Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

[Bruce]

I work in a practice that uses mostly iMacs. I use a PC. Everyone is working remotely at the moment, connecting to the data server via VPN (using FortiClient), and the BIM Cloud.

What I'm finding is that my ARCHICAD (on PC) can't find the \\server address for modules, linked drawings, and publisher directories. However, I can bring the server up in my File Explorer...it just doesn't appear in ARCHICAD.

Has anyone encountered this before?

In the attached image (blurred for commercial sensitivity...but you can still see what I mean), you can see on the right my File Explorer, which shows the company's data server connected ok. However, on the left, it doesn't show in the ARCHICAD selection dialog (publisher in this example, but it's the same for hotlink / drawing selection).

[Bruce]

Thanks Laszlo.

Back to my original question: why isn't my company's network data drive available in my Archicad list? Is it an Archicad thing, a VPN thing, or a Windows thing?

[Laszlo Nagy]

I am sorry, I don't know the answer to that.
I have had the issue before where Windows did not display network drives, but in your case, you see it in Windows, but do not see it in ARCHICAD. I think you should see it, I do not see a reason why not.

[Erwin Edel]

I did not experience problems with a similar network setup using Windows RDP accessing my windows workstation from my iMac at home, however in this case ArchiCAD is running on the workstation, which is logged in to our network.

You could possibly try a different VPN client, as I was having issues using a different RDP to the one from Microsoft at first and was having issues that did not occur with using Microsoft RDP. Maybe the same goes for VPN client...

[Minh Nguyen]

Hi Bruce,

Thank you for sharing the issue!

This is a strange issue, I haven't found it recorded in our system yet! I have forwarded it to the developer to ask for their opinion about this. As soon as I receive some information, I will get back to you!

Have a great week, and stay healthy to everyone!

Best regards,
Minh.

[Minh Nguyen]

Hi Bruce,

After some investigation, we suspect that this issue is related to some accessibility settings. Most likely ARCHICAD is not run with Administrator's right.

Please check the following links, maybe there is some useful information.

Mapped drives not visible on open dialog
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32790495/mapped-drives-not-visible-on-open-dialog

Why isn't File Explorer showing my mapped drives?
https://superuser.com/questions/1078117/why-isnt-file-explorer-showing-my-mapped-drives

Please let me know if the above suggestions would help!

Best regards,
Minh

[Barry Kelly]

I think the problem is that not all dialogues in Archicad are the same.
The FILE OPEN dialogue shows drives mapped to a specific drive letter as well as all my other connected network drives.
However the PUPLISHER PROPERTIES dialogue only shows the drives mapped to a specific drive letter.
The other network drives don't show at all.
There may be other dialogues where the network drives don't show as well, I just grabbed these two as an example.


Barry.

[Minh Nguyen]

Hi Barry,

Thank you for pointing it out! I think the difference in the interface is that: for opening/saving, we will select a file, therefore the dialog needs to be much more complex; whereas when we publish, we publish to a folder, therefore the dialog was made with the "reduced" style to show only folders in tree structure.

I am not quite sure if that's the case with Bruce, as he had the whole network location missing in Publisher dialog comparing to what he has in Explorer. The type of network connection is the same, however, one of them is missing.

Bruce, I'm wondering, if you copy the path from Explorer and paste it to ARCHICAD's Publisher dialog, will ARCHICAD find it and publish successfully?

Best regards,
Minh

[Bruce]

Thanks Minh.

This has raised an interesting point: our network drive is set up \\server\data\projects.

My network location will show \\server\data - but no further. I get an access error message from Windows. BUT, if I map that same address (right-click > Map network drive), I can then access down to the project folder level and beyond.

So:
\\server\data --> no further access
J:\data --> can access further folder levels


This tells me, with my limited knowledge, that it may be a permissions thing set up at our server level, and not ARCHICAD at all?

[Minh Nguyen]

Hi Bruce,

Thank you for your comment!

If you can't even access the server location via Explorer, then it can be the case that you don't have enough permission to go deeper into the network.

However, it is strange that if the network location is mapped as a local "drive", you can access further folder levels. This is beyond my knowledge now, unfortunately! I suggest asking the IT expert in your company to sort out this issue. Let me know if you have any further questions!

Bets regards,
Minh

[Bruce]

Thanks Minh. I'll let you know if we manage to resolve this.