies, that last message before this one, from a different name is still me, but under my boss's account. It didnt sign that one out for some reason when I last responded. Im working on getting the process monitor file saved from installing and then closing and opening fusion 360. It did give me the error when i went to load it the 2nd time.

[paul.clauss]

Hi @Anonymous @Anonymous

Thanks for the clarification! I am unsure of if you are still having difficulties, but have created a screencast illustrating the Process Monitor procedure. Mine will appear a little different than yours, as I am having no issues with Fusion.

Hopefully this helps! Please let me know how it goes and we will continue troubleshooting as necessary.

[Anonymous]

@paul.clauss

I watched the video you attached, and applied the same image path filter to my recording of installing and opening fusion, and it excluded all of the events when the filter got through.

[Anonymous]

@paul.claussis it possible that downloading the installer from a different web browser would make any difference? Im currently using firefox.

[paul.clauss]

Hi @Anonymous

Thanks for the response! I'm not sure if downloading from a different web browser would help out here - I figure it couldn't hurt to try! I generally use Google Chrome for everything.

I had a look into the ProcMon filters I described yesterday and must apologize - I think I set up the filters incorrectly. This should work if we use the filters below:

• Operation is "SetDispositionInformationFile"
• Path begins with "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Autodesk\webdeploy\production\<alphanumeric ID>\WIN64"  -the path to the WIN64 folder containing the AdcefWebBrowser.exe file.

This should show what process deletes the executable file, as shown in the screencast below. Feel free to reach out if you have any further questions!

[Anonymous]

@paul.clauss

Thank You for clarifying the filter information, I input that into process monitor and recieved the following 3 things. So from here, what do I do? How do I track down whatever that is that is deleting the file?

[innovatenate]

If you open the Task Manager in Windows (CTRL + SHIFT + ESC) you can then go to the Process tab (or Details tab in Windows 8 & 10) to see a list of currently running application.

From the View pull down menu in Task manager, there is a Select Columns command.

In windows 10, you need to right click on the header at the top of the table and select Select Columns.

In the Select Columns dialogue Make sure that you have the PID or Process ID column added.

Once this is added, each running process on the computer will have a PID listed. Look for the the process that matches what you found in the procmon, 2028. 

Note: You can also add Image Path Name for more information.

I note on my Windows 7 computer regsvr32.exe is located in C:\Windows\System32. 

You can right click on the process in the Task Manager and select Open File Location to locate the executable in your computer's directory. 

You could try copying and pasting that .exe file into another directory and then retesting Fusion 360 to see if there is any change in behavior after that. If there's any trouble, you may try using Taskkill.

I hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

@innovatenate@paul.clauss

I appreciate all the help so far. I opened task manager today when I got in and went looking for the process with the PID of 2028, but I couldnt locate it while the computer was just on the home screen. I tried opening fusion to see if it would start whatever that regsvr32.exe was, but it never showed up. I did go looking in the folder where Innovatenate said his was stored, and did a search through that folder, and my computer says that that same executable is in that folder. Should I try moving it from that folder and see what happens? Or opening it and see what the executable is? I feel like it probably shouldnt be deleted if it is on all windows computers, but its kind of causing problems haha

[Anonymous]

@innovatenateIs there any harm in deleting it from the system or is it needed for fusion?

[innovatenate]

@Anonymous The PID can change between each instance of the launch. It is critical to match the ID as soon as you identify it in the procmon utility. 

Once it is identified, you should right click on the process in the Task Manager and select Open File Location. 

At this point, you may want to assess whether or not this file looks like malware. I mentioned the directory it is stored on my system because that is a system file. What I suspect is the process is malware, disguised as a Windows System process. If that is a case, it will be located in a different folder.

You should not delete this file C:\Windows\System32\regsvr32.exe. It is a system file needed by Windows.

I hope that helps.

[Anonymous]

@innovatenate

I did happen to locate, via name, 5 of the regsvr32.exe running on my computer, and when i open the location of them, they all take me to a different folder under the path C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64

Think that could be the issue? all 5 are running different PID values but go to the same location