Failed to create proposal

[mzjensen]

I have a model that is stored on a mapped network drive. Whenever I go to create a proposal, it says "Failed to create proposal". This always worked fine in 2018 and 2019, but now I'm using 2020 and I'm getting this error. Anyone else have this problem?

I know the preferred way to collaborate on models is to use BIM 360, but we don't have a subscription and have to go a different route. This document specifically says (on the bottom under "Local collaboration") that models can be stored on a mapped network drive.

[Karsten.Saenger]

Hi @mzjensen ,

mh - I must say I am not sure if the help files are 100% true in the local collaboration statement.
Mapped network drives are not always supported, it depends of the type of network and drive. For example cloud drives are not supported (GoogleDrive, OneDrive, etc.)
Also, some network architectures don't like the InfraWorks model.files folder. They tend to delete or rename files and cause model corruption.

The only mapped drive solution that I can confirm working is if you map a folder or drive on another computer in a Windows network.

What is the message in the InfraWorks log files when the creation of the proposals fails?

Regards,

Karsten.

[mzjensen]

Karsten,

Looks like an issue with Git. There are lots of commit failures in the log file (attached). The lines that look suspicious are:

fatal: couldn't set 'refs/heads/master'

and

error: unable to write symref for HEAD: Permission denied
fatal: unable to update HEAD

[Karsten.Saenger]

Hi @mzjensen ,

is your H:\ drive a network drive in a Windows network and do you have full read/write access?

Can you test if you can open the model if you change your cached cloud model folder to a local drive? For me the quickest way is to do the change in the registry: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\InfraWorks

Can you also double check if it's an issue with a index.lock file as described in article:

http://knowledge.autodesk.com/article/Error-message-Unable-to-Open-Model-in-InfaWorks

Regards,

Karsten.

[mzjensen]

@Karsten.Saenger,

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is your H:\ drive a network drive in a Windows network and do you have full read/write access?

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Yes, I have full read/write access. Although it is a Windows network drive, we use a service that keeps source files in the cloud and then downloads them as needed to a local cache for each office (we have several offices across the country). I think this caching process is the root of the issue.

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Can you test if you can open the model if you change your cached cloud model folder to a local drive? 

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My cloud cache folder was already set to my C: drive prior to this issue happening.

Can you also double check if it's an issue with a index.lock file as described in article:

http://knowledge.autodesk.com/article/Error-message-Unable-to-Open-Model-in-InfaWorks

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No issues here.

So at the end of the day, I think we are going to have to opt for a BIM 360 subscription. It's definitely a tough sell to my managers when basically all other file formats work perfectly fine in a typical Windows network drive environment, but InfraWorks is the odd man out. It's also a tough sell to the IT department because it eats up more bandwidth to be uploading/downloading models that are often several gigabytes in size. So we don't really have any other option besides paying for another service in addition to the AEC Collection because there isn't really a good method to collaborate on InfraWorks models otherwise.

Thanks for your help.