Issue:
There is a problem creating a .dwf file, from a drawing (.dwg), either through the Autodesk Vault Job Processor or manually launching DWG TrueView 2024.
If using the Vault Job Processor, then the error in the Job Queue shows “It looks like an error occurred during the file export. Please try again.”. The Job Processor does not produce an error generating a visualization .dwf for other files, such as Inventor .ipt, .iam, or .idw files. The image below shows the error from the Job Processor Queue.
If manually launching DWG TrueView 2024 to export as a drawing as a .dwf, the function appears to complete successfully without an error but the .dwf file is not created in the specified location.
Causes:
The cause of the problem is due to using a non-admin local user Windows account. Once DWG TrueView is installed, launching DWG TrueView initiates a secondary installer to create the user profile for the application. Within the user profile path for DWG TrueView, below, a “Plotters” folder should automatically be created.
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\DWG TrueView 2024 - English\R22\enu\Plotters
The “Plotters” folder is currently only being generated if DWG TrueView is run as an administrator. If TrueView is launched as a standard/restricted user, and an admin enters their admin credentials to “run as administrator, then DWG TrueView will launch and generate the “Plotters” folder under the administrator user profile. A .dwf can successfully be exported from TrueView while run as an administrator but will still fail through the Vault Job Processor running under the standard user. The failure occurs because the “Plotters” folder is generated under the administrator user profile and not the standard/restricted Windows user that is currently logged into the system. DWG TrueView 202 is unable to access the Plotters folder that resides under a different Windows user profile.
Example:
User “userA” does not have local admin rights and is logged into the computer. UserA launches DWG TrueView and the folder path is created without the “Plotters” folder. The user is unable to create a .dwf through TrueView either with the Job Processor running on their system or through manually launching the program.
C:\Users\userA\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\DWG TrueView 2024 - English\R22\enu
As you can see in the image below, the Plotters folder is missing.
UserA then runs DWG TrueView “as administrator” and the administrator (Windows user “admin”) enters their admin user credentials allow the program to proecced. The DWG TrueView profile is fully created, with the “Plotters” folder, but underneath the admin user folder path. When run “as administrator”, DWG TrueView can export a .dwf file.
C:\Users\admin\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\DWG TrueView 2024 - English\R22\enu
As shown in the image below, the Plotters folder is created while run as an administrator
Since the “Plotters” folder does not exist underneath the UserA Windows profile, userA is still unable to create a .dwf file either through the Vault Job Processor on their system or manually through DWG TrueView 2024 launched non-admin Windows user.
Solution:
The ideal solution is to be logged into the computer as a Windows administrator while using the Vault Job Processor or DWG TrueView 2024. If this is not possible then there are two primary solutions.
- The simplest solution is to run DWG TrueView 2024 as administrator to create the “Plotters” folder underneath the administrator user profile. Then copy the “Plotters” folder from the administrator user profile and paste into the “enu” folder under the standard user to manually complete the user profile structure.
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\DWG TrueView 2024 - English\R22\enu
- Temporarily grant the standard user administrator rights so they can launch DWG TrueView 2024 and properly generate the folders in the Windows user profile. After launching DWG TrueView once, and the user profile path is fully created with the Plotters folder, then the user can be restored back to a non-admin Windows user account.
It is not a requirement to be an administrator to fully use DWG TrueView 2024. This issue has been sent to Autodesk Development for investigation.
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