Basic Troubleshooting

Troubleshoot the most commonly reported issues

Topics in this Section

Overview

The troubleshooting topics on this page represent the most commonly reported issues for Desktop Connector. We hope this information will help you troubleshoot the problem and resolve (and avoid) the most common errors our users report.

Upgrade instead of Uninstall/install

If you are already on Desktop Connector 16.x moving to the next release is easy. Simply Exit Desktop Connector, download and install the latest release. Avoid time-consuming uninstall and cleanup steps by Upgrading. Upgrading retains all user configurations, project selections, and has you back to work in minutes!

The following dialog indicates that Desktop Connector was uninstalled and best practices were not followed to prepare the environment before a new installation of Desktop Connector. Refer to the following topic on how to properly Uninstall Desktop Connector.

Clear Connector

For more information about the Desktop Connector folder needs to be cleared and the Desktop Connector folder has contents that needs to be cleared messages please refer to the Handling Unhealthy Environments help page.

Delete Notification is shown after saving a file

Some authoring applications save files by deleting the original file and creating a new one. There are two potential symptoms of this behavior to watch out for:

  1. The file is reset back to version 1 in the cloud
  2. The user may see a Delete Notification for the old file being deleted

Home Screen Retry

Desktop Connector has special handling in place for applications we know cause this. If you are experiencing this behavior contact Autodesk Support to see if we can provide special handling for your application.

Bulk Migrating Data

Desktop Connector is not designed for bulk migration. There is no set limit or threshold to how many files/folders can be uploaded at once. The amount of data you can upload using Desktop Connector depends on a lot of variables like size of files, number of files, and folder structure.  Uploading hundreds of files or maybe even thousands of files and folders can work. 

Supporting design data is complicated so don't expect Desktop Connector to upload files quite as fast as Windows.   For example uploading 10k design files with references may work, but may take longer than expected.  This is because Desktop Connector is doing extra work in the background providing additional value to your design data by supporting file references and associated metadata. 

When uploading designs into the cloud consider the following tools:

Files are not syncing

Desktop Connector actively maintains sync status between local disk and cloud every 30 seconds for active projects and 5 minutes for inactive projects. These settings are not currently configurable. Once a file is opened on the machine it will continue to download cloud updates to that file until the user selects to free up space on that file. If a file is is set with the always keep on this device attribute then updates to that file will download automatically to the local disk even if it has not yet been opened on the machine.

When files are not syncing as expected consider the following common causes:

Clear Connector Alternative

For more information about Troubleshoting Sync issues please refer to the Troubleshooting Sync topic page.

Autodesk Identity Manager not Installed

If the Autodesk Identity Manager is not correctly installed for desktop versions 2024 and beyond, you will receive the following error message on startup.

Select Projects

Select Shut Down Button and follow one of the two options to install the Autodesk Identity Manager:

Option 1: Use the installer from the Autodesk Access app.

Option 2: Use the installer in the following article.

Duplicate Connector Drives

Desktop Connector may exit abnormally (for example, a crash) and when it restarts, duplicate connector drives display. For example there are two Autodesk Docs connectors showing in File Explorer but only one of them is working. To remove the duplicate drives follow these steps:

  1. Exit Desktop Connector.

  2. Start the registry editor (regedit.exe).

  3. Navigate to the key.

    Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace

  4. For each key under the Namespace key in the left pane, do the following:

    1. Select the key.
    2. Check the value in the right pane.
    3. If the value is one of (Autodesk Docs, Fusion, Drive), Right-click on that key in the left pane and choose Delete.

  5. Restart Desktop Connector. Once started, the duplicate drives should be gone.

Undesired Folders Under This PC

Undesired folders (For example, Autodesk Docs.ShellFolder class) are sometimes visible to the user in the Devices and Drives location under This PC. This issue can happen after the product crashes and is restarted.  Desktop Connector now includes a utility to clean up those undesired artifacts.  The utility is found in the Desktop Connector installation folder (default location is C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Desktop Connector\ShellCleanup.exe). To use the utility:

  1. Exit Desktop Connector

  2. Open a Command prompt (type CMD from the start bar) at the Desktop Connector install location

  3. Execute the ShellCleanup.exe from the Command prompt (output shows what is cleaned up)

  4. Open Task Manager

    • From Details tab select End Task on Explorer.exe
    • Then restart Explorer using File > Run > New Task, and enter Explorer

  5. Run Desktop Connector

Multiple users launching Desktop Connector on the same device

Desktop Connector will allow more than one non-elevated user to start Desktop Connector on the same device. If any user is running Desktop Connector elevated (ie. administrator permissions) the following message will be shown.

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User will see the following message when more than one Desktop Connector instance is started on the same device by the same user.

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Related Concepts:

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Next page: Reporting and Diagnostic Logs