Error 1606. Could not access network location..

[Anonymous]

First of all, before people suggest that I check my registry, here's what my registry looks like (HKCU, HKLM) and here is our organisation's environment:

• We use UEV to virtualise a user's profile. They log on and then the following mappings occur:
  
  • User files for their %homeshare% are stored on a network share, under \\fileserver\home$\username\ (e.g. Documents, Desktop, etc.)
  • User settings for %appdata% are stored on a network share, under \\fileserver\setting$\username\
• Each user has access to their own shares on the paths above and have full permissions over their area.
• Registry settings are as below, for a standard machine:

So the problem is, is that although CAD 2014 has installed fine, if a user tries to run it, msiexec kicks in and then throws up Error 1606: Could not access location \\fileservc\home$\otb\ (and so on, for the R19 folder which DOES exist). However, a local administrator can run it fine..

The permissions thing is totally untrue, since just launching CAD will create the directories that it supposedly can't access, and populate them with files. Now, if I change a user's desktop variable from \\fileservc\home$\OTB\Desktop to%USERPROFILE%\Desktop (which is C:\users\otb\desktop), and try and run AutoCAD again, everything works fine because a local folder is being used. It just seems like MSIs dont like being run where a user's folders are set to UNC paths or something?

Changing users to use local drive resources, rather than UNC shares, just to make AutoCAD work is going to be hard to justify, so I would very much appreciate any suggestions people have for things I could try! 

Thanks!

[Otto]

Hello otb and welcome to the Autodesk community!

It looks like you're seeing Error 1606 while trying to install an Autodesk product. This issue occurs because the installer tries to place files into another user's profile where you do not have write access. The following article(s) should help you resolve the problem:

"Error 1606: Could not access network location" when using "Run as" option to install

Get Your Autodesk Software Up & Running

Errors during AutoCAD software installation

If this information was helpful, please consider marking it as an Accepted Solution by clicking on the "Accept as Solution" link, below. Taking a moment to do this will help others with similar questions find useful answers. Thank you!

Kudos (click on the link or the "thumbs-up!" icon), are also gratefully received! (Even a bot likes praise.)

If this answer missed the mark, please let us know so that other community members can lend a hand. Any additional details might help, too: consider including relevant screenshots, log files, error messages, or system specs.

[Darin.Green]

@Anonymous, Roaming profiles is not really supported by Autodesk. However, I have seen it work successfully. In your case, the issue is with the $. Instead of using the "$" for hidden directories, make that folder reachable without using the $.

That should do the trick.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the suggestion - gave it a try and sadly its the same error message (albeit now with the new location).

However, I did work out that replacing all instances of the UNC path with drive letters will fix the issue (even though they point to the exact same location).

Can I just deduce that UNC paths don't play well with msiexec, on the whole? I'd really like to know if anyone has any other thoughts on this..

Cheers!

[Darin.Green]

The issue is the Autodesk software not msiexec... The Autodesk products look locally because it has a large folder structure. If the folder structure is too long you could run into issues. Have you tried shortening the path length to something like \\server\share\prof

[Anonymous]

\\fileservc\test1\otb is pretty short I'd say - installing from a UNC share (with a much longer name, too) has never created any issues either.

This does happen with plenty of other applications too, though. Usually they want to access one of the folders like /SendTo / or /My Pictures/ or something similar. 

I have another thread on t'internet open here, same issue but a broader set of applications:

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows-7/167649-multiple-applications-error-1606-during-installation-...

I figured I'd ask on the Autodesk forum too, since I suspected that there will be more experience with the issue - but I'm wondering if this is something to perhaps ask Microsoft instead..

Its just very bizarre that the first run for a user will actually create the very directories it says it can't access - but having a drive letter creates no problem at all (and the drive path isn't necessary any shorter).

[Anonymous]

Same issue persisting, and with AutoCAD 2017 as well.

There really seems to be no useful information on this error online - and it doesn't actually seem to be confined to just AutoCAD either. What I don't understand, however, is why AutoCAD (and a few other products from different vendors) even try to access this folder during product installation. Is this just a badly configured MSI perhaps? Does it run as a system user, even though it is initiated as a specific domain user?

I am just wondering if anyone has any different ideas, a few months on, but for anyone else who is interested, I have initiated another couple of threads elsewhere:

http://serverfault.com/questions/767554/error-1606-msis-unc-paths-and-permissions

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows-7/167649-multiple-applications-error-1606-during-installation-...

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/sharepoint/en-US/d4b6799e-87bf-4df5-9c87-1d1eb66c6479/ms...

Thanks!