MCAM2023 Crashing on opening network files: Inaccessible configurations or something else?

[rcoope]

We have a highly regulated network where we don't have admin privileges and can't access each other's personal directories. I have however worked with our IT people to configure each computer with the same machine definitions and posts and other things held in Users/Public Documents/Shared MasterCAM2023/ . However, config files are all in people's personal user/My Mastercam 2023/ Directories.  We've run into a situation where we can't open each other's files from common network folders and in fact, after MasterCAM posts a System Configuration dialog box saying it's loading the inch configuration file, it just hangs and you need Task Manager to shut it down. This seems to be specific to 2023 files as 2021 files were successfully opened by another user in MCAM2023.  This has the feel of MasterCAM not being able to access the original configuration files.  Even when on the same computer, Bill can't open John's parts. I had one of the guys do a Zip2Go on a part and tried to apply that to my MasterCAM instance. That didn't work and it still crashes. Does anyone have any insight here?   I haven't talked to   inHouse yet but this place is a such good source of knowledge in these areas I had to ask first. thanks in advance.  

[JParis]

10 hours ago, rcoope said:

Does anyone have any insight here? 

Beyond the fact that your IT dept is composed of idiots?

THe best way to work in a system where things are shared is to move the machine defs, control defs, posts, tool libraries on a network drive that ALL can access.

You will need to remove ALL local copies of those files or your Mastercam will run home to the shared folder.....

All of your Mastercam files, will be accessible if stored on the network...

You need full read/write access to "my documents, public documents & the network folder where everything is stored.

 

[Jake L]

+1 to Mr. Paris

Our "Shared Mastercam 20xx" folder is on our network so we can all use the same MD/CD, posts, and tool/toolpath libraries. Had a meeting with our reseller a couple months ago and they said our setup is how they recommend to setup on a network.

[JParis]

6 minutes ago, Jake L said:

+1 to Mr. Paris

Our "Shared Mastercam 20xx" folder is on our network so we can all use the same MD/CD, posts, and tool/toolpath libraries. Had a meeting with our reseller a couple months ago and they said our setup is how they recommend to setup on a network.

Yup

I have setup dozens of companies exactly that way...part of what I used to get paid to do 

[byte]

8 minutes ago, Jake L said:

+1 to Mr. Paris

Our "Shared Mastercam 20xx" folder is on our network so we can all use the same MD/CD, posts, and tool/toolpath libraries. Had a meeting with our reseller a couple months ago and they said our setup is how they recommend to setup on a network.

 

2 minutes ago, JParis said:

Yup

I have setup dozens of companies exactly that way...part of what I used to get paid to do 

 

2 hours ago, JParis said:

Beyond the fact that your IT dept is composed of idiots?

Rather than use a shared copy on the network, it is more performant to use a local copy and have a batch script copy the files over from the network, this also mitigates the risk of corruption.

12 hours ago, rcoope said:

That didn't work and it still crashes. Does anyone have any insight here?   I haven't talked to   inHouse yet but this place is a such good source of knowledge in these areas I had to ask first. thanks in advance.  

Have you tried making a fresh shared mastercam and my mastercam folder?

Could be as simple as a corrupt file somewhere, if it still crashes after that, I would go for a fresh install too

[gcode]

also..  if you are using One Drive, don't!

[byte]

3 minutes ago, gcode said:

also..  if you are using One Drive, don't!

There are other considerations such as ransomware protection, unless you have made other provisions, it's a good idea to keep this in mind when moving away from one drive.

I understand why you are saying that tho..

[JParis]

13 minutes ago, byte said:

Rather than use a shared copy on the network, it is more performant to use a local copy and have a batch script copy the files over from the network, this also mitigates the risk of corruption.

and who is going to support that if & when something changes or goes wrong?

Your reseller won't...really best to stick with the tried and true method that has been used successfully for many years at this point..

 

JM2C

 

[byte]

4 minutes ago, JParis said:

and who is going to support that if & when something changes or goes wrong?

Your reseller won't...really best to stick with the tried and true method that has been used successfully for many years at this point..

 

JM2C

 

The way I proposed mitigates a lot of the issues that plague users left and right.  Using common files between users is mid.

[JParis]

You missed or skipped over the "who supports it" part of the question...

I don't say your suggested way is worse or better....from the users end, when something goes wrong their reseller is where they get their support...doing something in manner you suggest is going to trip up resellers. 

 

[byte]

3 minutes ago, JParis said:

You missed or skipped over the "who supports it" part of the question...

I don't say your suggested way is worse or better....from the users end, when something goes wrong their reseller is where they get their support...doing something in manner you suggest is going to trip up resellers. 

 

Leaving a read me file explaining the process should be sufficient to mitigate any confusion.

I'm simply stating that the way you are suggesting is mid at best, and extremely problematic at worst.

[rcoope]

Sorry for the delayed reply and thanks for the input. We are, against all odds, running a decently capable machine shop in a major hospital so needless to say, network security is a very serious issue and there is an awful lot going on here in IT terms, of which the machine shop is a minor part.  The people running it are definitely not idiots. Our VAR, InHouseSolutions did get back to me that the way they like to do shared files is to copy an entire, correctly configured \Public\SharedMasterCAM2023\ directory to a shared network location and then do registry edits to point each computer's MasterCAM to the right place.  We will also see if we can get write permissions to the whole sharedMaserCAM directory on the local drives, but my gut tells me there is something else with how they've restricted AppData access or something, What I was really wondering is are there any other known file locations that MasterCAM tries to access when you try to open a file. I'll update this thread if I learn more...

[AHarrison1]

My approach has been to copy Machine/Control Def, Posts and tool libraries to network and create shortcuts for each on the network then replace the local files with the shortcuts so no need to re-map within Mastercam.

This has worked for me on a small scale level (6 seats) for the last few years.