File Not Saved Error on Local and Family Files

[bkruegerkrist]

I'm not sure if it's a hardware issue or a Revit issue but 2/3 drafters in my office cannot save a local project file that isn't workshared. The same goes for families. However saving the local copies of the Central model does work.

It's weird because it's intermittent, it won't work for a while if you try to just save file after file and the once in a rare while it will actually save the file. 

Everything is being saved to a network and all 3 of us have the same update the only thing that is different is the two that are having issues have a different graphic card but doesn't quite make sense that it would randomly start acting up and that it would cause these issues.

If there's any thoughts on what it might be it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Zsolt.Varga]

Hi @bkruegerkrist,

This message might come up if your Revit fails with writing a file because of a lack of writing permission. 

Please, make sure, that the user who is trying to save the file has an write permission to the exact same folder on the network he is trying to save to. 

If this is sporadically happening with the same user trying to save a file to the same folder, that might be an indication of a network connection issue, which you will need to check with your IT. 

If this is specific to a particular user on your network environment, you might want to create a brand new Windows user account for that user, making sure to give the user all the write permissions she/he needs and test the behavior again. 

I hope this helps - Please keep the community informed.

Best regards,

[bkruegerkrist]

But if it were a write permissions then wouldn't it be that I shouldn't be able to save central models in those folders too?

Because I've tried multiple folders and it even intermittently saves on my desktop as well. But when it comes to saving new central models I can make them and save them endlessly without any issues on my desktop or in any of the folders on the network, but the same cannot be said for local revit project files or families.

We've checked the permissions to the folder to make sure they are the same as the computer that isn't having any issues.

And went down this list of solutions even though that's the solution for when a file isn't synchronizing with a central model.

Thanks,

[Zsolt.Varga]

Hi @bkruegerkrist, 

Thanks for your prompt response. 

You know, what I am thinking now?

What if your user doesn´t have a write permission to the local journal folder?

Whenever Revit is trying to save to a network location, it saves a local copy to the journal folder: 

About Backup Files for Network Saves

... what if that process is failing?

Please, try to run Revit as an administrator - or on a Windows User Account with administrator rights. 

Let me know if that helps. 

Best regards,

[bkruegerkrist]

Hi Zsolt.Varga ,

We pretty much already had admin on status on things, but had checked the "Run this program as administrator" and all but one network folder then became unrecognizable and disassociated to Revit even though they were still there and I could access them through File Explorer.

Attempting to open any Revit project that was saved in one of those folders Revit no longer recognized resulted in a "There was a problem sending the command to the program." prompt.

So we went back and unchecked it and still have save issues. 

It creates the text journals when I get the 'File Not Saved' error but does not save a copy of the file with the naming format listed in that link. 

Attached are the journal files it created. 

[Matt__W]

Two things I noticed right away from the journal file...

1) You don't have the latest updates for Revit 2017 installed. Please review this AKN article for information regarding where to find any available product updates as well as information about how to install them.

INSTALL UPDATES, ADD-ONS, AND ENHANCEMENTS
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/customer-service/download-install/install-software/update-software/en...

2) There's a line in the journal that would seem to indicate you do NOT have full permissions on the machine.

"'2:< DBG_WARN: Failed to open temporary file during commit"

[Zsolt.Varga]

Hi @bkruegerkrist,

Thanks for your feedback. 

As next troubleshooting steps I would suggest to test these steps in the following order: 

1. Activate the hidden administrator account on your Windows system and test the behavior running Revit on that account. If that solves the issue, you probably just need to create a brand new user account with admin rights for the user
2. If step 1 doesn´t help, continue with the hidden administrator account and uninstall + reinstall .NET Framework through the Windows Control Panel - Follow this advise: How to remove and reinstall the Microsoft .NET Framework
3. Also worth trying to reinstall Visual C++ for Windows as written here: How to remove and reinstall Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Libraries - Feel free to use the  all-in-one installer - I found it helpful
4. Run a Program repair for Revit using Windows Control panel as follows: 

   Windows Start > Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Uninstall a Program > “Uninstall/Change" > “Repair or Reinstall” > Repair

Please, keep us informed. 

I look forward to hearing from you. 

Best regards,

[Anonymous]

Matt,

I've been helping out @bkruegerkrist. The user is apart of a Domain and is in the local Administrators group on the computer so it is not a permissions issue (unless AutoDesk Revit REQUIRES using the Local Administrator account but I would surely  hope not).

[Zsolt.Varga]

Hi @Anonymous,

You are right - a domain user account with admin rights should be fine for Revit. 

However a user account can be damaged or corrupted - that is why testing the behavior with the hidden admin account in Windows is a good troubleshooting approach. 

@bkruegerkrist, 

Did my suggestions in my previous post help to resolve the issue?

Please, keep us informed and feel free to use the accepted solution button if you feel so. 

Best regards, 

[Zsolt.Varga]

Hi @bkruegerkrist,

I haven´t heard back from you for a while. 

I hope my suggestions have helped. 

Please, feel free to let the community know about your case - use the "Accept as Solution" button whenever/wherever it applies.

Best regards,

[bkruegerkrist]

Nothing has seemed to work so far, think we might just wipe the whole computer and start again, if it still happens ill be back. hah

Thanks though! 

[Anonymous]

@bkruegerkrist - Did you get this resolved or are you still seeing the issue?  If resolved, what fixed it?

[bkruegerkrist]

No, still not resolved, sorry, I was on vacation for a week.

I thought if they couldn't fix it we'd do a clean wipe of the computer to knock out that as a possibility but that didn't get done while i was gone either, I'll see if i can get that done and fixed today hopefully. 

Positive thinking ha

[Matt__W]

Is it just the one model that's giving you problems? I'm wondering if there are corrupt families within the model that are preventing you from saving the model/families.

Could you try the following steps to search for, and correct, any corrupt families within your project model.

1. Open a COPY of the original model using the detach from central option then save as a new central model
2. Save out the families. When Revit finds one that's corrupt, it will crash.
   https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/EN...
3. Make note of the family that crashed Revit (the last family will be visible on the status bar in the lower-left corner)
4. Close Revit
5. Reopen Revit
6. Open the central model from step 1.
7. Delete the corrupt family from step 3.
8. Save the model
9. Repeat steps 2-8
10. Repeat until Revit doesn't crash while saving the families.
11. Get clean copies of the original families and reload them into the ORIGINAL model and overwrite the existing families.

It's essentially the same process as outlined in the Solution section of this AKN article.
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles...

Also, below are a few links to some additional resources to help troubleshoot a corrupt Revit model.
Autodesk University 2017 - BLD125158 - Code Blue Dr Revit - How to Resuscitate Corrupt Revit Models Presentation
http://bit.ly/2BQ38qe Watch it at au.autodesk.com

Handout from my co-presentation and Datasets
https://1drv.ms/f/s!AmO3IjYenWEdhPYvoPS5MKqY9aSjeQ

Let me know if you have any questions with this process.

[bkruegerkrist]

Nope, it happens to brand new families from the autodesk templates and to brand new projects from both their template and our own company template as well as existing projects and families.

Good thought though.

Thanks,

[Anonymous]

@bkruegerkrist is this happening 100% of the time when you save?  Does the name at the top of Revit reflect the new name?  After the initial save failure, have you tried to save a second time?

[bkruegerkrist]

It varies in how often sometimes its 8/10 other times its less.

It does change the file name and makes it look like it saved and file appears in the folder if you're viewing where it is saving during the process then disappears when it has the file save error.

And yes I try saving multiple times in a row, like i just did now and it saved the 2nd and 3rd time but not 1st or 4th-10th time.

So its weirdly sporadic.

[Anonymous]

Would you mind uploading the new journal logs.  Just to confirm, you are saving to a NAS device or network share? 

[bkruegerkrist]

Here it is when it tried to save to the network, though it also does it occasionally fail saving to my personal desktop though too.

[Zsolt.Varga · Accepted solution]

Hi @bkruegerkrist,

So let us summarize what we know: 

• This is happening sporadically yet regularly with one particular workstation
• This is reproducible with saving on a network location and saving locally on the desktop as well 
• This is happening with brand new files/ any files as well

That being said the issue is not related to:

• files
• network
• a certain hard drive

But related to a certain workstation / installation.

Based on the above information I would recommend the following troubleshooting steps: 

1. As suggested in my previous posts: We have to rule out that this is related to a certain (possibly corrupt) Windows User Account! We can easily do that by activating the hidden administrator account of Windows and testing the behavior with that one
2. If that doesn´t make a change, we should see if any other program is interfering with Autodesk Revit - possibly blocking the save process. As a a first step in that direction, please, make sure to disable all Revit addins and retest the behavior again
3. If that doesn´t help, deactivate the antivirus program and retest the behavior again
4. If non of these steps help, please, go to Windows > System Configuration > Services > Activate "Hide all Windows services" (!)
5. Leave Autodesk Services + the "Flexnet Licensing Service" ON and deactivate all other services... 
6. Restart your computer and retest the behavior in Revit
7. If the steps 4-6 correct the behavior, switch the services one-by-one back on and see which one causes trouble with the saving in Revit

Let us know, how exactly your computer and your Revit product reacted on each  (!) of the above steps.

If nothing helps, setting up your computer from scratch will most probably solve the issue indeed. 

Before doing that, you might want to consider to Clean uninstall Revit from your system, "Browser Download" the Revit installer from your Autodesk Account again (just to make sure that the installer you use is healthy and complete) and reinstall Revit with your "User Account Control" (UAC) turned off and your Antivirus program deactivated. Do not use an installer image or any customization for the install!

Please, keep us informed - we look forward to hearing from you. 

Best regards,