File is being accessed by someone else and is not available

This post is contributed by Niranjan Kamath who supports Revit on our team in India.  

While working with a workshared file, Revit will report an error whereby the central file is not accessible.

 

This issue occurs only when the clients had a different OS version. We could not recreate the file access issue if the clients were both W7, or both XP for example.

The reason being:  Windows 7 client communicates with the server using SMB2, while the Windows XP client uses SMB. This difference in version may cause some file handling issues.

To resolve this issue disable SMB2 from Server and Win 7 users.

To disable SMB 2.0 for Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 systems that are the “client” systems, run the following commands:

sc config lanmanworkstation depend= bowser/mrxsmb10/nsi

sc config mrxsmb20 start= disabled

Note there's an extra " " (space) after the "=" sign.

To enable back SMB 2.0 for Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 systems that are the “client” systems, run the following commands:

sc config lanmanworkstation depend= bowser/mrxsmb10/mrxsmb20/nsi

sc config mrxsmb20 start= auto

Again, there's an extra " " (space) after the "=" sign.

In order to disable SMB 2.0 on the server-side computer, follow these steps:

Warning!
This document contains instructions for editing the registry. If you make any error while editing the registry, you can potentially cause Windows to fail or be unable to boot, requiring you to reinstall Windows. Edit the registry at your own risk. Always back up the registry before making any changes. If you do not feel comfortable editing the registry, do not attempt these instructions. Instead, seek the help of a trained computer specialist.

• Run "regedit" on Windows Server 2008 based computer.
• Expand and locate the sub tree as follows.

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters

• Add a new REG_DWORD key with the name of "Smb2" (without quotation mark)
  
  Value name: Smb2
  Value type: REG_DWORD
  0 = disabled
  1 = enabled

• Set the value to 0 to disable SMB 2.0, or set it to 1 to re-enable SMB 2.0.
• Reboot the server.

Comments

[Tsolsen]

I'm sorry. But I/we see this issue on a daily basis, with all Win7 - 64 bit machines on a Revit server. So that it only occurs in mixed environments is not true - even if your not able to recreate.
Sadly the files sometimes "corrupts" during this hiccup, and the only solution is to create a new central file. This is of course something that I have communicated with support about, without getting closer to a solution.

[Ryan Duell]

This post specifically deals with a non-Revit Server environment. For Revit Server and this dialog, you can find additional information at the link below:

http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/Revit/enu/2012/Help/Revit_Administration_Guide/0002-Revit_Se2/0008-Revit_Se8/0010-Managing10/Troubleshooting_Model-Level_Locks_in_Revit_Server

Thank you

[Tsolsen]

Thanks Ryan. Missed that it was only in a non-Server environment (but have still seen the error way to often, before we went Server, on all XP or Win7 etc.).
That said.. The troubleshoot regarding the Server, is a solution that we have tried but failed to see do any difference, sending in server logs and all that. So supports solution was basically "do a new Central when it happens". Just sayin'.. :)

[C M]

We get this in an all win 7 64 environment, and we don't have revit server. Have asked others offices and they've reported it too. Haven't seen corruption and a need to recreate central file though.

[EricYanovich]

Would working in windows XP mode be a soln for those on windows 7?

[DaveGeist]

I have been getting this error the last couple of days and I am the only Revit user in the office and the files are on my local machine.

[Timothy Gross]

Has anyone actually put a packet analyzer on this? I've seen this post copied all over the web and I think there's something more to it.

I'm on Windows 7 x64 SP1, with Revit MEP2012, sp1, talking to a Windows Server 2008r2 host. I haven't done anything in particular at either end to mess around with SMB traffic.

I put Wireshark on my NIC to capture the SMB traffic from my Revit client. It's all v1, not v2.